Is Eileen Gu Competing for China Problematic?

*TURBONERD*You're missing my point in two ways. First, US is still engaging in plenty of shady shit, like fomenting a war with Ukraine, the migrant concentration camps I mentioned already, and attempting to foment a war with Ukraine. Second, I just don't trust the US media at all when it comes to foreign affairs, as even outlets that aren't explicitly state-run media like NPR try to gin up hate with ridiculous pieces like this (which is actually very OT for this thread), which just cements the distrust I already have because of the long track record of attempting to foment war that I previously mentioned:

https://slate.com/culture/2022/02/eileen-gu-olympics-citizenship-china-usa.html

Finally, if we want to talk about specific reasons to distrust the US media when it comes to China, let's talk about Tibet. Do you know what it was like prior to Chinese occupation? Here's a quick personal snapshot of a country whose social relations were feudal, comparable (loosely, older European history isn't something I'm too well-informed on) to medieval Europe until 1959:

"Tashi Tsering, now an English professor at Lhasa University is representative of Tibetans that do not see China's occupation as worse tyranny. He was taken from his family near Drepung at 13 and forced into the Dalai Lama's personal dance troupe. Beaten by his teachers, Tsering put up with rape by a well-connected monk in exchange for protection. In his autobiography, The Struggle for Modern Tibet, Tsering writes that China brought long-awaited hope when is laid claim to Tibet in 1950."

Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/feb/10/tibet-china-feudalism

The point here isn't about China's actions in Tibet, but rather what you don't hear about China (or any other nation that isn't a staunch US ally). Also, as a final note that doesn't really fit well anywhere else, the wide majority of reports of Uyghur abuse can be traced back to Radio Free Asia, which is quite literally US state media. Would you trust RT to tell you what's going on in the US?

Edit: Changed "literally state media" to "literally US state media".

**This post was edited on Feb 8th 2022 at 2:16:11am

skeirmanShe said in an interview that it is because she "loves her heritage," nevermind she was born and raised in the US and her father is American. Her connection to China is that her mom has Chinese citizenship.

700billionIn which case I don't think its problematic. Its not like she's doing it for the authoritarian regime; Her mom probably left China because of that regime (I don't wanna assume). But people still have a deep connection to their culture- so I think doing it for her Heritage is kinda sweet and also seems like the only reason she would be doing it anyways.

@LANTASKIShe should have skied for Taiwan then since they represent the previous few thousand years of Chinese culture and govt. CCCP is just Marxism+Confucianism.

China as we think of it in an historical and idealized context is what Taiwan currently represents

700billionI just highly doubt Eileen joined China's team to do it for the communist regime that her mother (likely) came to America to escape. I think it makes sense she would do it for her culture and heritage- and in that sense, its sweet.


**This post was edited on Feb 8th 2022 at 7:16:45am

*TURBONERD*So what does that say about athletes representing the US? Do they support the genocide the country was founded on, or the largest prison population (both per capita and absolute) in the world? Do they support the concentration camps that are just as prevalent and just as abhorrent under Biden as they were under Trump?

There are things to criticize about China, particularly some of its conservative social policies and the fact that there are still billionaires in a purportedly socialist country, but even if you take the media fervor about the Uyghurs at face value it's nothing the US hasn't done many times over in terms of scale, and nothing the US isn't currently doing in character. With the multiple blatant instances of outright lying in order to agitate for a war, though, it's difficult at best to take it at face value - a list that's by no means comprehensive includes the Spanish-American War/sinking of the Maine in Havana harbor (which led to a stomach-churning genocide in the Philippines by the US), the Gulf of Tonkin "incident" precipitating the Vietnam War (also arguably a genocide), the Nayirah testimony to justify the Gulf War, and the idea that that Saddam Hussein had WMDs. I encourage y'all to look this shit up. It's a clear pattern.

alpinepleaseShe could have been Liz Swaney 2.0… competing for China may have been her only in to the Olympics with a strong US team..

Deez_McskisShe's kinda hot ngl

alpinepleaseShe could have been Liz Swaney 2.0… competing for China may have been her only in to the Olympics with a strong US team.


