Op-Ed Digest: Smog Not Only Offensive Part About Beijing Olympics

This story was written by Staff reports, UWIRE

College columnists and editorial boards have expressed discontent with multiple aspects of the Olympic Games in Beijing. From rampant sexism to human rights abuses, some students are even calling for their torch to be snuffed out only days after it was lit by a flying former gymnast. Heres a selection of some recent columns:

Column: China proving why it didnt deserve OlympicsSource | Daily NebraskanThis weeks Olympics were to be a proud moment for China - a sort of coming out ceremony to mark its entrance to the world stage as a prosperous, developed nation. And if you bought into the image coming from official Chinese sources, this is the nation you would see - proud and dynamic on the world stage. But peel back the thin veneer of state-sponsored media, and a darker picture appears. Read more.

Column: Nobody remembers the Olympic losersSource | Daily CollegianThe Olympics are totally fascist. I bet you had fun watching Michael Phelps demolish a world record Saturday, and watching thousands of Chinese proletariats pretend to be buildings in the opening ceremonies on Friday.But when Phelps raised his arms in victory, I was horribly depressed. Two other dudes got medals, and the rest of them got nothing but a free trip to a country with bad air, no freedom of speech and a relatively low minimum wage. I was reminded that no, sometimes your best is not good enough; sometimes you cant do everything you put your mind to. Sometimes youre not even a bronze medalist. Sometimes, you lose. Read more.

Column: IOC double standard tarnishes gamesSource | The TriangleIf an organization seeks to be politically independent, they must be politically independent for all an equal opportunity organization so to speak and not make scapegoats out of any one nation or region, whatever the cause may be. Something as personal and important as this deserves greater reverence, and deserves to be protected by higher standards than these. Read more.

Column: Put out the (massive, ornamental) torchSource | Daily TexanThe 2008 Beijing Olympics have begun. The nature of the event has always been a paradoxical mixture of nationalism and inane babbling about some global village, and this year is no different, even with the argument against the Olympics being in China. The controversy surrounding the games location, however, is a mere caricature of the typical costs that one nations citizens have to pay during the event. Read more.

Editorial: Good reasons to boycott OlympicsSource | The KaleidoscopeThere are many other reasons for the boycott of China and the Olympic games which include: forced abortions, religious persecution, the death penalty and the restriction of free speech. With the myriad of problems and crisis like situations that China has been involved with in the last decade, it is easy to see why many would be upset about the Olympic games taking place in Beijing. Read more.

Column: Sexism at the Olympic GamesSource | The Rebel YellThe gender determination test for the Olympics is intrusive and also counters what many progressive geneticists, biologists, sexual psychologists, sociologists and feminist scholars have worked towards uncovering gender identity is not attached to sex. Its also worth noting that many people both were born and/or chose to live in a gender that is atypical of societal expectation and do not fit seamlessly into the box of male or female. Read more.