China Olympics

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

How is that less empty than boycotting the whole thing?

Because anything short of a full boycott means continuing to engage with their government, legitimizing it on the world stage. To me, it's not about who is watching or what a television audience thinks. It's about our government not engaging with a corrupt murderous government.

I will say that, like scaeagles, I have oscillated and it's only within the past couple of days that I've felt my position galvanize in favor of a full boycott. I do feel for the athletes, but I'd like to think that, were I to have any actual athletic talent and be in the position to be an Olympic athlete, that I'd recognize that sometimes making a statement serious wrongs should take precedent over my individual accomplishment.

Of course, when I've fallen on the opposite side of the argument, I've also realized that I might welcome the opportunity to individually make the decision to not participate, rather than have that decision forced on me, but I keep coming back to the reality that, since the Chinese government isn't exactly allowing the realities conversation to reach the ears of the average Chinese citizen, the only real actions of value can be made by political bodies such us Olympic committees and other US government representatives.