The torch is a symbol of the Olympics but as long as there are attempts to snuff out the flame no matter whether the country tries to get a spin on the issue, no matter whether the country qualifies their crackdown on supposed terrorist acts, the country still falls short of human rights issues.
I have never seen so much emphasis revolving on a flame, this year it appears that the country about to host the games cannot reverse the resentment growing over the lack of its support for human rights. I hate to mention the country's politicians do not even make any public statement regarding the discontent of minorities in western provinces that would like to see more freedom of expression. And this is where the country is going to be doomed to failure because the age-old method of using physical force to maintain an apparent decorum among the entire population, only gives minority populations reason to pursue their road to spiritual autonomy for example. Spirituality is a big deal among the local people who do not wear government uniforms or ride jeeps in fatigues. I am referring to thousands of Tibetan temples that have been destroyed in recent years and the periodic slamming down on dissent among Tibetans voicing their differences in and outside the once independent region. Tibet was run over by the Chinese expanding westward almost 60 years ago. The country's people have since then been displaced to other Chinese provinces in an effort to wipe out any resurgence of a national identity. Other ethnic groups have been allowed to settle in the region known as the "rooftop of the world".
The country decided to portray a disabled Chinese woman as a heroine for protecting the torch on her own but I think that this is a poor substitute for years of forceful central control over the outlying region in question where restraint should be applied. Instead the government tries to excuse itself with half cooked reasons that recent deaths of dissenters were caused out of self-defense.