As a fellow SF born, Tahoe skier, I was bummed to see her not bringing home hardware to the US.


Her reach is way up tho. Big market. Hope a government official doesn’t get too touchy feely with her because clearly there is no recourse. Peng is so happy! Peng is right there watching. Great misunderstanding.

DummyBearsIn a sense yes but at least it’s not current and not communist it’s still pick bet better of evils but let’s face it every nations done some fucked up stuff I just think we’re a better then that tho.

AndrewGravesSVLemme get this right; communism evil, every country has done fucked up stuff, and usa better than that. Bro you bought into the nationalism cause the usa is fucked lol

AndrewGravesSVLemme get this right; communism evil, every country has done fucked up stuff, and usa better than that. Bro you bought into the nationalism cause the usa is fucked lol

DingoSeanAnd let's be fair, if everyone chose what country to support based on politics, we would all be fucked...



Like, even Canada and Switzerland and Taiwan/RoC itself are fucking horrible when you really dig up the dirt...



Right now there is just a lot of sinophobia going around in America because we are trying to develop a common, misunderstood enemy that we can all unite behind.

Before PRChina it was terrorists...
before terrorists, it was the Soviets...
Before the Soviets, it was the Nazis,
before the Nazis it was Immigrants and minorities...
Before that, it was the south,
and before that, it was the Native Americans.

The United States is only united when it's angry at one particular group... We aren't at war now, so we are searching for a place to throw our ire, disgust, frustration, and outrage.

America made outrage recreational... it's fucking stupid.

PackBombsSo you can’t criticize a government with literal concentration camps for religious minorities among many other human rights violations?

that makes you *insert random word here*phobic?

eheathThis would have been a good bait comment if this wasn't brought up on the first page of the thread, you're a bit late here dude.

PackBombsOh my bad you /thread it already guess we can’t comment on a point made

eheathyou're clearly a member who doesn't use the site very much anymore, but you saw an opportunity to try and make a comment, but you were 2 months late, the /thread doesn't mean anything thats just me saying his comments should be the end of the thread, but it doesnt end it

@LANTASKIThe US wasn't founded on genocide. Watching YouTube docs does not make you an expert in US History. You also cannot equate the actions of men hundreds of years ago to the actions of a regime in our evolved and conscious present epoch that are actually committing genocide. In addition to that China represents the greatest threat to man's natural rights of freedom of speech, expression, privacy etc.

Despite its flaws, US Foreign Policy has defended subjugated people who are generally the targets of real genocide: Bosnians/Ethnic Albanians in the Balkans, Jews in the Holocaust, Yazidis/Christians in Northern Iraq and Syria, ETC ETC

@LANTASKIThe US is not trying to foment a war with Ukraine. You got your nations mixed up , pal. Take a lap and try again.

**This post was edited on Feb 8th 2022 at 6:03:52am

Toona

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@LANTASKIThe US wasn't founded on genocide. Watching YouTube docs does not make you an expert in US History. You also cannot equate the actions of men hundreds of years ago to the actions of a regime in our evolved and conscious present epoch that are actually committing genocide. In addition to that China represents the greatest threat to man's natural rights of freedom of speech, expression, privacy etc.

Despite its flaws, US Foreign Policy has defended subjugated people who are generally the targets of real genocide: Bosnians/Ethnic Albanians in the Balkans, Jews in the Holocaust, Yazidis/Christians in Northern Iraq and Syria, ETC ETC

forrest-coleHoly shit so many opinions by complete internet trolls.. until any of you are skilled enough to go the Olympics and choose who you want to represent. Your opinion is straight trash!



keep trolling NS… on a side note the level of competition last night was epic!

@LANTASKILet me preface this first by saying I think Eileen Gu is an incredible athlete. Clearly she has taken women's skiing to another level and thats cool I guess for the people that are into women's skiing.

While I understand her decision to compete for China given her mother's nationality, her marketability in China as a Gold Winning Skier in a burgeoning snow sports market etc, I still question her judgement and the ethics of skiing for Nation with an Authoritarian Regime that imprisons its religious minorities in concentration camps, censors and restricts the basic human rights of its citizens.

