Olympic Games in China

[Cephius]

So the Olympic Games are in China this year, and I admit I never paid much attention in 2004 or 2000 and was too young to care in the games before that. But since when did the games become some kind of political event? Everyone seems to want to protest/boycott the games because the host country has a shitty human rights record and because of the ongoing conflict in Tibet. Yes, China sucks. Yes, they don't treat people right. But I always thought of the Olympic Games as something that brought the entire world community together in the spirit of competitive sports, and not as some sort of political event for the host country.

So according to this link the heads of state of France, Germany, and the UK have already said they probably won't or won't attend the games because it's in China. Bush is being pressured to not attend either, which I find ironic because if the games were held in the States this year, I'm pretty sure no one would come except for Canada to win the hockey game. Bottom line is I'm tired of people having to make a political statement about every single fuckin thing, and if anything the Olympics should be exempt from this.

Just wondering what people thought of all this.

[Correction]

The games aren't an event for politics? Did you take the requisite 30 seconds to google the history of the games?

1936
1972
1980
1984

Go look up those games...

[Maguspk]

Always been like this lol

Your sentiment that people should just suck it up and move on is a bit weird though. If the games were going to be held in any place where something was going on that wasn't exactly generally accepted by the general modern populus then it's not strange to object to involving yourself with that country. Besides, they are nations, not people, doing things with a "political" agenda in mind is responsible and frankly, acceptable in their cases.

[Creeps]

Looks like someone completely missed the release of "Munich"

[Cephius]

My point is by attending the games and letting your athletes participate in them, doesn't mean you agree with the political views of the host country. I realize it's been like this on occasion in the past, but I just don't agree with it or really understand why. I could see if it was a summit on arms deals or something obviously political in nature, but it's a sporting event.. IMHO none of those political issues have anything to do with the games. Plus every country has something that is viewed as "wrong" or "unacceptable" by someone else, but does that mean they should boycott it too just for the hell of it? There are plenty of other ways to express your dissatisfaction with a country's politics, I just think the Olympic Games should not be one of them.

[Zhais]

My point is by attending the games and letting your athletes participate in them, doesn't mean you agree with the political views of the host country. I realize it's been like this on occasion in the past, but I just don't agree with it or really understand why. I could see if it was a summit on arms deals or something obviously political in nature, but it's a sporting event.. IMHO none of those political issues have anything to do with the games. Plus every country has something that is viewed as "wrong" or "unacceptable" by someone else, but does that mean they should boycott it too just for the hell of it? There are plenty of other ways to express your dissatisfaction with a country's politics, I just think the Olympic Games should not be one of them.

I agree.

I personally aim to one day compete in the Fencing Olympics once I get good enough... I would hate to be accepted, ready then have the president say "Lol, no" to sending me abroad. Would kinda kill the whole point of training for the worlds most prestigious tournament and be prevented from participating due to politics.

[Norelco]

I personally aim to one day compete in the Fencing Olympics once I get good enough... I would hate to be accepted, ready then have the president say "Lol, no" to sending me abroad. Would kinda kill the whole point of training for the worlds most prestigious tournament and be prevented from participating due to politics.

There's nothing like competing in the games...known for brining all of humankind together, in a country with probably one of the worst human rights records ever conceived.

[Correction]

I realize it's been like this on occasion in the past, but I just don't agree with it or really understand why ... IMHO none of those political issues have anything to do with the games. Plus every country has something that is viewed as "wrong" or "unacceptable" by someone else, but does that mean they should boycott it too just for the hell of it?

The Olympic Games ARE a political event, through and through. The opening ceremonies will be dripping with 'China is a great country with happy people everywhere' and you cannot avoid it. There something wrong with calling bullshit on that, as a head of state? The IOC should have seen this shit coming when they accepted the Beijing bid in the first place and now you can't do anything about it. Face reality, unless the games are held in a country that nobody cares about you'll always see protests and the occassional 'yeah my head of state's not going.' Expect more of the same in 2014 when the winter games are held in Russia.

[Blarg]

I'm personally boycotting the games by not competing in and winning every single event this year like I normally do.

[Demosthenes11]

maybe I missed something...
but why did you say people wouldn't come if it were in the USA? Are you seriously saying the USA and china are comparable?

[Cephius]

I personally aim to one day compete in the Fencing Olympics once I get good enough... I would hate to be accepted, ready then have the president say "Lol, no" to sending me abroad. Would kinda kill the whole point of training for the worlds most prestigious tournament and be prevented from participating due to politics.

There's nothing like competing in the games...known for brining all of humankind together, in a country with probably one of the worst human rights records ever conceived.

That's the thing though. If you're going to boycott the games because of China's human rights record, where does it end? Do you boycott games in the US for fighting an illegal war? How about Mexico for employing children? Columbia because of their inability to curtail the drug rings?

That's my whole point, the games shouldn't be about the politics of the host country, they should be about the athletes and the competition. Boycotting them only adds to the issue and really doesn't do anything except make the situation worse.

