Played in China
There is growing talk of a boycott of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing in protest of the brutal repression of Tibet, which the Dalai Lama calls "cultural genocide":
The Dalai Lama called Sunday for an international investigation into China's crackdown against protesters in Tibet, which he said is facing a "cultural genocide" and where his exiled government said 80 people were killed in the violence.
The demonstrations were the fiercest challenge to Beijing's rule in the region in nearly two decades, leading to sympathy protests elsewhere and embarrassing China ahead of the Olympic Games.
Of course Major League Baseball is ignoring the unfolding tragedy, blinded by the vision of billions of Chinese wearing overpriced official logo gear:
Perhaps no emerging nation presents the potential for economic benefits like one with 1.3 billion possible baseball fans. Selig, having lived through the Cold War, noted the symbolism of the flags of the United States and China flying together beyond the center-field bleachers.
The thought of that old Cold Warrior Selig with his cap over his greedy heart singing the national anthem of still communist China makes me mist up. (Wasn't it Selig who coined the phrase "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"? Who writes this schlock for MLB.com? Oh, nevermind.) He was probably scheming on a deal for Tibetian bats.
As anyone who has read this blog very long knows, I am a strong advocate of the internationalization of baseball. This is one thing Selig has actually got right. There are, however, significant issues to be faced which I'm sure has never entered his amoral equations. Shall human rights be ignored? How do you deal with international conflict? The Olympics have never adequately resolved these and a host of other issues. Is it reasonable to expect MLB will?
Or will they just take the money and look the other way, like they did with steroids, another issue already familiar to the international athletic community?
One thing is for certain: MLB is as facile as the Chinese government with strong arm tactics, and, as we've seen here on MLBlogs, as comfortable with suppression of freedom of expression. So perhaps communist China is the perfect cultural fit for MLB. Tell the Dalai Lama he is welcome in the Red Sox Nation.
heh, 1.3 billion wearing overpriced MLB logo, eh? More likely, the imitation producers will get the bigger share of business than the official merchandise. How ironic would that be?
In the meantime, let me know if you hear of baseball making its way to Thailand.
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J,
Nice catch. Wish I had thought of Chinese piracy in this context.
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