I don't see a Chinese in this discussion so let me be the first one to have the pleasure....
My humble views -
The Olympic Games as a whole is just one big commercial engine, so let's look at it from that perspective... sports, competition, cultural exchange, unity of races are still the core elements no doubt about it, but we must not forget it has evolved from nude athletes competing to star athletes wearing Nike! No problem with that.. this is it in our present life.
But for organisations and countries to work the Olympics as political machines, as propaganda engine... they should realize people are more intelligent than that....
Has anyone of you been to China? I'm a Hong Kong Chinese so ask me things you've always wanted to know but.... I will definitely give less biased views than CNN
Oh yeah in some rural places in mainland China, people eat dogs and cats... real delicacies! But that doesn't mean people are barbaric.... hey that's a recipe handed down from generations.... mind you China is one of the four ancient civilisations.
Having said that... I don't eat dog... hehehe... and in HK, it's illegal!
China is a huge country. A lot of people do not have a whole lot of connections with the outside world. But this is not unique to China. It's the same in the US, in Canada, in Australia, in the UK. And in the same context, there are many well-connected, well-educated, well-travelled Chinese...
Hong Kong is a world class city on par with London, NYC, Tokyo. If none of you know this... Shanghai will become one too in less than 5 years!!
Hope we can keep this discussion alive!