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| SFReader Forums > The Real World > World Events > Should we boycott the China Oylimpics? | Forum Quick Jump
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Frank
Adept
      
Date Joined Aug 2005
Total Posts : 629
| Posted 4/23/2008 1:26 PM (GMT -4) |   | | maybe it's cuz i was never much of a sports enthusiast, but i think the olympics are a bunch of pompus crap anyway and among the generation younger than me, unless they are atheletes themselves, they don't give a shit either... | | Back to Top | | |
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Scott M. Sandridge
Former King of Shameless Plugs
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 693
| Posted 4/22/2008 4:45 PM (GMT -4) | |
Jaqhama said...
Scott M. Sandridge said...I doubt boycotting the Olympics would do much. If the Tibetans show a willingness to fight back, I'd be all for supplying them with all the equipment they'd need (after all, better to give the guns to them than our wannabe dictator "allies" who only pretend to be friendly). No, the only type of boycott that'd be effective would be one that hits them where it actually hurts: an economic one.
Sure give the Tibetans guns and watch China slaughter a few thousand at a time.
China would roll right over Tibet in an armed conflict.
Giving them firearms isn't the answer.
World condemnation of China's tactics in Tibet and even boycotting China goods will be much more effective.
At least they'll get to die on their feet instead of on their knees. I know what choice I prefer on that. While world condemnation and boycotting goods would be most effective, do you honestly think most people will stop watching Britney Spears long enough to give a crap and do it? I highly doubt it.
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Jaqhama
Adventurer
Date Joined Oct 2007
Total Posts : 464
| Posted 4/22/2008 2:41 PM (GMT -4) | |
Scott M. Sandridge said...I doubt boycotting the Olympics would do much. If the Tibetans show a willingness to fight back, I'd be all for supplying them with all the equipment they'd need (after all, better to give the guns to them than our wannabe dictator "allies" who only pretend to be friendly). No, the only type of boycott that'd be effective would be one that hits them where it actually hurts: an economic one.
Sure give the Tibetans guns and watch China slaughter a few thousand at a time.
China would roll right over Tibet in an armed conflict.
Giving them firearms isn't the answer.
World condemnation of China's tactics in Tibet and even boycotting China goods will be much more effective.
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MichaelEhart
Sage
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 2324
| Posted 4/8/2008 5:50 PM (GMT -4) | | As a politically active geek for the last 40 years or so, I have to say that boycotts, for the most part, have little or no net effect other than making the boycotter feel noble and virtous.
The lettuce boycott in the 70's eventually worked, and some TV show boycotts work because the boycotters target advertisers, who are sensitive to that sort of pressure. The US not participating would most likely have no discernable effect, as we would (international opinion! please don't flame me) be calling the kettle black, due to our equally unpopular presence in Iraq. Once again, not arguing the differences, just the perception.
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4503
| Posted 4/8/2008 5:05 PM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4503
| Posted 4/8/2008 11:24 AM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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DAWaverly
Quirky Weirdness
Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 259
| Posted 4/6/2008 7:54 PM (GMT -4) | | Steven the Git said...
But seeing as we have the next Olympics, and also as we have forces in two countries, if we boycott, then others could boycott us for valid reasons. Mind you, in saying that, it could happen anyway.
I thought about mentioning in this thread that my nation, US of A, is currently occupying two nations, and that a boycott could be seen as hypocritical by some. I decided not to. I did however obsess about my statement earlier in the thread...
DAWaverly said...
For many of us (and I do include myself) it is easy for us to spout off about some injustice on a forum or blog and then feel good about ourselves. But have we really done anything?
... and ended up kicking out an experimental bit of fiction that, even if it doesn't sell, at least has me being more aware that I personally need to take more action instead of just talking or blogging about it.
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Steven the Git
Neophyte
Date Joined Nov 2007
Total Posts : 195
| Posted 4/6/2008 3:16 PM (GMT -4) | | Have to say from a british viewpoint it is a hard one to call. If we didn't send our athletes, well, first, would anyone notice?!
But seeing as we have the next Olympics, and also as we have forces in two countries, if we boycott, then others could boycott us for valid reasons. Mind you, in saying that, it could happen anyway.
I do think if major nations did boycott China would be very embarassed and they do want to appear better in world views, if for nothing more than money as well. I think it would have meaning, but would it work? I guess sometimes that isn't the question. You sometimes should say it is worth trying.
To be honest, I doubt I'll watch the games as there is nothing in there I truly respect or enjoy. So I could well boycott for different reasons - ie. it's crap.
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Jaqhama
Adventurer
Date Joined Oct 2007
Total Posts : 464
| Posted 4/4/2008 6:26 AM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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tchernabyelo
Acolyte
Date Joined Oct 2006
Total Posts : 434
| Posted 3/26/2008 6:40 AM (GMT -4) | | It's interesting to note that, as Europe "tears down" borders in terms of the movement of people, many countries are making it much, much harder to gain citizenship, and are moving towards a real two-tier society - those who can visit and stay and work for a certain length of time but have very limited rights in areas such as healthcare and pension provision, against those who are "full citizens". I find it a rather worrying trend.
Brian Dolton
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Gustavo
Sage
Date Joined Aug 2007
Total Posts : 1211
| Posted 3/25/2008 2:25 PM (GMT -4) | | Intersting question. I'm not in favor of boycotting the Olympics, and I really believe that tyranny in China will fall the same way it did behind the Iron Curtain: as a greater number of Chinese become educated and globalized (China tries to censor the internet, but it's a pretty empty gesture), and as commercial pressures mount, totalitarianism will either collapse or adapt. Either will be good for human rights.
I'm not actually certain that democracy would WORK in China (I'm from Argenitna, the country that proves that democracy gives the people the government they deserve, in our current case the rule of imbeciles over imbeciles) and a failed government in China could mean millions or tens of millions dead. It's a tough problem, but I think, in the end, globalization will absorb the Chinese, too.
Interesting thing about Basque separatists... As Europe strives to tear down more and more borders, do ethnic groups even need to have a specific territory?
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peadarog
Acolyte
Date Joined Oct 2005
Total Posts : 299
| Posted 3/25/2008 12:26 PM (GMT -4) | | "While I am no fan of, or apologist for, the Chinese regime, Tibet's right to "independence" is a question that has merit on both sides - just as any other ethnoic/religious grouping of people who find themselves subject to the rule of "outsiders" (in what way are the Tibetans different from Kurds, Chechens, Basques, French Canadians, Lakota Native Americans, San Bushmen, and so on and so forth?)."
I'm a big fan for allowing all of these peoples to have self-determination if they want it. Why should people who want a divorce be forced to stay in an unhappy marriage? In the case of Tibet, it was already an independent, very peaceful country until China invaded it.
Peadar O Guilin
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