I don't get it. Olympics ought to be boycotted because the nation's minority is rioting and killing people? That doesn't make sense to me.
If we were really outraged by China's actions, we should boycott everything instead of screwing over our athletes.
Agreed. The athletes work and train their entire lives to compete in the Olympics. Don't punish them because you have political beef with a country. If that's the case, boycott them economically - that will get their attention more so than not attending the Olympics.
lol...the west cant get over itself trying to screw up the olympics as much as possible for china. Its low, but I guess thats how the big guys play
If we boycott them it should also be for the sake of brave HAN patriots and dissidents like Yang Chunlin, as well as the oppressed Tibetans. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080324/ap_on_re_as/china_human_rights China rights activist sentenced to jail by ANITA CHANG, Associated Press Writer Mon Mar 24, 10:54 AM ET BEIJING - A Chinese activist who had petitioned for land rights was sentenced Monday to five years in prison and then shocked with electric batons when police scuffled with his family, his lawyer said. ADVERTISEMENT Yang Chunlin had gathered more than 10,000 signatures for an open letter titled "We want human rights, not the Olympics." Most of the signatures came from farmers demanding redress for land taken from them by officials for development. Yang, a former factory worker, was convicted of subverting the power of the state, a charge that authorities commonly use to clamp down on dissidents. Family members tried to talk to Yang as he was escorted from the courtroom, but police pushed his son to the ground, his lawyer, Li Fangping, said. When Yang tried to intervene, he was repeatedly shocked with electric batons, the lawyer said. "Since we haven't seen him, we don't know how he's doing," Li said. Yang's sentencing came as China tries to stifle activists whose criticisms might tarnish the Beijing Olympics, which begin Aug. 8. The country's leaders want to use the high-profile event to showcase that China is modern and stable. But the games are shaping up to be the most politicized in decades, with activists denouncing Beijing's treatment of Tibetans and its diplomatic policies in Sudan. Last month, a Chinese court sentenced democracy activist Lu Gengsong to four years in prison for "inciting to subvert state power." Another dissident, Hu Jia, was tried on the same charge last week but has not yet been sentenced. The Jiamusi City Intermediate People's Court in northeast China's Heilongjiang province handed down Yang's five-year sentence Monday afternoon, court clerk Nie Lei said. Yang can appeal, he added. Yang, 54, has maintained his innocence and called the legal proceedings against him illegal because freedom of speech is supposed to be guaranteed in China, his lawyer said. "But he's said before that he would not appeal because he has lost confidence in China's judicial system," Li said. To rally support, Yang had posted his letter on the Internet. It was not clear for whom the letter was intended. He was detained in July in Heilongjiang and formally arrested a month later. His sister said in October that during his detention Yang was tortured, including having his arms and legs stretched and chained to the corners of an iron bed. Property disputes and illegal land grabs have accelerated as China's economy expands at double-digit rates and farmland is gobbled up for industrial parks and skyscrapers. Government officials often have sided with developers, touching off riots and protests
Not sure what a boycott from me would look like since I likely wasn't going to watch a single minute of it.
I voted yes because it is ridiculous, of course we should not boycott the games, we should not have boycotted the Russian games either. Sports should unite, not be part of politics etc... DD
F-dat. I don't want some stupid Tibetans ruining my Summer tv schedule. Some things are just too important. Let 'em play.
I would inform all the American athletes about not only Tibet but China's record on civil rights and then let them decide if they want to go be a part of the fraud... I mean... show that's going to take place there. They're the ones who've earned the right to be Olympians, they should decide.
I know it's hard for Americans to understand this, but the situation in China has improved dramatically over the past decades. It doesn't seem this way because our attention span does not go back past last month, and that in today's society the media literally reports everything. But it still doesn't take away the reality that China's actually improving in all aspects when it comes to human rights and many other things. If anything, the Olympics will only to further help human rights in China, because the marketing of Beijing and China only makes the country less insular. I'm of the opinion that boycotting the Olympics will not likely have any positive effect on the country's human rights situation, and would probably make things worse.
I don't agree with the PRC policy on Tibet but I don't think we should boycott the Olympics. Isolating the PRC won't help the situation in Tibet and won't help the PRC eventually reform. If anything it might make things worse.
I don't know man. I got a feeling that something is gonna go wrong with this Olympics. You got the terrorists, the human right activists, and the Tibetan chaos. Seems like everything is messed up at this moment.
Maybe US should boycott it, it's not the first time anyways. China can save lots of money with less participants, for Chinese announced to provide free food and accommodation for special Olympics, and they are not going to make money out of the games like US did anyways. Besides, Yao Ming can have a shot for a medal. But make sure to get a few partners to form a "coalition of willing"; otherwise, it might look a little bit silly. On the other hand, if US doesn't boycott it, righteous people can have one more thing to blame Bush.
They free Tibet. We free Hawaii. How 'bout it? "Oh, honest Americans, as Christians hear me for my downtrodden people! Their form of government is as dear to them as yours is as precious to you. Quite warmly as you love your country, so they love theirs. With all your goodly possessions, covering a territory so immense that there yet remain parts unexplored, possessing islands that, although new at hand, had to be neutral ground in time of war, do not covet the little vineyard of Naboth's, so far from your shores, lest the punishment of Ahab fall upon you, if not in your day, in that of your children, for "be not deceived, God is not mocked." The people to whom your fathers told of the living God, and taught to call "Father," and now whom the sons now seek to despoil and destroy, are crying aloud to Him in their time of trouble; and He will keep His promise, and will listen to the voices of His Hawaiian children lamenting for their homes." - Lili`uokalani, Last Queen of Hawai`i "The United States is just - a land of liberty. The people there are the friends - the great friends of the weak. Let us tell them - let us show them that as they love their country and would suffer much before giving it up, so do we love our country, our Hawai'i, and pray that they do not take it from us." - Mrs. Emma Nawahi, Women's Hawaiian Patriotic League
A boycott of the Opening Ceremony like the French are threatening would be a loud enough message. No need to punish the athletes, just make them skip the ceremony. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3620417.ece
A slap in the face like that will most likely anger the Chinese people because it's like a guest disrespecting its host. The Olympics is so personal that you can't punish the government without also making it appear like you're punishing the people. It's easy fodder to stoke claims of Western arrogance and hypocrisy, which the rest of the world will gladly eat up at this point in time.
