Short Olympic Thoughts
It's very difficult to find opinions about the politics of the 2008 Beijing Olympics that don't hover like platitudes. But, I think I've identified three opinions that move the discussion beyond hot air.
- «Hurt Feelings»: Daniel Drezner and Robert Kagan debate the importance Beijing places on «respect» from the international community, to prove to the average Chinese citizen of the legitimacy of the government. But, to understand this, Minxin Pei's notion of «aggrieved nationalism» is illuminating.
- The Slippery Notion of «Modernity»: Susan Brownell has an informative essay about how the Chinese for the 2008 Beijing Olympics are fulfilling a project, «Modernity», started by the Americans in 1904 at St. Louis. China Beat's Sam Goffman highlights this insight within the context of a comparison with the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
- Crass vs. Open: Finally, I have this insight, that the economic opening to world markets the Beijing Olympics heralds and is perceived to intensify is not necessarily a crass consumerism so evident in the US. It's debatable whether the average Chinese person will ever be able to make decisions about their future without state interference, but I don't equate this freedom with eating at McDonald's and drinking Coca-Cola.
American nationalism is triumphant rather than aggrieved. In most societies, nationalism is fueled by past grievances caused by external powers. Countries once subjected to colonial rule, such as India and Egypt, are among the most nationalistic societies. But American nationalism is the polar opposite of such aggrieved nationalism. American nationalism derives its meaning from victories in peace and war since the country’s founding. Triumphant nationalists celebrate the positive and have little empathy for the whining of aggrieved nationalists whose formative experience consisted of a succession of national humiliations and defeats.
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