Olympics should not be in Beijing

The Olympic Games have stood as an event that the world stood still for, a chance for countries to have their athletes compete for their nation and not a team to earn honor and respect for not only themselves, but their homeland. Hosting the Olympics is something of great importance to the country that hosts it, a chance to show off all the shining aspects of the country and for the world to get to know it better. So when it comes time for the International Olympic Committee to name the host cities for the Olympics, it is a big deal.\nFriday, the IOC named Beijing, China, as the host of the Summer Olympics in 2008. Also up for consideration were Toronto, Canada, Paris, France, Istanbul, Turkey and Osaka, Japan. In the vote by the members, Beijing won by a large margin over Toronto, who was second in the voting. This was despite numerous protests from several different groups around the globe concerning China and their poor human rights record. And this decision for Beijing to host is a mistake.\nFor years, China has not been the best when it comes to treating their citizens. Most remember the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, added into the fact that China has ruled over Tibet since 1950 and the fact that China is the largest Communist state left in the world. These facts have been the center of the debate about whether Beijing should host the Olympics or not. After finishing second to Sydney in the vote for hosting the 2000 Summer Olympics, Beijing has been considered the front runner for hosting.\nSome think that hosting the Olympics will be the event China needs to turn the corner on human rights and improve their record, much as South Korea did in 1988 when it hosted the Olympics. IOC hinted at this being the reason for the decision when he said during the announcement, "Possibly today this opens a new era for China."\nBut giving the Olympics to Beijing is a bad idea because of the human rights issue. It is an honor to host the Olympics, as it is two weeks where eyes all over the world are focused on your country and culture. It should be a celebration of a country and its past successes and future potential. It's true China might turn the corner and correct its past errors when it comes to human rights. But the fact is, at this point it has not, and it doesn't deserve the honor of hosting the Olympics. After all, Germany hosted them in 1936 under Hitler, and that didn't necessarily turn that country towards the better.