We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Samizdata quote of the day It is increasingly clear that much of the current wave of repression is occurring not in spite of the Olympics but actually because of the Olympics.
– Amnesty International which has detailed numerous arrests and the harassment of Chinese civil rights activists
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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China invaded Tibet in 1950 – since then its political methods have little changed.
The IOC awarded them the games in 2001
The evaluation commission Stated: “The overall presence of strong governmental control and support is healthy.”
Any who suggest a boycott of the Chinese Olypmics, must surely boycott ALL Olympics as they clearly disagree with the IOCs interpretation of its Charter.
A person can hardly disagree with the IOCS decision making in giving the Games to China and not go, but accept its decision to give the games to London was correct.
The IOC’s role is:
1. to encourage and support the promotion of ethics in sport as well as education of youth through sport and to dedicate its efforts to ensuring that, in sport, the spirit of fair play prevails and violence is banned;
2. to encourage and support the organisation, development and coordination of sport and sports competitions;
3. to ensure the regular celebration of the Olympic Games;
4. to cooperate with the competent public or private organizations and authorities in the endeavour to place sport at the service of humanity and thereby to promote peace;
5. to take action in order to strengthen the unity and to protect the independence of the Olympic Movement;
6. to act against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic Movement;
7. to encourage and support the promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures with a view to implementing the principle of equality of men and women;
8. to lead the fight against doping in sport;
9. to encourage and support measures protecting the health of athletes;
10. to oppose any political or commercial abuse of sport and athletes;
11. to encourage and support the efforts of sports organisations and public authorities to provide for the social and professional future of athletes;
12. to encourage and support the development of sport for all;
13. to encourage and support a responsible concern for environmental issues, to promote sustainable development in sport and to require that the Olympic Games are held accordingly;
14. to promote a positive legacy from the Olympic Games to the host cities and host countries;
15. to encourage and support initiatives blending sport with culture and education;
16. to encourage and support the activities of the International Olympic Academy (IOA) and other institutions which dedicate themselves to Olympic education.
Missed the point again then Liminal?
The Olympics are a joke. I won’t be watching. I’m also quite happy to boycott all Olympics. I would furthermore like to hear one Londoner present a valid argument for London 2012.
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I don’t think you’ll find too many Londoners, English in general, hell anyone from the UK who wants the games to be inflicted on London. Not in this parish.
I’m actually quite pleased with the fact that my (current) state basically threw the Olympics out back in the 1970’s after having been awarded the games, even though I was still a toddler 600 or so miles away when it actually happened.
So, if you’re looking for people who would a, be convinced by an appeal to authority in general and b, be convinced that the IOC is an authority worth an appeal, or who are concerned either way about how much national greatness their countries will get from the games, Samizdata will probably not be productive ground for you.
Alas, you’ve misread your audience. SAOAFR.
The 16 point wishing list of pious nonsense is enough to make you want to kill the IOC and hang all it’s members from the nearest tree.
There is nothing wrong with the games, I like (watching) sport competitions.
There is everything wrong with governments and international government bodies poking their nose into the matter and ruining a fine thing.
I think the corparate sponsors of this mess must be having regrets. Now if this will deter them in the future….
6. to act against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic Movement;
Wasn’t there some a**hole from Iran who forfeited at the last Olympics rather rhan wrestling against an Israeli competitor? The Iranian delegation should have been expelled forthwith.
Also, combining with
10. to oppose any political or commercial abuse of sport and athletes;
So Taiwan will be allowed to compete under that name and with its red and purple flag, regardless of what The Peking Country thinis.
The IOC is political and rotten to the core. Every time I hear the self-righteous phrase “the Olympic movement”, I want to puke. The Olympics are a business. They’re only a movement in the same way that a bowel movement is a movement.
Given the well established limitations of access to association (cult, religion, guild, professional or social) that the ruling coalition of China maintains as part of its balance of power with the military, what is the factual basis for the “because” in the A.I. statement. None is given.
This is just the continuing demonstration that the coming events will not be a thaw in those limitations.
Was “change” really expected?
And, to follow the unravelling of this thread, what, after all, is the great importance of spectator sport? Have the Olympics (as re-instated) become anything more to human experience than professional football (both U.S & “Soccer’), Baseball & Cricket, Basketball, Golf, etc., etc.
Has it all become some evolved social ritual that must have devoted respect? Is it all just diversion?
Liminal:
So then, Tibet WASN’T part of China?
The IOC principles:
Except when the French judge figure skating or the East Germans judge, really anything.
..because the for-profit entities known as the NCAA, NFL, NHL, NBA, NASCAR, and MLB have failed to excite any interest in their respective sports. (Oh, did I just call the NCAA for-profit? Shame on me!)
..because every entity should have, as a founding principle, that it should do whatever it is that it does. That’s not just filling space at all.
