Friday, February 22, 2008

Wrath of a Nation

Recently, famed film director, Steven Spielberg, pulled out of his role as "artistic consultant" for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Spielberg citing China as not doing enough to help end the ongoing crisis in Sudan as his reason.

I have no doubt that Spielberg's next movie, if not outright banned from China will be met with protests at the minimum and poor box office results. With the high rate of pirated movies, perhaps it would ultimately not be that large of a loss.

Already, backlash against the move is appearing. A recent editorial in The People's Daily, China's official English language, party approved newspaper, starts out...

A Western film director is so "naive and simple-minded" that he has made an inopportune move on the issue of Beijing's 2008 Olympic Games by linking it to Darfur issue in Sudan, and this perhaps exhibited the "unique" qualities of this Hollywood celebrity. Nevertheless, the "naivety or innocence" shown by a few Western media seems all the more ignorant and funny.
(Read the full article here).
While I'm certain that Mr. Spielberg and I would find ourselves at odds on a number of political issues, "naive" and "simple-minded" are two adjectives I would not use to describe him. That seems childish and conjures up memories of kids arguing at the school playground.

I have to admit to not knowing much about the disagreement and China's involvement in Sudan other than the fact that having a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council gives them veto power and they have close business ties to Sudan as an important source of oil.

I look forward to watching the upcoming games and expect there will be many interesting stories coming from both the athletic events and the political realm. I for one, would love to see the issue of free speech and internet censorship addressed!

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