Sarah-Hope had asked me, in comments, what my thoughts were on the overall boycott of the Olympic games.
I can only speak for myself, so I've decided to state plainly what I do think. I don't expect anyone else to think the way I do and I respect what they may chose to do, but I cannot watch the games. I also refuse to support companies that donated to the IOC. Since my $$$ are all I have to fight with, so be it.
Human rights issues are my only focus. I never will support any government, Democratic, Socialist or Communist when they engage in abuse of Human Rights. It is far too late in the Human Experiment, and we've had lots of warnings, to think that we can turn a blind eye to things that involve Human Rights abuses.
Obviously, I won't support a government like China which is now jailing citizens for speaking out in the past, and is actively pushing people off their land so that Olympic facilities can be built. All that puts the abuse squarely in the middle of human rights violations, and into my consciousness as so egregious that I can't watch, or support those who sponsor, the Olympics this year.
No should mean no in anyone's language. They, the Chinese Government, didn't keep their word about transparency, as I see it. They have been very unkind to their people in this and I don't like it one bit.
What I don't understand is why we (the U.S.A., I mean) are friendly with China, and won't have anything at all to do with Cuba.
ReplyDeleteThis is what I see, Pogonip. The US can't control China, so we have tried to force them to change by making them indebted to us, owing us big bucks, for infrastructure building. It didn't work the way it's worked with smaller nations. They don't have a normal market economy, they have a State Capitalism, like the old Soviet Union. Elites at the top control everything. They buy our dollars and hang on to them. Plan A is in the scupper.
ReplyDeleteCuba we can both ignore and control so we do. We are being bullies to Cuba, and no one can force us to change our stupid attitude about it either. China can force us to change everything. China hasn't even begun to move all it's limbs.
Thanks for posting on this, lella. I appreciated reading your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteS-H
A very thoughtful post regarding a competition that, on its very best day, seems to encourage the very worst of jingoism everywhere, and at its worst, can become a grand stage for the most malevolent among us.
ReplyDeleteI started boycotting the Olympic Games years ago (and not simply because they have repeatedly rejected my entreaties to add the TV remote control competition, for which I've now wasted years training), after layers of Munich and Moscow and Reagan and politics finally obscured any vision I had of "amateur" athletics-- competing for love of the sport.
With the deaths of the 16 policemen in Xinjiang and the heavy hands of the Chinese government alternately beckoning and intimidating, I am extremely frightened about what else could happen during these "games".
However, politics, humanity, and public safety be damned: The contracts are all signed and there's money to made. So full speed ahead...
You're welcome, S-H. Your comment made me think harder but it was good for me.
ReplyDeleteAye, Sam, we will probably not see the repression or the violence by the government there, just what they want us to see, and call, terrorist.
And yes, there's money to be made! I think that we need to back track from this massive spectacle. In truth, in the case of skating anyway, the World Championship is regarded as more important. But big capital can't feed off the "little scattered venues" as easily. I join you in thinking it's ugly,( further, I think it's contrived and artificial) and it sure isn't amateur contestants out there competing for titles anymore.