• China is upset with the media complaining about limited freedoms, even though the country promised to lighten up when it bid for the Olympics. Roughing up British journalists and keeping greens free from demonstrators, says China, "does not mean we are not fulfilling our promise." [WSJ]
• The Spanish are upset that everyone is calling them racists, even though their Olympics basketball team was photographed pulling their eyes into slants to imitate the Chinese. It's our fault for "gratuitously" trying to "damage the image not just of the federation but of the country and Spanish sport" in general by assuming they were having a joke at China's expense, and not celebrating athletic brotherhood with them.
When Spain's national basketball team got caught in a photograph pulling its eyes into slants — to mimic Chinese eyes — before the Olympic games, they were immediately lambasted by everyone form the International Olympic Committee to fellow athletes. This is because it's mean to stereotype your fellow brothers in sport and so grossly offend them (despite growing popularity for eyelid surgery). The team tried excusing it, with Jose Manuel Calderon of the Toronto Raptors saying, "We thought it was something appropriate and that it would always be interpreted as somewhat loving. From here I would like to declare that we have a huge respect for the East and their people, some of my best friends in Toronto are from China and one of our Spanish National Team sponsors is the Chinese brand Li Ning. Anyone who would like to interpret this differently is absolutely confused."
Ah yes, the "but I have a Chinese friend" excuse.
No matter. While the Chinese team did lose to Spain on Tuesday, they found that stereotypes work both ways: CONTINUED »
Good news, Yahoo!: You’re not the only American service provider to cave under the pressure of a foreign government. At the behest of a Spanish internet quality control agency, Microsoft has removed four blogs it hosted that promoted eating disorders.
In the meantime, Spanish girls look to “recovering” anorexics for thinspiration.
