The recent turmoil in Tibet has renewed conversation in several countries over boycotting the Beijing Olympics. While upheaval and unrest in China is nothing new, it is a stark reminder of China’s dark side coming up at a bad time.
The truth is China has acted in recent years like a never-do-well sibling. You know the kind who keeps coming back to the house insisting they have cleaned up their act and then goes and does something stupid again? Between shoddy products, poisonous foods, inaction in Darfur and Burma, and numerous human rights violations, it makes one wonder why Beijing was still considered for the Olympics in the first place. (Admittedly, it helps that the games were awarded during some "down time.")
It is downright disheartening that some of the people who made the decision to grant the games to Beijing are now some of the very same people saying their countries are going to boycott the Olympics. What good do they honestly think boycotts of the Olympics are going to? The Olympics will go on regardless of who shows up. The Chinese could play themselves if they wanted to.
The only people a boycott would hurt would be the athletes at this point. These are the people who followed their dreams and put their lives on hold in pursuit of them. They have bled and sweat for what they wanted to achieve, and now it is all threatened to be for naught because a suit in an office is second guessing themselves and wants to make a political statement that won’t make fuck-all difference.
If you want to make a statement to China, sanction them. Taking away a sporting event changes nothing. Leave the boycott up to the individual athletes and let them decide with their own conscience what to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment