I wrote this a couple days ago, but am finall
y posting it. I'm not as enranged anymore, but I'm still pretty pissed.
they are thinkin
g about boycotting the olympic ceremonies because of the way the Chinese government has handled the Tibet situation.
THANK YOU.
Meanwhile, old G.W. keeps reiterating how excited we are to be headed over to Beijing, and there is no way we would consider pulling out. (Unless they did something really stupid, like started to pay their factory workers a fair wage)
Don't get me wrong. I love China. I love Chinese people. I lived in China. I love Chinese food. BUT as a nation, at what point do we start being consistent. We are willing to INVADE AND START A FIVE YEAR WAR with a country based on the idea that the government is corrupt and we need to spread democratic ideals, but this other country-- with a corrupt government and non-democratic ideals-- we will go and support and send our money, trade, and world-class athletes there, and act like everything is honkey dorie.
I also APPLAUD Steven Speilberg for dropping out as the leading artistic consultant to the games because of China support of the armies ENGAGED IN CIVIL WAR IN SUDAN.
You want to know why I think we are supporting China. Because we don't listen to Dave Ramsay. I know that is a weird thing to say, but hear me out.
I was listening to an analysis of global interdependancy (it wasn't called that, but essentially that's what it was) a couple days ago, and he stated that the Iraq war is estimated to cost us about 2 TRILLION DOLLARS (so far). AND YET, this is the first time when we have not raised taxes to pay for a war. We are paying for our war completely on...
CREDIT.
Where is the money coming from? Mostly from banks in China.
If I ran my house this way I would be living on the streets. I was so appauled I almost threw up. I mean, I don't really think I'm like some hippie liberal, but I guess I am, if that means paying for things you buy, and thinking about what you can afford before you go into the store. Can we afford a new tank if we give tax cuts to the rich? Nope. Well then maybe we shouldn't go into Iraq.
SO we are paying for a war to overturn a corrupt government and pave the way to dempcracy with money from a corrupt communist country. DOES ANYONE ELSE think this is crazy?
What would Jesus think about this barter of economics for human dignity?
Ok. I have to log off before my head implodes.
3 comments:
Boycotting the Olympics serves no useful purpose except making people who won't lose anything because of the boycott feel better. The US boycotted the '80 Olympics because of the Russians in Afghanistan and nothing changed. The Russians boycotted the LA Olympics in '84 and nothing changed. There have been big and small boycotts of the Olympics over the years and NONE OF THEM have had the desired effect, though all of them have ruined the ambitions of some athletes. If you want to protest Tibet, do it yourself - stop buying things made in China. Don't make your cause some athlete's burden to bear.
I've thought about this comment a lot, and while I see what you are saying and I even entertained the idea that perhaps I had been wrong, I have come back to my origional statement for these reasons:
1. I think that athletics is a form of soft power now, and as such, we can use it as such
2. when the world agreed to have the Olymipcs in China it was on certain conditions, one of which being that it would work on it's human rights record. In fact China has not done this at all. If anything it has gotten worse in attempts to hide certain things in anticipation of the world coming for a visit.
3. I think that sometimes you do something, even if you feel like it's not making a difference. While I agree that we have boycotted other Olympics and nothing has happened, sometimes you have to stand up and say, "this is wrong" even if the other side doesn't hear you. The example of Speilberg is a good one in my eyes, because even though they just went out and got another creative director, and it may have seemed like "nothing happened" I think that there is still honor for standing up for what you claim to believe in.
Silence is consent and as we stay silent we are consenting to the things that are going on.
oil
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