10 Things That Make Me Angry: Number 8

8. The 2008 Beijing Olympics…or “Genocide Olympics,” as some are now fittingly dubbing it. As Red Commie China locks thousands of innocent Buddhists and Christians in prison, beats up and kills Tibetan monks for speaking their minds, drowns innocent children in rice patties because their parents weren’t supposed to have them, uses aborted fetuses’ organs in weird perverted Frankenstein-ish medical experiments, does business with the Sudanese government that is conducting genocide against its own people in Darfur, ships toxic toys to millions of innocent children in America and Europe, forces a billion of its citizens to work under atrocious conditions for virtually no money, conducts shady and uncorrupt business policy with all its trade partners, and refuses to change anything about its 60-year policy of war, oppression, and tyrannical irresponsibility…as all of that occurs, the other 200-plus nations of the world are just supposed to say, “OK, that’s fine,” and step aside as China bullies its way onto the world stage to hold the most sacred and revered of athletic traditions?

Even more frustrating is our own reaction as America, and indeed individual Americans, to the China crisis and our own enabling of it through our massively stupid economic policies, our foolish willingness to buy hordes of Chinese goods, and our blind acceptance of the glorious Olympics being held there later this summer. Our supposedly stubborn and stalwart President has been remarkably weak-kneed and spineless in his handling of the China issue. One of the excuses he and others give is that China holds the “nuclear option” of freezing all American assets, especially if we were to boycott the Beijing Games to send a message to the Communist government there. But guess what? They’ll probably end up doing it someday anyway, particularly if they get backed into a corner by forces outside of our control. So why not call their bluff and do it now? For one thing, we owe them so much money that it might actually hurt them more than us if they were to launch Trade Armageddon against us. And it would prove once and for all that we still, despite the whining neoliberals’ sadistic daily delight in declaring the contrary, hold the moral high ground in most matters foreign and domestic, especially compared with abortion-happy (even compared to us), monk-terrorizing, anti-Christian, hyper-polluting, ultra-corrupt Red China. But somehow I doubt that we’ll have the guts to stand up to Hu Jintao and his brutal dictatorship…

I mean, what kind of world are we living in when it’s America, not France, that is afraid to even consider a boycott of the Olympics? (Or at least the opening ceremony, as France is threatening to omit?) Incidentally, God bless Nikolas Sarkozy…I never thought I’d say that about a French President, but to paraphrase my “main man” John McCain: A pro-American, conservative French leader shows you that anything is possible, if you live long enough. Anyway, I think I speak for most Americans when I say this to President Bush and Congress: Please…do something, anything, about our dependence on China, before it’s too late. Over a billion tired, oppressed Chinese citizens; 300 million financially worried Americans; and half a million dead Darfur Sudanese plead for it. Let's not make the same mistake we made in taking eight years to do something about Hitler and the Holocaust...or doing nothing at all about Rwanda. Outrage demands action...period.