Have I been Rip Van Winkle?
I went to our clubhouse to watch the opening of the Olympics on a larger screen than I have at home. It was spellbinding and I really appreciated the time spent constructing this magnificence.
However, when the countries marched in...it was like I was on a different planet. Half of the countries I never heard of. Did the ocean open up and form more islands and then they became countries.
Did I flunk geography? Was I sleeping when the countries were formed.
Did they change the names to protect the innocent like in Jack Webber?
I can't figure it out. The folks sitting behind me went to a school in New York and they never heard of them either.
When did all these changes take place? I have an old world globe...these countries don't exist on it.
I used to collect stamps...never heard of them and I had them from all over the world.
I'm old...is it possible that I have forgotten their names. They're not so primitive....they know about the Olympics because they sent representatives.
Some countries only had one. Most of them were black. Was Africa all divided up.
How do they earn a living in these countries....are they a happy people. We know so little about them.
The longer I live ... the more confused I become.
Are our children aware of these names. Do they ever visit the United States....are they friendly.
It's like they're from another planet. Maybe I need to go back to school?
Today we see China promoting the Olympics for grand propaganda purposes, reintroducing itself to the world for what it expects to be its dominant century. But in 1958 China wanted nothing to do with the rest of the Mao Zedong's People's Republic withdrew from the Olympics altogether that year in an ideological snit over the refusal of Brundage and his IOC cohorts to ban Taiwan, which called itself the Republic of China and was run by Chiang Kai-shek, Mao's old antagonist. In retreating from the Olympics, China denounced Brundage as "a tool of the imperialistic State Department of the United States."
The context was different, but the central political question as the Rome Olympics neared was the same as it is now: how should the world deal with China? The issue was debated that year by Vice President Richard Nixon and Sen. John F. Kennedy during the presidential campaign, and Brundage and the IOC became embroiled in it as well. The United States did not recognize Mao's mainland .
All I ever learned about China was from Pearl Buck and it wasn't very flattering about their girl babies.
Today...half of all the products come from China....and that's shame on us!
However, when the countries marched in...it was like I was on a different planet. Half of the countries I never heard of. Did the ocean open up and form more islands and then they became countries.
Did I flunk geography? Was I sleeping when the countries were formed.
Did they change the names to protect the innocent like in Jack Webber?
I can't figure it out. The folks sitting behind me went to a school in New York and they never heard of them either.
When did all these changes take place? I have an old world globe...these countries don't exist on it.
I used to collect stamps...never heard of them and I had them from all over the world.
I'm old...is it possible that I have forgotten their names. They're not so primitive....they know about the Olympics because they sent representatives.
Some countries only had one. Most of them were black. Was Africa all divided up.
How do they earn a living in these countries....are they a happy people. We know so little about them.
The longer I live ... the more confused I become.
Are our children aware of these names. Do they ever visit the United States....are they friendly.
It's like they're from another planet. Maybe I need to go back to school?
Today we see China promoting the Olympics for grand propaganda purposes, reintroducing itself to the world for what it expects to be its dominant century. But in 1958 China wanted nothing to do with the rest of the Mao Zedong's People's Republic withdrew from the Olympics altogether that year in an ideological snit over the refusal of Brundage and his IOC cohorts to ban Taiwan, which called itself the Republic of China and was run by Chiang Kai-shek, Mao's old antagonist. In retreating from the Olympics, China denounced Brundage as "a tool of the imperialistic State Department of the United States."
The context was different, but the central political question as the Rome Olympics neared was the same as it is now: how should the world deal with China? The issue was debated that year by Vice President Richard Nixon and Sen. John F. Kennedy during the presidential campaign, and Brundage and the IOC became embroiled in it as well. The United States did not recognize Mao's mainland .
All I ever learned about China was from Pearl Buck and it wasn't very flattering about their girl babies.
Today...half of all the products come from China....and that's shame on us!
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