The Fake Olympics

540 Comments

DeathJux, on 08/13/2008, -41/+376Yeah, because none of this stuff happens in the United States.
nedzeve, on 08/12/2008, -19/+325From the article:

1) CGI "fireworks"
2) Lip sync little girl
3) Weather manipulation
4) Walling off poverty

Also:

4) Wind machine to flutter flags
5) Cheer squads bussed in to less popular venues

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/ar ...
Brododium, on 08/13/2008, -13/+241"most shocking deceptions", "heinous fakery", " “Gymnastics Gulag” " and "biggest deceit"

Would you like any more gross hyperbole with your article?
Syric, on 08/13/2008, -8/+184Except for the "gymnastics gulag" bit (first I've heard of it), that all seems pretty reasonable, or at least expected. The article's really stretching if it finds the need to complain about trying to ensure good weather. From the article: "it wouldn’t be the first time in history that silver-iodide was used to seed rain clouds, but the big question really starts to form — what is the real China like?"

What's the real China like? I don't know... maybe it rains occasionally? OH NOES
Langues, on 08/13/2008, -2/+170Whats so evil about a wind machine to flutter flags?
GorfTron, on 08/13/2008, -13/+157One time I got a Chinese prostitute that turned out to be a man. Where does the deception end?
inactive, on 08/13/2008, -7/+149This article needs a giant grammar check.
johndavidjack, on 08/13/2008, -13/+146Most of the ***** listed happens every year during the halftime of the Super Bowl...

Buried for who gives a *****...
kinseyincanada, on 08/13/2008, -19/+125enjoy the games for the sports and athletics. You dont need to politicize the games just because China has human rights issues.
TracerMan, on 08/13/2008, -19/+123Here are some things to consider:

1) only the footprint portion of firework is CGI - it's for a) impossibility to shoot the span of city in real time b) safety of helicopters.

2) Lip sync girls is sad, but lets not forget that the chinese culture value the greater good more than the individual one.

3) What's wrong with this?

4) China will be richer after the Olympics because a) the Olympic investment = profit from tourists b) global recognition = indirect economic benefits

4 (?)) What's wrong with this? If there's a technology to make the flags look good, why not?
mrcoldcow, on 08/12/2008, -20/+107Yeah...but...beach volleyball is so cool!
SubaruPowah, on 08/13/2008, -14/+101Call me crazy, but I always thought The Olympics were about world competition and sportsmanship, not so much the aesthetic value of theatrics...
bdfariello, on 08/13/2008, -23/+108Contrasted to the US spending hundreds of billions of dollars to invade/occupy/fix? Iraq while our economy circles the drain.
Sadder.
snubelo, on 08/13/2008, -7/+90They still cant fake the reasons to war as good as us
seldon452, on 08/13/2008, -2/+83I believe you have 4 twice.
fwoomp, on 08/13/2008, -3/+82we're just jealous of their weather machine
vacax, on 08/13/2008, -4/+83How can anyone complain about "fake weather?" You would rather the Olympics get rained on?
dekx11, on 08/13/2008, -11/+86SO WHAT?! The Chinese put on a great show and just because there were a few hitches that had to be overcome doesn't mean that they were "fake" Olympics. Yes the message sent out by using a "prettier" girl to sing the national anthem is not a good one by any standards but the rest of the rubbish up there makes the writer look petty and jealous. I doubt any other country couldn't have given a show anywhere near to what the Beijing ceremony was. This is a non issue. It's not like the whole Chinese team went and took steroids. Grow up and give credit where it is due.
MikeMania, on 08/13/2008, -7/+76I don't quite see the extremity of this besides the fake ID thing, which isn't even proven.

Fake fireworks? Well they did shoot the fireworks. But whats the logic in risking a helicopter by shooting fireworks at it while its low enough to get a good shot?

Cheer squads? They actually sound like a good idea. And from the articles, they cheered for everyone not just China (not that they would need any extra support). They were there to liven up the atmosphere.

The only way it could be a Fake Olympics is if all the athletes pretended.
bluemist, on 08/13/2008, -10/+71Sour graping that no other country can give a better Olympic opening "ceremony" (so far) than China can?

Emphasis on "ceremony". It's a freaking entertainment 'show', so complaining about fake fireworks and singing and weather is like bashing that you can see how fake the CGI is in a freaking MOVIE.

Come complain to me when they fake or cheat on Olympic results.
realestateloop, on 08/13/2008, -25/+85Who the hell cares?
inactive, on 08/12/2008, -23/+78Yeah, China had a real opportunity here to draw the world's attention to their problems and get support for solving them. They blew it.
rey1867, on 08/13/2008, -2/+57I know you have 4 twice.
sodariot, on 08/13/2008, -0/+53If you thought the flags were fluttering because of a really well placed, really strong breeze then you are an idiot.
thall, on 08/13/2008, -1/+50Pssst, I hear they're feeding gas into the bottom of the torch to make it burn so long. I wonder how long a torch would really burn for in the real China.
ZephyrNinety, on 08/13/2008, -9/+53It's a show. Get over it.
mlvassallo, on 08/13/2008, -5/+49Its called Production. News flash, most stage production is fake. Get over it. It was quite a show.
inactive, on 08/13/2008, -12/+55Yeah, because none of this stuff happens in the [insert country here]