I don't check NS as much as I did 20 years ago, but I find it hard to believe this is only rustlin my jimmies?

I find it disappointing that the switch from the US Ski Team to China is essentially a cash grab/sell out move and it is disappointing seeing these actions taken in a sport that was created by a bunch of dirtbags (I say that with the utmost reverence) who wanted to change skiing from the overbearing regulation and stifling nature of the FIS.

I guess we've officially gone the way of snowboarding

Skiblade420When people say the US was founded on genocide I don’t think they understand the meaning of the word.

Skiblade420When people say the US was founded on genocide I don’t think they understand the meaning of the word.

DummyBearsIn a sense yes but at least it’s not current and not communist it’s still pick bet better of evils but let’s face it every nations done some fucked up stuff I just think we’re a better then that tho.

*TURBONERD*I took a lap and it turns out that a cool, simple analogy would be Russia sending arms shipments to Mexico because the US was doing military drills in Texas. Or, if you want to use a historical example, the USSR sending nuclear weapons to Cuba would serve.

PackBombsSo you can’t criticize a government with literal concentration camps for religious minorities among many other human rights violations?

that makes you *insert random word here*phobic?

@LANTASKIRussia should have the right to do whatever they want within their nations border

@LANTASKILet me preface this first by saying I think Eileen Gu is an incredible athlete. Clearly she has taken women's skiing to another level and thats cool I guess for the people that are into women's skiing.

While I understand her decision to compete for China given her mother's nationality, her marketability in China as a Gold Winning Skier in a burgeoning snow sports market etc, I still question her judgement and the ethics of skiing for Nation with an Authoritarian Regime that imprisons its religious minorities in concentration camps, censors and restricts the basic human rights of its citizens.

I don't check NS as much as I did 20 years ago, but I find it hard to believe this is only rustlin my jimmies?

I find it disappointing that the switch from the US Ski Team to China is essentially a cash grab/sell out move and it is disappointing seeing these actions taken in a sport that was created by a bunch of dirtbags (I say that with the utmost reverence) who wanted to change skiing from the overbearing regulation and stifling nature of the FIS.

I guess we've officially gone the way of snowboarding

alpinepleaseTo bring this one back, who is Eileen Gu’s dad?

This is important.

NoahsArkAnyone who says China is communist is economically illiterate.

Skiblade420When people say the US was founded on genocide I don’t think they understand the meaning of the word.

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DingoSeanYou know what, ill take this bait.. sure..


Shut the fuck up, strawman. That's not what anyone said.

Of course you can criticize someone or something for doing bad shit... none of this says otherwise. Legitimate criticism never makes someone -phobic... I'm far and away the first person to criticize the PRC and CCP. I'm also extremely quick to criticize the USA, but that does not make me americanophobic.. cmon now..

--

In the case of Eileen Gu, none of you guys would give the slightest shit if the corporate media hadn't been lambasting the PRC for decades as a means of finding some form of outrage to deliver to its viewers to keep them watching... the PRC has become this foreboding enemy that is supposedly going to take over the USA or some bullshit (which is hilarious because there is no fucking way) They are exploiting this as some sort of fallacious slipping slope precursor... --first they steal our athletes (lol) next thing you know, they take over our country and make us all speak chinese!--

They're brewing up a new cold war... Eileen Gu competing for the PRC team is just more bullshit being fed to uneducated people (often people who don't even live in places with snow or give a fuck about skiing) who are already upset at China for their manufacturing jobs being sent over there for the last 30 years (when they really should be upset at corporations for moving jobs over there to exploit the cheap Chinese labour force - that's why they lost their jobs)

That's where this sinophobia comes from... it's decades of the corporate media pointing the finger towards this misunderstood thing across the ocean with a language you don't speak, all while it's really their sponsors who screwed you over... They have made China the enemy to deflect blame... And they have exploited the Uighur situation to legitimize what they're doing.



Hundreds if not thousands of athletes have competed under a different flag than the country they were born in... sometimes even raised in... Get over yourselves, and project your outrage somewhere constructive.