NationStates Jolt Archive

They tried it in the 70's with the Moscow Olympics and Afghanistan and all it achieved was giving the smaller communist nations a bigger shot for the gold medals.
If anything we should now show China that we support them and their new position of dialog with the Dalai Lama, this will allow us (being the international community) to seem like a have a solid position behind our arguments, and are not just being anti-china no matter what they do.
Granted theres still progress to be made, but it takes alot of little steps and alot of support before China will get to where all the protesters want it to be.

And if your thinking of boycotting it on the grounds of human rights or other abuses, hey, you let genocide committing Australia hold them.

Sssshhhh!!!! You're upsetting all of the neo-hippie liberals and lifestyle anarchists.

/agree

And if your thinking of boycotting it on the grounds of human rights or other abuses, hey, you let genocide committing Australia hold them.

1. When was the last time Australia committed genocide? I mean, we let Germany hold them in the damn 30's.

2. Just because we've done stupid stuff doesn't mean we should do it again. I'm not saying this is an instance of it, but it doesn't make sense to say, like, "Hey, Armenia had a genocide, why was everyone so down on Rwanda?"

Well, America and 28 other countries boycotted the Moscow Olympics in 1980, and 9 years later the Soviet Union collapsed. Coincidence? Quite probably.

1. When was the last time Australia committed genocide?
I point to the policies of the sixties and seventies to remove aboriginal children from their families and raise them in white communities in an attempt at wiping out aboriginal society. I'd call that at least genocidal intent.

I mean, we let Germany hold them in the damn 30's.

In 1936 the Germans had barely begun to enforce ghettos, let alone start up their programs of mass murder. Furthermore, the world political view was slightly different back then.

2. Just because we've done stupid stuff doesn't mean we should do it again. I'm not saying this is an instance of it, but it doesn't make sense to say, like, "Hey, Armenia had a genocide, why was everyone so down on Rwanda?"
Indeed.

Damor: Yes.

They tried it in the 70's with the Moscow Olympics and Afghanistan and all it achieved was giving the smaller communist nations a bigger shot for the gold medals.

But China, unlike the Soviet Union, seems quite a bit more interested in maintaining its international public image.

Think of all the consumer goods it sells to the West.

well i don't know what you mean by "work". certainly no one civil action can be creditied entirely with the achievement of anything. that takes a lot of people having the courage of there convinctions through thick and thin for the long haul. each action like that though, is a call of public attention to the fact, and thus contributes to the EVENTUAL accomplishment of whatever it might be in hopes of.

i mean, you could say the boston tea party didn't "work" too. not in and of and by itself. no one event has ever accomplished BY ITSELF anything, but WHAT IF there HADN'T been people showing up, willing to be killed or encarcerated for their peaceful protests to all sorts of things. if all the things that ghandi did, if no one had showed up for them, or the marches and freedom rides in the 60s, would the chainges that DID occur have happened?

personally i don't give a rat about the so called olympics anyway, but i do see every crittical mass for example, i mean when people show solidarity with each other they give each other hope, and i think that is the main thing, and every one, or almost every one, when it come from and for real people, not some kind of astroturf wool over everyone's eyes, then each step is a step in the right direction.

of course if we really wanted to boycott some of the inequities that are happining in so many parts of the world, tibet, nigeria, myanmar, what we really need to boycott is the oil and automotive industries, which are today's robber barons, (and the real forces behind civil and environmental injustices today), just as rail and steel were a century ago.

=^^=
.../\...

2. Just because we've done stupid stuff doesn't mean we should do it again. I'm not saying this is an instance of it, but it doesn't make sense to say, like, "Hey, Armenia had a genocide, why was everyone so down on Rwanda?"

No, but it does show a level of inconsistency behind those that would try to boycott these Olympics on the grounds of things that they let other governments slide with only 8 years ago.

Oh boo-hoo, so what if it gave the commies more gold medals? We boycotted the "commies" before, why not do it again? In fact, we could hold an entire separate event and reuse Greek or Australian facilities for the countries that want to boycott the slimy commies. Problem solved! :D Or we could just let people who want to cry about this cry.

Some of us don't care about the Olympics because it just bores us to tears. So, we could be counted in the boycott for that reason.

except the big difference between then and now is that the USSR didn't really give a damn if we came or not. Also there was a little thing called the 'Cold War' on at that time, so a boycott was always a possibility.

Now, however, China is increasingly eager (or desperate, depending on your pov) to engage itself in international affairs and to be seen at home (especially at home) and abroad as being a valued and valuable member of the international powerhouses.
A boycott would make them lose face big time. This Olympics is being pushed internally as justification and international acknowledgment & acceptance of the Totalitarianist regime that is the PRC. They want to have a huge games where their athletes (doped to the gills on 'roids) take on the best in the world - and win. This will be shown as 'proof' that China is dominant and the rest of the world bows in awe of them.
A boycott, no matter how much they attempt to colour it up as 'West hates China', will still cause a huge loss of face to the PRC.

Does it count as boycotting the olympics if I wasn't going to watch it anyway?

Does it count as boycotting the olympics if I wasn't going to watch it anyway?

Technically yes because you're not participating as a viewer or supporter.

What do you mean it won't work?

It effectively removes all the protesters from the event.

Boycotting the Olympics will harden the resolve of Chinese youth to side with their government and oppose the agendas of western countries.

I spend a lot of time with college-age Chinese, and this is the fact of the matter.

Technically yes because you're not participating as a viewer or supporter.

Awesome. *boycotts*

Awesome. *boycotts*

The best part of a boycott is that it takes no effort whatsoever! :D :D :D

The best part of a boycott is that it takes no effort whatsoever! :D :D :D

I know! Much better than protesting.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e283/Slippery__Jim/20534_large.jpg

First seen by me somewhere on this forum...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b383/DrkHelmet/naziolympics.png

Boycotting has nothing to do with medal count. It hurts them financially by not sending our competitors, support teams, and fans.

They tried it in the 70's with the Moscow Olympics and Afghanistan and all it achieved was giving the smaller communist nations a bigger shot for the gold medals.
If anything we should now show China that we support them and their new position of dialog with the Dalai Lama, this will allow us (being the international community) to seem like a have a solid position behind our arguments, and are not just being anti-china no matter what they do.
Granted theres still progress to be made, but it takes alot of little steps and alot of support before China will get to where all the protesters want it to be.

And if your thinking of boycotting it on the grounds of human rights or other abuses, hey, you let genocide committing Australia hold them.

That was the 1980's, not the 70's

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e283/Slippery__Jim/20534_large.jpg

Lets not forget the Tibetan flags. They're made in China too. For srsly.

Am I one of the few people that think a nation has the right to do what it pleases within its own borders? I sure as hell wouldn't want some other nation telling me what to do within my own.