China Olympics

[Ghoulish Delight]

So the French have succeeded where others have failed. The last leg of the Olympic torch's relay through Paris has been canceled due to increasing protests and attempts to snuff it out.

I'm of the opinion that the Olympics should be boycotted. It would certainly suck for many athletes, however, if the Olympics are going to maintain their modern goal of promoting world unity and improved international behavior, then China needs to be sent a message. Some have argued that, because the average Chinese citizen is completely in the dark about what their government is doing, a boycott would simply look to them like a power grab by the US. But the reality is, the average Chinese citizen is going to be fed information from their government that we're evil no matter what we do, so I don't find that a compelling argument.

To my mind, China has failed to uphold their end of the bargain. They are not using the Olympics as a stage to become better world citizens and demonstrate their strides towards becoming a modern, humanitarian government as, for a counter example, Korea did in 1988. They instead have taken a blatant step backwards from where they were (or appeared to be) when they were awarded the games. I can't imagine a more clear case for a boycott.