Absurdity, Allegory and China

In the latest dance of finger-pointing into empty space, the IOC has unveiled their newest strategy, which is actually an ESL Revisionist View of Recent History. As the flap continues over what the IOC was promised by BOCOG and China and what the IOC head, Jacques Rogge, actually meant to say about the censorship issue rather than what he actually said, this latest from AP, referring to and quoting IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies, really helps clear the air.

One reporter quoted IOC president Jacques Rogge as saying “foreign media will be able to report freely and publish their work freely in China. There will be no censorship on the Internet.”

Davies suggested that Rogge, who is Belgian, may have not been completely precise when he spoke because he was using English, which is not his native tongue.

“There’s been no change in the IOC’s position,” Davies said. “Again, I think we are trying to hang on every single word often spoken by people whose mother tongue isn’t English. Let me be clear again: The IOC would like to see open access for the media to be able to do their job.”

If this is how they deal with problems, no wonder they’re neck-deep in them. Would it surprise anyone if the IOC folks showed up at the next press conference with top hats, wands and a reeking hutch of fuzzy rabbits. Or maybe Jacques doing card tricks, in French.