21 Comments

I’m afraid you are under the misapprehension that hosting the Olympics is some huge financial windfall or a benefit that implies favorable recognition of a country. It is not. It is simply an arbitrary location that lends its name to that year’s games and emphasizes the global nature of the Olympics. Boycotting is a horrendous mistake that only deprives the international community of an opportunity for unity and fellowship. One would think that the heartbreak and embarrassment of Carter’s actions would still resonate. Between the idiotic tit-for-tat of the Moscow and LA Games an entire generation of America’s - no, the world’s - finest athletes were deprived of a chance to truly excel on the world stage.

the nice schadenfreude thing is that China wants the Olympics because it wants to show the world that it is a CONTENDAH!! So, we watch. And they murder people in Tibet. And they slaughter cats. And they torture Falun Gong followers. And they aim missiles at Taiwan. And they sell computer chips that are set up to spy on companies that purchase them.

Nice bunch, aren’t they? The IOC, by insisting that the show must go on, are just as nice.

Go to WalMart and look at just the Easter knickknacks available this week. ALL are made in China. To unravel the China connection will plunge the USA into a Depression. Do we have the cultural strength to endure what it takes to resist and defenstrate China? Probably not, but we have to start somewhere. General Electric, parent company of NBC, the Olympics portal, might be a good place to start. WalMart would be number two.

There are millions of people with no influence or financial stakes in the Olympics who will boycott via TV, buying products, etc. The MSM will probably not report that. But the majority have too much at stake. Financially, pride/power/ prestige/influence, amoral, apathetic, and narcissism, materialism, not going to happen.

General Electric is running a series of commercials about the Olympics on the web and television. The first, at the Colorado U.S. Olympic Training Facility, dubbed “When Science Meets Brute Strength” features the typical white male dork you see in business commercials (and we wonder why the rest of the world no longer respects U.S. business acumen!) talking with scientists about the machines they use to train U.S. weightlifters, with the implicit messsage, “No steroids here!”. So, GE, as might be expected, has already manufactured the web of company promotion/ NBC coverage/ Olympics/ China. Any ideas out there about doing an Alinsky on this propoganda juggernaut?

The dream of international peace and cooperation long ago became a sick travesty of itself. The United Nations, the European Union, the Olympics… all subverted and corrupted by tyrants and murderers. Every time a Libya chairs a UN Human Rights Commission or a China vetoes even the mildest criticism of genocide, the dream of human brotherhood is clubbed over the head and trampled in the mud.

Whatever good these organizations do is so far outweighed by the evil that they should all be dismantled. Perhaps in the future we could start over with Robert Conquest’s proposal of a loosely federated “Anglosphere” to which the non-English speaking democracies would be allied.

Don’t forget the persecution of peaceful Falun Gong practitioners. Hundreds of thousands have been imprisoned and tortured for practicing their beliefs and thousands have been killed. Stop this illegal behavior now!

Then we can talk about the Olympics.

I wish whole nations would boycott the Olympics, starting with the US. But that’s not likely to happen, given that China owns so much of our national debt — almost half, along with japan. We are so entwined with them - talk about a pact with the devil - our national soul is long gone.

Amen. Good to see someone speaking out against the forthcoming Totalitarian Games in Beijing. It was a disgrace that they were ever awarded to China in the first place. Tienanmen is already forgotten history to most - and Tibet will be the same come August. Certainly one can’t expect any hard-hitting reports on the truth about China from NBC and their indefatigable Olympic cheerleader, Bob Costas.

Did the IOC and the world learn nothing from Berlin 1936 or Moscow 1980? Perhaps there is one slight cause for optimism though: Both the Nazi and Soviet regimes collapsed 9 years after their respective Totalitarian Games. Dare we hope for the same outcome in China by 2017? Sadly, I doubt it.

It is tempting to say that boycotts don’t work, but I think it’s a bit more nuanced than that– you could make a case that being boycotted worked in South Africa, I suppose. Better to say that the boycott is an unnecessarily crude tool. Think of the suffering boycotts have worked in North Korea– or Cuba. Indeed, until Nixon “opened China” the same thing was true in some degree there.

Cutting a nation off from the international community punishes the people who are already being punished, and reinforces the propaganda that the citizenry of the boycotted nation are already inclined to accept. It is much easier for the impoverished working class to believe that the United States is responsible for their problems than it is to accept that that their own leaders are stealing them blind, as you well know.