Why does everyone always rush to be against the United States when the Chinese Olympic game articles (that do not mention the United States anywhere in their articles) hit the front page?
37prime, on 08/13/2008, -7/+47The article was typed up on a computer which has at least 80% of the components made in China. Thus, the article is 80% fake.
bpollay, on 08/13/2008, -3/+42I think we really need to focus on some of the more beautiful and amazing parts of the Olympics for a while and stop hating on China. The opening ceremony was absolutely incredible, a stunning mesh of traditional art mixed with modern technology. The athletes this year are incredible as well. Phelps is a true natural athlete and well on his way to becoming the greatest Olympian over. The Olympics are a place for the world to come together as one and not as a place to find faults in others.
inactive, on 08/13/2008, -6/+45w/e man... two days ago everyone on digg couldn't stop raving about the greatest opening ceremony they have ever seen. So what if its fake, its still a great job, even if we take the fake parts out. Everyone's been through this, we have plastic surgery and botox that created a population of fake images we called Hollywood, they have fake fireworks and neighborhoods too, its a small world after all eh?
inactive, on 08/13/2008, -15/+51USA should be careful not to piss off China or they are going to cut your allowance.
exomni, on 08/13/2008, -1/+37What's so evil about bussing in fans?
evil-doer, on 08/13/2008, -1/+36the opening ceremony has always been about theatrics.
inactive, on 08/13/2008, -1/+351. It's not like they tried to hide this or anything, they just wanted it to look good, and like Tracerman said, safety of helicopters, ability to shoot the whole city. Are we supposed to be angry at the scroll LCD screen on the floor because it's showing Computer generated images too?

2. This one bothers me the most actually. Here's a country that preached equality throughout the opening ceremony, I thought it was impressive that they had two pop stars from China perform, on piano and one singing, and they weren't good-looking guys, but then they do something like this. Then they had that wave affect that was made to look like it was machine powered, but then they showed it was humans. They put an emphasis on human hard work, and then they faked the thing with the little girl.

3. How's it fake weather if it's not raining. It's not like they're trying to trick us into thinking it never rains in China, they just wanted a nice opening ceremony.

4. Isn't there a better chance that poverty will disappear the better China looks? It'd only be wrong if they're going to try to economically oppress the people

5. So what, I'm assuming you mean during the award ceremonies, in which all the flags flutter, and it's kind of obvious

6. So they're trying to honor the less popular events and make them more exciting? Trying to make it a more rounded Olympics where everything is exciting. So people can go watch something like fencing in a not completely empty stadium?
scrptkid, on 08/13/2008, -2/+33Well, so long as its just one farmer...
Brian48216, on 08/13/2008, -1/+32iakovos87-
NBC anchors told the viewers LIVE that they were CG. Meaning Beijing told the Anchors it was CG. There was no effort of deception.

Lip synching happens. The girl knew it. The parents knew it. You can't impose your priorities on another culture. Hosting the olympics really is a matter of national pride for the Chinese, and all the volunteers that work on it- it's a point of pride for them as well. I'm not sure what you mean by Arianism. Maybe you meant Aryanism?

The flag- If it wasn't obvious to you that there was a wind machine on the flag then you're truly dumber then you'd like to think you are. It was OBVIOUSLY a wind machine. When they were hosting that limp piece of cloth up on the staff, I was HOPING they'd have a wind machine at the top so the flag wouldn't look as retarded. Considering how massive that stadium is, you'd be lucky to get a draft into the stadium at all.

I'll have to agree- the Olympics does not guarantee economic benefits. In fact, there's a lot of places where after hosting the olympics, the economy collapsed. i.e. Nagano Japan after the 98' winter Olympics.

But if there is money going to help the poor of China, it's from the US consumer. Everytime you buy something. Anything. A little bit goes right to China. Cheers.
jeremyosborne81, on 08/13/2008, -0/+30Of course you have to bus in the fans to make the wind that flutters the flags.
quamb, on 08/13/2008, -3/+32Agreed. What a ***** xenophobic article/blog.

Every country has it's fair share of ugliness. And every major stadium event has all kinds of fake and contrived ***** going on. Some people really need to get of their high horse and have a look around their own damn neighborhood before pointing fingers.
AsianChopsticks, on 08/13/2008, -6/+35Cause most people who use Digg come from the U.S
DatruKatalyst, on 08/13/2008, -1/+28OMG! You mean that giant dove was just a thousand people giving the image of a dove??!

DECEPTION!!
hwy9nightkid, on 08/13/2008, -5/+30China is well on it's way to world power, regardless whether their fireworks were real or fake. They are HUGE on CGI in their movies, and I don't think they see it as a 'deception' to use it here. That's not to say covering less than favorable areas of Beijing is applaudable, or saying the girl who actually could sing is 'too ugly', however China is leaps and bounds from where it was even 8 years ago. No one is seeing the change, because for many people, this is their first look at Beijing..don't be too harsh.
snubelo, on 08/13/2008, -4/+28They still haven't figured out the WMD shows that truly get the worlds attention...
mad05963, on 08/13/2008, -3/+27@Reedan - that's a valid question.
@AsianChopsticks - that's a valid answer
Fanboy88, on 08/13/2008, -0/+23The TimesOnline is the Foxnews of the UK. Both are owned by R. Murdoch.
twateo, on 08/13/2008, -5/+27my sister was in beijing while they were bidding for the olympics. They shut off the coal burning power plants in the winter to clear the air leaving hundreds of thousands of people to freeze. They spay painted the grass to make it look greener. They uprooted countless people in slums and plowed over the houses they were living in. Who knows where they ended up. Got to love the power of the chinese government.
DatruKatalyst, on 08/13/2008, -0/+21^ You mean cheerleaders?
wiretapped, on 08/13/2008, -10/+30Who carez.
MogulKhan, on 08/13/2008, -1/+19The point the author is trying to make is that when the Olympics aren't going on, the Chinese government lets it people get rained on. This is a human rights violation that often goes overlooked.
synystar, on 08/13/2008, -9/+27Not really. Yeah... it's very frustrating that you have to work so hard to pay for the gas you used getting to work. But you have much more to look forward to when you wake up tomorrow than millions of people in China, and elsewhere, have had since the day they were born. Much sadder.
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