doug wick

Today my friend Avi posted a link to a New York Times article about how the little girl who sang China’s national anthem in the Beijing Summer Games was lip-synching the voice of another girl who wasn’t cherubic enough to be the face of China.

This set my mind in motion about the whole nature of communism and it’s necessary deconstruction of the individual in order to support the communist collective – the U.S. and China are so different culturally in this basic way. It’s completely fine to have more than one little girl contribute to the idyllic image of China from the Chinese perspective, while in the U.S. we get concerned about the impact on her self-esteem and her ability to feel strong and independent as a result of being deemed “not pretty enough.” Of course, being an Atlas-Shrugged kind of guy myself, it gets me riled up. But nevertheless there is something to be said for a culture that can put themselves completely aside and rejoice in selflessness.

Also, an interesting contrast from elsewhere in the ceremonies – the impressive synchronization of thousands of Chinese drummers and dancers against the individual Chinese athlete who rises by himself, suspended hundreds of feet in the air, to light the Olympic torch. Which image do you think is more impressive to the Chinese, which to Americans?

For me the takeaway – without getting too political – is that we have much to learn about and from each other, and that both feats, the selfless and the selfish, have their places in the world.

Photo Credit: Left, Agence France-Presse; Right, Zhou Liang/Xinhua (via the New York Times)