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I believe people of morality should boycott the Beijing Olympics, and encourage other companies to not support the Olympics. The Chinese government needs to understand the severe nature of their human rights abuses. It is unfortunate to have to resort to boycotts, but what else are people to do? The following groups, as an example have suffered from Chinese violence and repression:
Tibetans. This matter has been widely discussed in the media, so I will not go into too much detail. Suffice it to say that the Chinese government has tortured or coerced many monks and holy men, to have them denounce their spiritual leaders, and have interfered in religious matters. Tibetan religion as practiced in Tibet is no longer free. This is wrong.
Falun Gong or Falun Da Fa (which means in Chinese "The practice of the Wheel of Dharma/Law"): This is a new religious movement in China, having started in the 1990's by Li Hongzhi. It is a syncretic religion of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confuscianism, with qigong cultivation at its core. Unlike past qigong practices, which emphasized health or other gains, Falun Gong emphasizes spiritual cultivation of the Fa (Dharma, Law) of the universe. The primary values that Falun Gong practitioners cultivate are Truth, Compassion, and Forebearance. Falun Gong has been attacked by the government of Beijing because Falun Gong does not believe in a materialist, state-capitalist worldview, it asserts there are values worth cultivating beyond consumption and modernism. The Chinese government, OTOH, wants to distract people with the baubles of materialism. To attack this religious people of concscience in this manner is wrong.
So, to reward the Chinese government with media publicity is to create an illusion of acceptability to be broadcast all over the planet. The actions of the Chinese government are not those of enlightened beings, they are those of people who are afraid, ignorant, and greedy for power. The Beijing olympics should be boycotted, to do otherwise would be to give approval to their twisted worldview and immoral behavior.
A noble goal, but don't you think you are a bit late to the game (no pun intended)? Your intentions might have had more utility in petitioning the IOC to reject China as a site when they were considering them.
On the contrary... it isn't too late. We can boycott companies that support the Olympics through advertising. Nobody should profit from the Olympics if it involves glorification of a twisted regime's "achievements".
Thank you, and enjoy your +1. It's shameful that China was even considered for the Olympics, let alone awarded them. It was a slap in the face to democracy and human rights all around the world. This is probably the most evil, brutal regime on the planet today. They support totalitarian dictatorships all over the world (with money and arms), they censor and control, they torture and kill people for expressing the wrong religious and political views. But no one wants to acknowledge it, because we like the cheap crap that comes from their slave labor camps too much. Corporations depend on the cheap labor, so they go on about how China is "marching toward democracy." Bull. A tiny, tiny minority of people with ties to the Communist Party are being enriched, but the vast majority of Chinese are still rural peasants. This myth that the middle class is growing gets perpetuated because many of those peasant farmers, unable to survive on the few pennies they make, have no choice but to flee to the cities and take jobs just to feed their families.
The illegal occupation of Tibet alone should be cause for outrage. The Chinese invaded and claimed it as their own, and ever since, it's been a capital offense to even fly a Tibetan flag. The government has raped the Tibetan environment, exploiting it for its natural resources, and it has paid ethnic Chinese to settle in Tibet, as a way to dilute and eventually wipe out Tibetan culture altogether. Human rights groups have reported Tibetans who are routinely tortured in prisons for expressing their political and religious views ... even as far as raping Buddhist nuns with electric cattle prods. The same thing has happened routinely to members of Falun Gong, who have absolutely no revolutionary aspirations. They're just a group of peaceful religious practitioners. But because the Chinese government doesn't endorse them, they're viewed as a threat to be extinguished at all costs. The Communists' paranoia has run rampant since Tiananmen Square. They insist on complete control over people's actions, at all times. That's why they keep censoring access to certain Web sites -- which the even IOC has agreed to, incidentally. Foreign journalists who want access to certain information are quite simply out of luck.
It's the most shameful cover-up in modern society. Every time I hear someone drone on about how we had to invade Iraq because of the terrible dictator there and because we needed to spread democracy, I wonder if they have any clue that things in China are 100 times worse than they ever were in Iraq. The only difference between the two is that China keeps us in a steady supply of cheap labor -- since workers' rights are nonexistent in China -- and it keeps Wal-Mart stocked with cheap crap on its shelves.
I'm not going to disenfranchise the people who participate in the Olympic games, they work their asses off to have the talent they have. Sorry, count me out.
I have a feeling that the experience of the Beijing Olympics -- smog, obvious oppression of the people, lack of internet access, horrific conditions for competition (the marathon may well be cancelled), restrictions on movement and information -- will do more to unmask the true ugly nature of the Chinese regime than any boycott.
I LOVE sports ESP the olympics but its become so commercialized now that even unkown athletes before they win medals are doing commercials and many viewers have lost interest.
This Olympics will be ranked as the least watched seems not the same anymore .
I'm not going to disenfranchise the people who participate in the Olympic games, they work their asses off to have the talent they have. Sorry, count me out.
I agree wouldnt boycott the Olympis but just not as interested in them anymore .
I think the interest in this particular Olympics is very low
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