The Olympics are an opportunity for the West to demonstrate the advantages of our culture. I don’t know if you have been to China– I have, briefly, and my daughter studied and traveled there extensively a couple of years ago. The surprise that we both came away from was that although we are ignorant about Chinese society, the Chinese–even the educated university students and affluent families that my daughter interacted with– even the lawyers that I met and dealt with– are far more uninformed about what life in the West is like.

The Olympics are an opportunity for us to show ourselves off to good advantage, and for a lot of poor people to make a buck they otherwise will not make. I am a big believer in Justice Black’s notion that sunlight is the best disinfectant, and I think we would miss an opportunity to bring about the end of an unimaginably cruel regime if we were to boycott the event.

The Olympics were perverted by politics some time ago. That fact, coupled with ubiquitous doping scandals and the incredibly sappy and pathetic US media coverage of the games have rendered the Olympics an event to ignore.

Great symbol, the Tiananmen Olympic Tank.

Where can I get a t-shirt please?

Thank you

Had the world adopted that attitude in 1936, we’d have been deprived of Jesse Owens’ demolishing the myth of Aryan supremacy in Hitler’s backyard.

How about unilaterally cancelling any debt to China, saying never mind about recognizing you as “China,” and giving that distinction back to Taiwan, our long-abused ally?

How about a nice juicy arms race with China that will finally break their backs like we did with the USSR? They are the only thing propping up the dangerous Kim regime.

How about banning Chinese goods, since they are all suspect anyway, filled with lead and asbestos?

How about kicking the Chinese ambassador out of here, and withdrawing our own from Beijing?

We need to get serious with our ENEMIES again, and stop pretending these murderous regimes can ever be “reformed.”

Sorry Doc, but that myth wasn’t put to rest until May, 1945.

The 1936 Olympics absolutely nothing to save Europe from its impending disaster.

RIGHT ON, BABY!!!! Finally someone who says it LIKE IT IS. If we show up this summer, SHAME ON US. Screw the Chinese regime. Phone them up, tell them we’re not coming, and oh — by the way, The United States formally recognizes the Republic of Taiwan. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! It’s our DUTY. We could have avoided 50 years of the Iron Curtain if we’d just slapped down the USSR after the surrender of Germany in ‘45. Instead generations were lost to time. Stop the Chinese NOW. Not later. Way to go, Ron. Shout it OUT, my brother.

Ron, the Soviet Union picked a very good name for their rival to the Olympiad, calling their games the Spartakiad. The games started in 1928, and continued among the Soviet republics even after the USSR decided to take part in the Olympiad.

I really dig the name, and think a revival of a new round of games under that name, in honor of the gladiator that lead the rebellion on Rome, is precisely what our times need. With six months to go, there’s still time to organize the events.

I wish I could have boycotted the 1936 Berlin Olympics. My TV will not be on for this one.

It’s not likely that the U.S. will boycott the games but I will personally by boycotting them by not watching. We should encourage others to do the same. Record low ratings would cause the IOC to be more careful about who they honor with an Olympic games.

I personally have the perfect way to get back at whatever US television networks carry ANY of this Olympic crap from China — I have a Nielsen Meter in my house and I can guaran-damn-well-tee you that I will not watch one single minute of the crap from China!

At least one household will not give the networks any satisfaction — or ratings — from carrying this travesty!

Dear Sir and Madam:
I am an audience of the New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV). Last
week , I regretted to know the European satellite company Eutelsat
have stopped transmitting the New Tang Dynasty Television
(NTDTV)because of the command from Chinese government.
I really cannot believe that things like this could happen in
France,a Freedom,Equality Country.
As you know, the Chinese communist party government is the largest
dictatorial government in the world. In China , for example,if Chinese
government say there is no dog in the world,just horse, all the medias
and so-called specialists in China will come out to say “yes,that is
right,there is no dog in the world,just horse. “Everyday all Chinese
people will have to hear the propagandas, gradually lots of them will
accept that and believe there is no dog in the world,especially
Chinese children.When they see dog,they will look on it as a type of horse naturally.
So we can know the importance of NDTV who is the only one Chinese
media to say the truth ,the only one Chinese media out of control of
the largest dictatorial government
Chinese people cannot live in the darkness and liar for ever.
please help Chinese people to break through that.Thank you for your
help!
Your Sincerely