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Uh, no. Activists have been decrying the Chinese government’s behavior for many years. The Tiananmen Square massacre comes to mind. True, there has been a signifigant increase in the awareness of the government’s human rights violations sinse they got the Olympics, because people don’t like the Chinese government receiving the honor of hosting the games. This is a good thing. The more international pressure put on them, the better. I wouldn’t call the political element of the ’08 Olympics annoying so much as telling.
Oh, I know. Tienanmen Square. Tibet. People have been *edited*ed over the way China has been running things for a long time now. But, I’ve got money that most of the recent human rights protests that have appeared will fade away when the Olympics are gone. All the Media will switch to the latest craze and stop showing specials on “the dark, poverty stricken streets of Beijing” and a great deal of America that isnt already tied to some organization or that has no overwhelming political motivations will forget about it. That’s what I find annoying.
And if you don’t think the Olympics usually has some political side to it consider any Olympics that was held during the Cold War. How many nations have granted temporary cease fires in light of the upcoming events at certain times during the history of the Olympics only to have the war go from battlefield to Olympics. And you yourself brought up the 1936 Olympics in Berlin which had heavy political motivations for the Germans. It may have fallen off a bit in more recent times, but the way things are going with the Chinese isnt all the different.
As for the events themselves. I watched a fair bit of volleyball yesterday and I found it fairly interesting. Especially to see the differences in play style from both the USA and Japan.