Originally Posted by jimx200
As a former "liberal", I came to realize the MOST intolerant and bigoted people all had one thing in common...they proclaimed to be liberal. It was their way of thinking or you are not enlightened, progressive, or you are a gay basher. They believe that all blacks, mexicans, etc. are alike in they cannot do it themselves and need affirmative action, need a lower level to pass minimum school test standards, and believe that their color is their cross to bear. Sorry, I am old enough to clearly see the liberal bastions of the country as they truly are: Kennedys, Boxer, Schummer, and don't forget Kerry (our very own, authentic War Hero), et all. Maybe time for an extended visit outside the US (a week in Cancun does'nt count) to get a bigger view of the universe.
This is quickly turning into a P&R discussion.
I've never been able to completely give definition to my political leanings. (Don't tell my parents or my wife--which are on opposite sides of the political fence, but I vote pretty bipartison.) And I think maybe I shouldn't. I'm still just trying to take it all one issue at a time, which gets pretty exhausting after a while. There's all the issues that keep coming back to us, like Scopes, Roe vs. Wade, Euthanasia/Right to Die, and so many others, that are so big in some way and probably will never be decided once and for all, and maybe shouldn't be. They're too big, too important, they deserve the everlasting debate. And Affirmative Action is still in its 2nd generation, but it should have the original desired effect by the end of three generations. Acording to the socialologists anyway. But I might be stepping on toes again!
Back to the thread at hand, sporting in China is going through a major upheaval and redefinition right now, and will continue to be defined for a while yet. The government is letting go of some of the absolute control its had over basically everything (provincial and city politics, business, education, etc.) a little at a time. One of the biggest problems occuring that prevents expansion, or emergence, is that theres a lot of graft and corruption. At every level. The central gov has created a tremdous amount of red tape, and through its own corruption it renders the red tape redundant, but still enforces it. And the attitudinal and cultural walls that need to be circumvented are incredibally complex.
How does all this effect professional bicycle racing in Asia or Asians in Pro racing? Time will tell. A large enough body of people that want it. If they can watch it on TV for free, why pay for it? The current attitude is basically, why pay somebody to ride a bike, when so many of us do it for free? "Ridnig bicycles is for peasents; anybody that has a real job takes the company shuttle bus to work."
And participation in sports is basically "silly kid stuff," and is left for the Olys or Championship type events. For the people that go to University, its graduate and get a nice job, a nice apt and get married. For people without the oppurtunity to go to school for very long, its find whatever job that pays best, get some sort of living arrangement, and get married. Other than badminton and ping pong, sports participation doesn't really exist in common Chinese lifestyles.
The other issues is that there's still not a whole heck of a lot of media coverage of international sports like pro racing. Even in the populations you might expect to find interest in it. Unfortunately, if there aren't Chinese athletes doing well in it, it just doesn't get coverage.