Beijing Blackout

Yesterday, at 8pm Beijing time (8am EDT) the Olympic opening ceremonies took place. And here, in the United States they could not be seen on the networks that paid for the exclusive rights to broadcast the Olympics in the United States, NBC. Fortunately I had forgotten yesterday morning in the regular bustle of getting Evan ready for school, because if I had remembered to tune in I would have been angry and disappointed (as it is, I tuned in last night to catch the tape of the broadcast to be angered and disappointed that I had to listen to Bob Costas while the ceremonies were taking place). What sense does that make to delay the broadcast of the Olympic opening ceremonies by 12 hours!?!? Well to the average person who wants to watch them with the rest of the world, it make no sense. But from a business perspective and a marketing perspective, it makes plenty of sense. NBC guaranteed that the ceremonies would only be broadcast in the US at a specific time, guaranteeing a maximum number of viewers at a set time. In doing so, they could charge more for advertising during the commercial spots. It is the same adage, "Profits over People." NBC doesn't care if the citizens of the United States get to see things as they happen around the world, instead we are preempted, censored if you will, in the interests of profits. And we complain about censorship in China.

American Fans Angered by Olympic Ceremony TV Blackout (Yahoo! News)

I did not watch the entire ceremony, but what I saw was pretty impressive. The Chinese spared no expense. And the effects were spectacular!

A Crime so Monstrous

A few months ago I read heard a news story about a new book titled A Crime so Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery. After hearing the interview with the author, report E. Benjamin Skinner, I knew I had to read this book. I went out and bought it the day it hit the book stores. Listen for yourself (from the NPR program "Day to Day"):

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88102060

This book was not disappointing, well worth reading and the $25 I spent on it. This was something had never spent much time thinking about because it is not something I realized happened in such numbers. According to the author, there are more slaves in the world now than at any other time in human history. Even more astounding is that there are more slaves being brought into the United States today than there were in pre-Independence America! Today, when we talk about slavery, the first thing that usually comes to mind is sex slaves - mail order brides from eastern Europe and such. But sex slavery is a small portion of the slavery that takes place. Most slaves are laborers, either domestic or industrial, whose condition is the result of a former debt. Sometimes that debt was as small as 79 cents, and today, two generations later, the family is still working to pay off such a minuscule debt.

Today I watched a very touching movie, Trade. In this film, a boy from Mexico City, struggles to track down his 13 year old sister who was kidnapped by a sex trafficking ring. Kevin Kline, a Texas detective gets involved and and helps the boy try and find his sister. The story is pure tragedy. Will they find the girl? It doesn't matter, there is no happy ending even if they do find her. This is an on going problem in the world and the rescue of one person, as significant as it may be, is still insignificant when compared to the atrocious crimes perpetrated in the slave trade. But we know, slavery is not a new institution. It has been going on for thousands of years. At no time in human history has there been a period without slavery. And what is more, the reasons for slavery remain the same. I very much urge you to watch this movie and read this book. It will put genocide into an entirely new light - one even darker than before.