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IOC And China Censorship: What A Kroc.

By Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson

The opposite of love is not hate, it?s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it?s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it?s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it?s indifference. Elie Wiesel

When I was maybe 11 or 12, I read about Ray Kroc's founding of McDonalds. Whatever I read made Kroc out to be some sort of saint and even sought to explain away his initial unwillingess to hire African-Americans as not having arisen out of any racism on his part, but out of his realization that the American public was not ready to have Blacks serving them food. I thought Kroc was horrible for taking this position and even worse for trying to spin it. I saw (and still do) Kroc as worse than the racist who would not hire African-Americans at all; Kroc knew his position was morally indefensible, but rather than make an effort to educate or inculcate or use his position for change, he let it all just slide. Stories out today on how the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is admitting it agreed to a censorship deal with China. Shameful. For more on this, check out the following: "China & IOC lied - Internet access for media to be censored for Olympics" at Americablog.com "If You Are Surprised By This, Raise Your Hand So I Can Laugh" at Signal To Noise. "China backtracks core Olympic promise" at Vox Populi "Surprisingly, All The Porn Comes In Fine [Beijing Olympics]" at Ennvy.

Full post as published by China Law Blog on July 30, 2008 (boomark / email).