The Olympic Games ARE a political event, through and through. The opening ceremonies will be dripping with 'China is a great country with happy people everywhere' and you cannot avoid it. There something wrong with calling bullshit on that, as a head of state? The IOC should have seen this shit coming when they accepted the Beijing bid in the first place and now you can't do anything about it. Face reality, unless the games are held in a country that nobody cares about you'll always see protests and the occassional 'yeah my head of state's not going.' Expect more of the same in 2014 when the winter games are held in Russia.

Is probably the right answer, depressing really though

maybe I missed something...
but why did you say people wouldn't come if it were in the USA? Are you seriously saying the USA and china are comparable?

Of course they're not comparable, but anyone who's traveled outside the US in the last 4 years can tell you how highly the rest of the world views America's foreign policy. If the games were held here I wouldn't be surprised if some countries didn't attend out of protest for the Iraq war and the US's "police the world" attitude.

[pohibaba]

Boycott the opening ceremony; let the athletes compete in the actual events.

[Khamsin]

Bush is being pressured to not attend either, which I find ironic because if the games were held in the States this year, I'm pretty sure no one would come except for Canada to win the hockey game.

Because our human rights record is on par with China's? Since the sticking point seems to be how the host nation treats their people within their own country, last time I looked around, things looked pretty nice here in the States.

[Maguspk]

maybe I missed something...
but why did you say people wouldn't come if it were in the USA? Are you seriously saying the USA and china are comparable?

Of course they're not comparable, but anyone who's traveled outside the US in the last 4 years can tell you how highly the rest of the world views America's foreign policy. If the games were held here I wouldn't be surprised if some countries didn't attend out of protest for the Iraq war and the US's "police the world" attitude.

Actually I've talked to people and it's more of a disappointment not anything they'd protest attendance at the games over. Comparing our presence in Iraq to China's human rights history is just off base. It's not fair to say people in other nations think our nation as a whole is just terrible because of the leader we have making some poor decisions. They do seem to express a distaste for Bush and an air of "America needs to not do ____". Believe it or not most nations actually respect the US and after seeing what Bush has done are more disappointed with it than "angry" or "hateful". Just to avoid confusion the foreign people I've discussed this with are from: Spain, France, Denmark and Australia.

[Cephius]

Actually I've talked to people and it's more of a disappointment not anything they'd protest attendance at the games over. Comparing our presence in Iraq to China's human rights history is just off base. It's not fair to say people in other nations think our nation as a whole is just terrible because of the leader we have making some poor decisions. They do seem to express a distaste for Bush and an air of "America needs to not do ____". Believe it or not most nations actually respect the US and after seeing what Bush has done are more disappointed with it than "angry" or "hateful". Just to avoid confusion the foreign people I've discussed this with are from: Spain, France, Denmark and Australia.

My experiences have been similar except people really seem to have a distaste for the American government. They like the American people, have little problems with them, but the American government really ticks them off. I assume you've been outside the US, I haven't, but we've had foreign exchange students from Australia, Germany, and France stay in my house and they all seemed to have the same view. They think America is great, our people are super, but the government and Bush in particular they really do not like. I'm sure a lot of people feel the same way.

[Norelco]

On CNN right now... "Climbers scale Golden Gate Bridge in Olympics protest"

Here we go...

[Quicklet]

The problem is that the Olympics were supposed to showcase the "human-friendly" side of China, meanwhile you have them basically trying to quell a revolt in Tibet and saying "REPORTERS CAN'T BE HERE, SORRY! IT'S ALL THE TIBETANS FAULT THAT THEY'RE RUINING OUR BEAUTIFUL GAMES!"

Meanwhile the world champion marathon runner is going to boycott because he doesn't want to return from the games with black lung from running through that pristine hazy Beijing smog, so there are non-political reasons for there being less than ideal enthusiasm for these games as well.

Honestly I probably wouldn't have cared so much about the games being in China except considering how they're basically trying to use the world stage to show how great a nation they are on the one hand while trampling on people's freedoms (hi2u restricted google/youtube) on the other. So I guess I'll just wait til Vancouver now. It's all about the curling anyway.

Or maybe I should protest the Olympics because of how Chinese RMT is ruining *our* MMOs! That'll send them a message!

[Tristam]

Or maybe I should protest the Olympics because of how Chinese RMT is ruining *our* MMOs! That'll send them a message!

LOL yes! We should join the protests with chants of "Free FFXI" and wave our respective san d'orian, windurstian, and bastokan flags in the first international, pan vanadiel, and cross platform show of support!

[pohibaba]

What exactly would boycotting the games get us other possibly ruining the careers of a few of our athletes? Does anyone honestly think that China will change their policies because of it?

[Maxxthepenguin]

What exactly would boycotting the games get us other possibly ruining the careers of a few of our athletes? Does anyone honestly think that China will change their policies because of it?

Olympic games are a major economic windfall for the hosting country. Boycotting says "no, I won't support that."