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Boycotting the Olympics?

Matt79

Global Moderator
Anyone else thinking of just boycotting this year's Olympics? It's full of sports that I don't care about for 206 out of every 208 weeks, with competitors who always turn out to be on performance enhancing drugs, plus despite pipe-dreams about separating sport from politics it's serving to legitimise and celebrate current Chinese government despite the various crappy things that government has been doing and will no doubt continue to do. Just reckon, despite my normal bloke's ability to get into any televised sport after 10 minutes of watching, that I'll give the whole thing a miss this Olympiad.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
I don't know. Olympics are pretty harshly tested for steroids.

Really though, who cares about steroids? It's really the most overblown issue in sports today. My love of baseball hasn't lessened after the steroid era - it's just something for the talking heads to go on about. If it meant Phillies would win the world series, I'd pump them all up full of steroids myself. You're a guy who is on the borderline of being in the league, with a choice of making $1million minimum, or making $300/week playing in the minor leagues, and the choice is quite obvious in terms of what you'd do.

With respect to China and democracy, I'd probably agree with you. But while I don't really enjoy most of the sports, I think when it starts, people will forget about it and just enjoy the games.
 

Matt79

Global Moderator
Totally disagree with you on steroids. If a guy's taking steroids to be competitive, he's dog**** on the sole of the shoe of the sport in my view, and if its the case that a sport appears to be failing to deal with systemised doping, then it loses any appeal in my eyes. Difference of opinion I guess, but I like to know what I'm watching and feel that its the athlete and not his chemist who's the hero.
 

_Ed_

Request Your Custom Title Now!
I certainly will be, to an extent. Usually I find it hard to get away from the TV even for sleep during the Olympics, but for the reasons you mentioned (mostly the Chinese government) I won't be taking much of an interest this time.

I've got a family friend in the NZ rowing team so I'll watch her races, not planning to watch much more than that though. Having said that, I'll still find it hard not to watch when there's a NZer in with a strong medal chance.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Totally disagree with you on steroids. If a guy's taking steroids to be competitive, he's dog**** on the sole of the shoe of the sport in my view, and if its the case that a sport appears to be failing to deal with systemised doping, then it loses any appeal in my eyes. Difference of opinion I guess, but I like to know what I'm watching and feel that its the athlete and not his chemist who's the hero.
Steroids help, but they won't turn me into Barry Bonds anytime soon. Plus if enough people are taking it, it evens out.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
I'm not a huge fan of Olympic sports by any stretch of the imagination but I'll probably watch a fair amount of it anyway.

Boycotting it on political grounds is a nice idea (well you know what I mean :p) but it's not actually a Chinese tournament as such - it's an IOC tournament staged in China with athletes from all over the world. I think boycotts of China could be better placed on Chinese merchandise than televised sport from the country, particularly given the nature of the Olympics themselves.
 

Matt79

Global Moderator
Steroids help, but they won't turn me into Barry Bonds anytime soon. Plus if enough people are taking it, it evens out.
Meh, that's just rationalising cheating in my view. They obviously make a difference - I know they don't turn fat slobs into champions, but they give an extra edge. No different from match-fixing in cricket or bribery in real life. Plus my sympathies lie with the poor honest competitors who aren't willing to roll the dice with their long term health/compromise their morals and who therefore probably don't even make the finals...
 

Matt79

Global Moderator
I'm not a huge fan of Olympic sports by any stretch of the imagination but I'll probably watch a fair amount of it anyway.

Boycotting it on political grounds is a nice idea (well you know what I mean :p) but it's not actually a Chinese tournament as such - it's an IOC tournament staged in China with athletes from all over the world. I think boycotts of China could be better placed on Chinese merchandise than televised sport from the country, particularly given the nature of the Olympics themselves.
That's a good point, albeit hard to do in practice. Plus stopping buying products made in China will cost working class people their jobs in the end, whereas not watching the OIympics won't. Moreover, I'm not saying that athletes should have to boycott it to support a political point of view if they don't want to, I'm just saying I'm not going to watch them or the event.

On a slightly new twist on the "Hitler - if you had a time machine" question, if you had a time machine and had the chance to attend the 1936 Berlin Olympics would you?
 

Johnners

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Nah, Olympics ftw, could never boycott them. That and I don't have particularly strong feelings re: China.
 

Matt79

Global Moderator
If I really liked the Olympics, if it were (for instance) the cricket World Cup, I probably wouldn't plan on boycotting. But given, as stated, I'm not a big wrap on the Olympics anyway, that's my plan. Maybe that's slightly hypocritical - I'm not sure.
 

_Ed_

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On a slightly new twist on the "Hitler - if you had a time machine" question, if you had a time machine and had the chance to attend the 1936 Berlin Olympics would you?
Interesting question.

Inclined to say no, but Jesse Owens was an absolutely incredible athlete and must have been amazing to watch.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
That's a good point, albeit hard to do in practice. Plus stopping buying products made in China will cost working class people their jobs in the end, whereas not watching the OIympics won't.
That'd only happen if it was a widespread national boycott though (in which case new jobs would be created anyway due to the demand for non-Chinese substitute goods) - if there was a similarly widespread boycott to the Olympics, you'd see the extra staff Seven would have taken on for the event lose their jobs as well.

