I could not believe my eyes last week when I read an article on ‘Spiked’ (www.spiked-online.com) which claimed that the brilliance of the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremony was due to the country’s ‘totalitarian regime’. The U.K. writer, Brendan O’Niell sounded like nothing more than a jealous child throughout his article- why on earth would anyone want to try and detract from the magnificent and inspiring ceremony?
“After Beijing: can only
dictatorships dazzle?”
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/5652/
By his own admission, the British component to the closing ceremony was ‘mortifyingly awful’; however, I really don’t think this is any reason for his mud-slinging article which reported the similar opinion of another columnist who actually went to the extreme of calling the Chinese ‘nazi’s’!
One of the most prominent characteristics of Chinese culture is discipline- the kind which is derived from practices such as martial arts; it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the country is governed by a ‘dictatorship’. O’Neill may have felt embarrassed at his own country’s ‘wonderfully rubbish’ contribution to the Olympic ceremony, but as far as I’m concerned, it was an immature and unnessecary attack on what was a flawless and beautiful performance from China.
I saw this article also and had a very similar reaction- I agree, I think it’s totally inappropriate that he pretty much tried to smear the ceremony just because his country put on a second-rate show. I like the way that you write, it’s honest- keep it up