Boycotting the Olympics?

[silentstriker]

Manan with some shocking views on good sportsmanship.

To be honest, talking with people around here, I didn't think they were all that out of the ordinary. Surprised to be the lone guy on these boards.

 

[andyc]

Having said that, I'll still find it hard not to watch when there's a NZer in with a strong medal chance.

So you are boycotting it then?

 

[Smudge]

Good time difference between NZ and China so I'll be tuning in for hours at a time. Terrible host country? Yeah, but there's sports on TV...

 

[howardj]

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.

Won't be boycotting, but will be very selective about the events I watch. Probably will, all up, watch about four or five hours. But yeah, I know what you mean about the drugs side of things. For me, I just don't trust any track and field athlete or cyclist...even some of the swimmers.

 

[TT Boy]

Steroids help, but they won't turn me into Barry Bonds anytime soon. Plus if enough people are taking it, it evens out.

No, but they turn moderately ‘good’ players such as Rafael Palmeiro into an unstoppable All-Star and Gold Glove players. It’s a huge stain against Baseball that its greatest players over the past decades are such unashamed cheats and that the sport itself believes ten day bans for injecting growth hormones into your ass is acceptable. Only someone who hasn’t done steroids, doesn’t know individuals who have lost five inches from their ****, or an American would suggest that shooting up is ‘ok’ if it evens itself out.

Incidentally, I will be in China when the Olympics are on, couldn’t give a **** about the Games (organic chemistry is a bit boring after spending years in the gym) but I hope China has a hugely successful tournament.

 

[steds]

I'm going to Boycott the olympics. Might do it right now.

 

[TT Boy]

Maybe that's slightly hypocritical - I'm not sure.

Of course it is, if Australia toured Bangladesh tomorrow and it was on TV you would presumably gleefully tune in (awaiting a Watto ton perhaps), that despite Bangladesh being the second biggest military dictatorship in the world.
Yet, that’s fine for the West tolerates that form of oppression, where political assassinations are always in vogue because Bangladesh is perceived as an unadulterated ****hole basket case but China is a threat thus every Johnny-come-lately and the Western media with their agenda jump on the bandwagon and start wheeling out passé arguments regarding Tibet.

 

[TT Boy]

I'm going to Boycott the olympics. Might do it right now.

Beijing is officially worried.

 

[steds]

I'm going to Boycott the olympics. Might do it right now.

Indeed.

 

[Burgey]

I enjoy watching the Olympics, but this time I'm not that enthusiastic about it.

It's not coz of the sports as such, more that the olympic movement carries on like it has a greater social and political significance than it really does.

I mean, they have slogans like "Peace" and "The Olympic Spirit" and "Celebrate Humanity", then they turn around and give the games to China, which on any measure is a very repressive regime. That kind of **** just annoys me, so I'll be brushing the opening ceremony, thereby no doubt missing the world's biggest ever puppet dragon, or whatever they're called, and missing out on that government having a chance to basically propogandise to the world.

But I suspect I'll be watching a fair few events.

 

[_Ed_]

So you are boycotting it then?

Ooooh.

 

[Perm]

Nah, will be watching. Nothing else to do.

 

[biased indian]

think this should be moved to the Olympics sub forum...at least this will become the biggest thread in that

 

[andyc]

Incidentally, I will be in China when the Olympics are on, couldn’t give a **** about the Games (organic chemistry is a bit boring after spending years in the gym) but I hope China has a hugely successful tournament.

Whereabouts are you going to be, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Goughy]

IYou'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.

I wouldnt touch 'em. To me it is clearly cheating so Ill never do it. Im quite cut and dried like that. I hate those that put their selfish motives above that of the sport.

In fact it really angers me.

 

[andyc]

That kind of **** just annoys me, so I'll be brushing the opening ceremony, thereby no doubt missing the world's biggest ever puppet dragon, or whatever they're called, and missing out on that government having a chance to basically propogandise to the world.

Haha, I don't doubt that. Finally started watching my TV the past week or so, and the number of ads about the Olympics, and more importantly feautring the slogan of 中国加油 (roughly translated to 'Go China!') is really quite unbelievable. And then there's just the fact that pretty much everyone seems to be getting into it; the crowds to see the torch have been huge, and seem to love chanting out the above slogan, while more and more you're seeing people wearing shirts with 'I heart China' (in English) and the like on them. Have a few good ones myself, tbh... my favourite:
"I heart China.
One China, One Family. 1300000 Chinese hearts support the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games"

FWIW, I'm going to be travelling at the time, and I'm not really that worried about missing it all, though I will try to make an effort to catch the opening ceremony. Should be cool.

 

[andyc]

I wouldnt touch 'em. To me it is clearly cheating so Ill never do it. Im quite cut and dried like that. I hate those that put their selfish motives above that of the sport.

In fact it really angers me.

AWTA. Cheapens it all so much.

 

[Johnners]

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.

Dire, just wrote a reply, and CW died on me, apparently the post is now lost , and I really cbf writing it again.

Basically though, I DWTA (thought I guess you figured that already)

 

[Matt79]

Of course it is, if Australia toured Bangladesh tomorrow and it was on TV you would presumably gleefully tune in (awaiting a Watto ton perhaps), that despite Bangladesh being the second biggest military dictatorship in the world.
Yet, that’s fine for the West tolerates that form of oppression, where political assassinations are always in vogue because Bangladesh is perceived as an unadulterated ****hole basket case but China is a threat thus every Johnny-come-lately and the Western media with their agenda jump on the bandwagon and start wheeling out passé arguments regarding Tibet.

Bit of an overreaction. I said I thought it was a bit hypocritical, but on reflection I don't think it is. Unless you're completely black or white, there's always a judgement you make as to how strongly an issue concerns you and what's practical to do about it, and then make a decision balancing those factors. If you read my posts in this thread, I'm certainly not a China-scare monger. I don't really care if they become a world superpower and major economic power - if they haven't already done so. I just object to some of their policies.

For example, does pollution concern me? Yes. Am I going to go around attacking coal power plants to stop it - no that's an overreaction based on how concerned I am. Am I going to stop using a car altogether? Maybe, but again its probably an overreaction based on how much it would disrupt my life. But will I try to get the least polluting car I can afford and look for other ways I can reduce my impact? For sure.

Same thing with my objection to some of the Chinese government's policies. Am I going to go join a freedom fighter's guerilla army and try to overthrow their state - of course not. Am I going to going to not watch something I'm really interested in, or that would be important to me to make a point - no I don't feel that strongly about it. Am I going to elect not to watch something that would be somewhat interesting and enjoyable for me if it were held elsewhere, because I don't want to buy into a propaganda exercise that's been attached to it - sure.

I freely admit I don't know as much about the Bangladeshi political situation as I do about China - but honestly I probably wouldn't bother to watch Australia vs. Bangers because it would be a **** match in all likelihood. But I would boycott an Australian tour of Zimbabwe if they did one at the moment. I don't feel the need to be absolute in these things - I think there's room to take each case on its merits without actually being hypocritical.

A more pertinent example might be - would I have boycotted the Olympics if it had been held in America around the time of the Iraq invasion - I think I probably would have.

BTW, love to know the basis on which you decided I'm a Johnny-come-lately, or that the issue with Tibet - for instance - is passe.

 

[Langeveldt]

Yeah I probably won't be tuning in.. Could say the same about tennis, a sport that nobody cares about in the UK for 51 weeks a year, suddenly is splashed all over the papers, why?