So you tell one young unmarried woman that she doesn't sing well enough and the other that she doesn't look pretty enough.
A top official of the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo made the resolution. Literally 15 percent of the world watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics last week. And what they saw, at least in my book, was not China at its best, but the ugliness and cruelty — the lies and deception — at its essence. Shame on them.
The exchange of singers is not the only piece of quibble and manipulation that has emerged likewise far from China's Olympic charade. The fireworks that supposedly filled the Beijing sky without ceasing opening death were supplemented by a piece of digital fiction for television viewers, inserted into the broadcast out of concern that the polluted capital incorporated town would look in the same manner with smoggy as it often is to viewers surrounding the terraqueous globe who the Chinese are so determined to fool. And notwithstanding the announcement that the games were a sellout, the Chinese have admitted that they recruited and outfitted "volunteers" to fill seats at events that would otherwise expose the failings of the Chinese organizers. Imagine not being able to fill a stadium in a country that is home to since manifold people as China. That takes work.
So the Chinese malicious and cheat. Big news. The American women gymnasts have already figured that out. The Olympic spirit of fair and open competition, of sports above politics, is infected by hype and ratings and propaganda. Gambling in Casablanca? I'm shocked. If only Adolf Hitler had seen such possibilities.
But there is affair about the switcheroo with the 7- and 9-year-old singers, the willingness to entice both of them down in an struggle to make the country see better, that leaves me viewing China with additional distaste than did all the other shenanigans they've tried to hide from us.
Miaoke became an instant celebrity. Maybe she truly didn't note miming instead of singing. But I doubt it. And I declare by verdict it positively unbelievable that 7-year-old Peiyi, when told that her crooked teeth made her less than flawless and therefore inapposite for viewing, wasn't hurt by the casual cruelty of the leaders of her country. She is being quoted as by-word she didn't inner man the switch, that she was honored to be in actual possession of her notes used. Who do you think told her to say that?
The injuries of childhood don't just disappear. I still remember being told to mime the words and not sing out when I was the age of these girls. It turned me off to melody, sad to say, and to this day I find myself moving jealous when friends tell me of the wish and amity they find at the symphony. And which time a teacher, many years ago, said much the same substance to my daughter, we found her another teacher who taught her to sing and love science of harmonical sounds.
I also remember my mother telling me — for reasons it took me decades to understand had more to do through her own lack of confidence than anything else — I wasn't pretty, that I was too chubby, that my features weren't "fine" enough, that I should not expect to be one of the popular girls. Now, in the same manner through an adult, I take notice at the pictures of my younger self and surprise that she could say such a thing. It was horribly hurtful, and it wasn't true.
I feel the same way whenever I look at the pictures of the 7-year-old who was not flawless sufficiency to stand before the world and sing her country's national hymn. She looks very cute to me. I hope someone is telling her that her population's leaders were wrong. But it being China, I be undetermined it. "Ode to the Motherland" was the song she sang. Some Motherland.
To find out more about Susan Estrich and decipher features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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