It's 3AM. Your wife, husband, co-worker, best friend, is over in Beijing this summer working. They're in trouble. Maybe even arrested. Who you gonna call? Who's going to stand up for those of us stateside who just hope our friends get home safely and without incident? Don't count on the folks in Lausanne to back us up. They're too busy being in denial of the issues that have been raised in regards to the 2008 Games. We'd rather protect our bottom line-and to hell with the human element.
I sincerely hope you don't get that "middle of the night" phone call. I have-and when your friend is thousands of miles away, there is little one can do but only hope the local authorities will step up to the plate and guarentee fair treatment or justice served in the case of a crime being committed against the people you care about.
That is a precarious position to be in. You'd like to think that besides your employer (if you have one if not self-employed) and your family, the IOC would be watchful for any behavior that is out-of-order by the local Beijing authorities. But it looks like this summer those of us here in the US (or outside China) are stuck on our own, with gearing up for several weeks of worry, hoping everyone gets home safely.
Moral of the story: just cross your fingers that you don't get into trouble over there. The IOC is too busy protecting it's own interests to worry about the safety of journalists during the Games time period.
And that is a dammed shame. And it doesn't have to be that way.
As for me, I won't rest until everyone I know going over there is accounted for-in this or any other Western country.
Too bad the IOC doesn't pick up the phone on this one. Guess we are expendable.
Just as I thought.
