Torch-y Situation

With the Summer Olympics in Beijing a few months away, the Olympic Torch Relay is being run in cities around the world. The torch is supposed to represent peace through sportsmanship. But what happens when some people believe the symbol represents an endorsement of the host country's refusal to play nice with the rest of the world?

People who oppose China's heavy-handed treatment of Tibetians who wanted autonomy for themselves (among other things) have been disrupting the torch run in Paris and London, to the point of accosting the runner and snuffing out the flame.

The city of San Francisco, which hosted the American leg of the run, took measures to make sure the same thing didn't happen. In a scene that could have taken place in Beijing, officials changed the original route, ringing the runners with heavy security through empty streets, and moving the closing ceremonies to a secluded area of San Francisco International Airport. (The Chinese government, according to KGO-TV's web site, suggested the move.) There may have been fewer arrests and incidences of violence, but what they ended up doing was denying folks the chance to see the torch, unless they were watching overhead shots on TV.

The International Olympic Committee made the mistake of awarding the Summer Games to Beijing in the first place, knowing full well China's history of political repression. But this isn't the first time politics has insinuated itself into the Olympics. There was Nazi Germany in 1936, Moscow in 1980 (which the U.S. boycotted over the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan), Los Angeles in 1984 (in which the Soviets and their Eastern Bloc neighbors returned the favor), among others. South Africa was banned for years because of their apartheid policies. So tell me again about how the Olympics transcend politics?

The United States can't afford not to show up in Beijing, considering that the American economy is billions of dollars in hock to the Chinese. And companies continue to flock there in search of more customers and revenues, while they stiff their own people at home.

Don't expect athletes to take a powder on the Olympics, either. They earn too much money, and are beholden to too many sponsors to even consider having a conscience.

Everyone involved in this incident should be embarrassed: The Chinese and American governments, the city of San Francisco, the IOC and its corporate partners. The most liberal city in America had turned into a police state. Or was it just another day in President George W. Bush's America?