As long as ‘peace’ isn’t inconsistent with ‘dead Tibetans’ we’re okay here. Although I don’t know why the “authorities” should really be involved here in putting sport at the service of anything.
..as long as ‘independence’ is consistent with ‘whitewashing the host country’s sins and letting its politicians grandstand and spend money’
Bring on female linemen. I’d love to see the woman that can block for the moron that the Broncos have throwing their interceptions for them this year. “That’s a maaaan, baby!”
..except in the case of the television audience, who will need a stiff drink and a few pills to sit through the opening ceremony without sending the kids to the park and putting “Behind the Green Door” on instead…
Okay, okay, I’ll stop, but jeez this stuff practically fisks itself.
Fair enough. Suits me.
“Violence”, but not the forced removal of wealth from its creators in order to pay for the quadrennial beanfeast. That’s perfectly “ethical”, apparently.
And let’s not mention the “Guardians of the Flame”, or whatever they call those goons.
Sports organisations, fine. But public authorites (ie, the rest of us)? This is plain, self-confessed socialism. I always knew there was something fishy about the IOC.
Cue hollow laughter from the direction of Montreal.
Missed the point again then Liminal?
Well it seems I have, if the point was: The Olympics haven’t improved the political situation in Tibet.
Because that’s not a goal of the Olympics in the first place, so why would you be expecting it?
Liminal do you have any actual comprehesion skills, or are you still holding a card under the lines and mouthing the words?
This is the point, and the only point which Tibet was mentioned in the linked article-
While global attention has focused on the uprising in Tibet, the renewed attack on Falun Gong shows that the state security apparatus is determined to crush any domestic opposition before the Beijing Games start in August.
And that is the Money quote.
As for the IOC, well they are even more corrupt than the UN, the EU, and Uncle Bob Mugabes regime and all.
Who the hell would pay good money to watch the hundred metres, if it were not a vast ego massage for the host country, provided for out of vast amounts of stolen public money?
I’d pay good money to watch the Womens beach volleyball though!
Ah well but you have to admire how the Chinese created their olympic logo :)I
http://www.di2.nu/200804/19a.htm
Liminal do you have any actual comprehesion skills, or are you still holding a card under the lines and mouthing the words?
You seem to avoid answering my questions, doesn’t motivate me to answer yours, rhetorical or otherwise.
btw – While I am myself certainly no example of spelling perfection, probably best to spell the word “comprehension” correctly when making negative comment on another’s literary abilities.
Well I’ll go the foot of my friggin stairs!
I just won a bet with my wife that you would mention the typo.
Some of the smartest commentators on this site make typos and spelling errors, and we are very forgiving of such things, given the speed that comments get banged out at sometimes.
It shows your small mindedness writ large.
Did the little lost N niggle you den?
As for your questions, what friggin questions?
You are an apologist for a fascist regime.
Namely the CCP.
The point of the article was the blanket repression that they are undertaking because the Torch fiasco has woken them up to the idea that the Games might not have been such a good idea after all.
That their increased “capitalism” and global reach is cuddly and fine and something we “Can do business with”.
Well just as long as you dont count the bodies, and will you kindly look the other way and just count your gold medals please!
The Government of China thought they were in for an easy PR ride. They are not.
There’s a boat load of guns hovering off S Africa looking for a landing in Zimbabwe and probably a few more heading for Darfur right now.
Nothing to do with sport or the corrupt IOC but everything to do with a loathsome fascist regime.
Ha! but had they not been foolish enough to bid for a worthless prestige event. They may well have gotten away with it.
Now they are panicking big time!
Oh and is this where you got your handle from?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liminal_being
Mine’s just a plain old acronym.
Sorry, but all the fine sentiments expressed in liminal’s points only demonstrate the extent to which the Olympics are a pious joke in far too many cases. With the partial exception of the Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney events, I cannot remember a Games in my lifetime that has not involved political controversy and problems of one kind or another. Not to mention the sheer, eye-watering cost to the taxpayer.
I have said it before and will repeat: they should hold the Games permanently in Greece, possibly at a different, cooler time of the year.
Folks, limnal is our Chinese-government-approved minder. As a propagandist his role specifically excludes him from seeing the point or making sense: he is charged with reframing the discourse and getting it off the point.
The technique is consistent: argument from obfuscated authority. In the case of my post about pictures of the idiosyncratic workings of the Tibetan state prior to 1950, he went on about maps. Here he talks about the decisions of the IOC. Both contingent emanations of authority, but of no consequence for the case unless you are used to accepting the invocation of authority without question as automatically trumping any other argument.
What happened to the last two minders? Did we drive them insane?
I pity the poor bastard who’s daily bread depends on making this crowd like the PRC or the IOC. Maybe we should send a “Get Well” card. Does Hallmark have a “With sympathy for your freakout from trying to herd a bunch of classical liberal minarchist cats” card?