Observation.
I find it very hard to believe China's insistence that their
suspiciously underage gymnasts are all at least 16 years of age when they've already proven themselves to be deceiving to the world with
lip-syncing little girls and
digitally inserted fireworks footprints into supposedly live television.
I have a tiny bit of understanding for the footprints - it certainly would be difficult to film all 29 of those footprints (to give China Officials credit the fireworks really were going off outside of the stadium) for live TV. However, it would have been nice to know that. My momentary awe in an amazing live spectacle (laced with propaganda) is now forever marred by CGI brilliance.
But the singer? 9 year-old Lin Miaoke was a "visually-appealing" stand-in for 7 year-old Yang Peiyi. Are you serious? She wasn't CUTE enough? I'm sorry, but singing makes any child infinitely cuter.
As a side note, 9 year-old Lin Miaoke's teeth are eerily similar in development to purportedly "16 year-old" Deng LinLin's teeth:
They mystery of the Deng LinLin Tooth? Or, lack thereof? Either Lin Maoke is really 16, or Deng LinLin is closer to 12 or 13. I'm going with the latter on this one. Geez, China! At least train your girls NOT to grin so much in case people notice the evidence!
So, how are we supposed to believe China on the issue of the gymnasts when their falsehoods have been exposed on two other issues? I know we don't want to offend the host country by calling them out and embarrassing them on anything, but seriously?? There is a difference between striving for some interpretation of "perfection" and pretending to be perfect by lying.
Five bucks says that anyone in China who tries to read this gets blocked .^_^.
posted by isadanceaholic at Wednesday, August 13, 2008
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Yes! Thank goodness I wasn't the only one offended by these issues. I mentioned the fireworks thing to a couple of people, no one had any idea the display wasn't real as purported! Not to mention a US gold medalist refused entry to the country because of his outspoken stance on the Chinese position in Darfur. And yet some of our athletes felt compelled (pressured?) to apologize to the Chinese government for any possible insult when they arrived in the country wearing air masks? Puleeze, in a country where the air can be thicker than chicken soup and dirtier than gutter water, air masks should be de rigour, not something you have apologize for. I hardly think that training the citizens to break out in cheers at McDonald's or recruiting volunteers to wear blue shirts at the tourist information kiosks is going to make up for these transgressions. And that poor little girl (the one who sang but didn't get to appear) - how proud she and her family must have been when chosen, how embarrassed to be replaced. The governing board of the IOC should be repeatedly Stooge-slapped. Grrrrrr...
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I'm going to have to agree with you on this one. I was pretty upset to hear that the little girl singing wasn't "perfect-looking" enough. And holy cow, don't even get me started on the women's (er... little girls') gymnastics scores. Talk about biased...
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I totally agree, I was watching last night and thought the same thing...16? NO WAY!
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I don't know why I am so shocked about the blatancy of the gymnasts' age falsifications. I guess I still have some notion that people (and even governments) admit to their guilt when confronted on blatant lies. How can any country in the world be willing to accept a Chinese passport as proof of identity when these little girls were registered in competitions as recently as last year with different birth dates? But as much as I am angry at the politics of the situation, I feel for the little girls, who are just pawns in their government's game. Most of them were taken away from their parents at age 3 and only get to see them once a year!
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honey, blogspot has been blocked in china for a loooooong time :-) this is the first time i've been able to read your blog in a year! :-) mwah!
***Before commenting, please recite:***
"Grant me the serenity to ignore the trolls,
the courage to debate with honest opponents,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
.woof.
heh heh