Solzhenitsyn

A great article in CT about biblical freedom. Good reading for both sides of the political spectrum, and a fine refutation of libertarian ideology from one of the great champions of classical liberalism.

The Smog Games?

I can't wait til tomorrow. Some friends of ours are getting together to go watch the Americans beat Japan in soccer just down the road from here. The day after that some local friends are coming over to watch the opening ceremony.

My excitement, however, comes in spite of the valiant attempts of several Western media outlets to shower these Olympics with the worst kind of cynical reporting I have perhaps seen in my lifetime. Photographs of Beijing "smog" are broadcast daily across American televisions without one credit to those who have worked for 7 years to create dramatic improvements. Never are such photos accompanied by an actual scientific measure of pollution. Today's hit piece in the Guardian used the Chinese in-house index (which is reading safe but high at the moment)--the same index it has trashed as untrustworthy. It is clear that these media outlets care more about the health of pampered athletes living in China for a short time than they care about ordinary Chinese who breathe the very same air every day. Furthermore, reports of terror attacks in China are riddled with words like "alleged" and "claim." It is no surprise that the Chinese public accuses Western media outlets of falsifying evidence and doctoring photographs for sensational purposes. It certainly leaves me wondering and disappointed.

Despite all efforts to become a compassionate, internationalist society, the West still has a lot of snobbery to atone for.

The Flame

Today I was on a mission--to get a picture of the torch. I'll spare you the details of my quest save telling you that I left home at the unrighteous hour of 8:30am. And lo, the torch was long gone. But I did come away with a cool Beijing 2008 flag. Ella likes it, except that she can't say her "L's" and so she calls it a, well, you know.

Last night we were walking home, and seriously, there were about 10 busloads of college freshmen leaving campus to be in position along the relay route. Anything here that involves a TV camera is never ever spur-of-the-moment. Scripts and cues are rehearsed for hours, even days. I caught the end of today's celebration on TV and saw some old ladies doing some choreographed flag waving for what seemed like an hour. Their arms must have been tired. A few of them had stopped smiling.

For most, however, the mood is tentative excitement. At exactly 8:08:08pm on 08-08-08, the games will begin. Except of course for the preliminary soccer match between the USA and Japan that I'm attending the day before. Jia you mei guo! (加油美国!)

It's a fun time to ask people what they're really thinking about big issues, since there seems to be a lot of introspection going on these days. One world, one dream, say the signs. If only we could be taught to dream of the world the way it was supposed to be, and the way it will be again one day. Most of us have forgotten that we're the problem and not the solution. I guess you could call that the audacity of faith.