I wasn't suggesting something so large anyway though: merely a slightly more apt target for your household statement. We actually took it on in this household not long ago - we try our hardest to avoid Chinese goods wherever possible. As you said it's hard to implement - non-Chinese companies will often use Chinese parts for things without warning, especially in electronics, but it's our little stand I suppose.

If I really liked the Olympics, if it were (for instance) the cricket World Cup, I probably wouldn't plan on boycotting. But given, as stated, I'm not a big wrap on the Olympics anyway, that's my plan. Maybe that's slightly hypocritical - I'm not sure.
It is a bit, but go for it anyway I reckon. We all have our line in the sand when it comes to political ideals v convenience/enjoyment. I won't be doing it myself for the reasons I outlined in my first post in this thread but I don't think it's a bad stand to take, slightly hypocritical or not.
 

Matt79

Global Moderator
That'd only happen if it was a widespread national boycott though (in which case new jobs would be created anyway due to the demand for non-Chinese substitute goods) - if there was a similarly widespread boycott to the Olympics, you'd see the extra staff Seven would have taken on for the event lose their jobs as well.

I wasn't suggesting something so large anyway though: merely a slightly more apt target for your household statement. We actually took it on in this household not long ago - we try our hardest to avoid Chinese goods wherever possible. As you said it's hard to implement - non-Chinese companies will often use Chinese parts for things without warning, especially in electronics, but it's our little stand I suppose.



It is a bit, but go for it anyway I reckon. We all have our line in the sand when it comes to political ideals v convenience/enjoyment. I won't be doing it myself for the reasons I outlined in my first post in this thread but I don't think it's a bad stand to take, slightly hypocritical or not.
Missing my point/I haven't explained myself well a bit. I don't want to boycott Chinese products because I have no problem with the Chinese people or China as a country. I have a problem with the current government and the Beijing Olympics have become very closely tied to the Chinese government. I don't really care if my shirt or car stereo is made in China as opposed to the US or even Australia.
 

Johnners

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Missing my point/I haven't explained myself well a bit. I don't want to boycott Chinese products because I have no problem with the Chinese people or China as a country. I have a problem with the current government and the Beijing Olympics have become very closely tied to the Chinese government. I don't really care if my shirt or car stereo is made in China as opposed to the US or even Australia.
Disappointed to read the last sentence tbh, Australian made ftw.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Missing my point/I haven't explained myself well a bit. I don't want to boycott Chinese products because I have no problem with the Chinese people or China as a country. I have a problem with the current government and the Beijing Olympics have become very closely tied to the Chinese government. I don't really care if my shirt or car stereo is made in China as opposed to the US or even Australia.
Fair enough. I'd argue again that it isn't actually an event organised by the Chinese government and in fact an IOC event staged in China, but I can't really argue that the Chinese government has played a large part in its organisation and will indeed benefit from it.

However, I also think it's worth pointing out that the government benefits quite a bit from exports as well, particularly in its current format.

Funnily enough I think we're arguing the same points for and against our stands from different perspectives. :p
 

Matt79

Global Moderator
Disappointed to read the last sentence tbh, Australian made ftw.
Hmmm, we're back, in a sense, at where we last left off aren't we? And again, its 1:15am and I really should be getting to bed.

I consciously look for Australian made stuff in some areas, but generally I don't think its a great idea to pay a price premium to prop up an uncompetitive industry. It's better for the market to have its way and for production to be allocated by specialisation. People complain about everything being made in China without acknowledging that in Australia we've, overall, had a massive rise in material wealth, and that much of that has been made possible by the low cost of consumer items manufactured in developing economies, especially China. Oil prices have played a part, but it's also no coincidences that the inflation problem we thought was defeated has reemerged at exactly the period that China is starting to hit some hard constraints in terms of its economic growth, and hence the costs of Chinese made goods have started to increase. China's capacity for growth and low production costs over the past 15 years played a massive, largely unsung role in the cost of living remaining so - relatively - stable in the developed economies.

The hard part about structural change in any economy is that despite economists' neat theorems, workers aren't interchangable widgets that can be moved from one sector to another without considerable dislocation and pain, and some people falling through the cracks entirely. What we need, as a society, to get better at is re-educating and retraining workers out of non-competitive industries and into jobs that are competitive, rather than plowing money into keeping non-viable industries afloat.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
If I really liked the Olympics, if it were (for instance) the cricket World Cup, I probably wouldn't plan on boycotting. But given, as stated, I'm not a big wrap on the Olympics anyway, that's my plan. Maybe that's slightly hypocritical - I'm not sure.
I will be boycotting, and I guess I'm the same as you just said above.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Meh, that's just rationalising cheating in my view. They obviously make a difference - I know they don't turn fat slobs into champions, but they give an extra edge.

Not rationalizing. I am not saying we should legalize it. But its very very low on the totem pole in terms of it affecting my ability to watch and enjoy the game.

No different from match-fixing in cricket or bribery in real life.
Huge difference. Match fixing is making yourself lose. Steroids and ball tampering and things like that is doing what you can to win. Something we celebrate. No one celebrates losing.
 

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