Should the U.S, boycott the entire olympics, the opening ceremonies or no boycott at all?

[LordJFT]

No poll, just answer. My own view is that we should boycott the opening ceremonies. As an athlete I'm so tired of hearing that politics should be kept out of sports. First of all when you have almost every country in the world gathered to participate in an event, there is no way you're going to completely take politics out of sports. And as a die-hard athlete I also think that there are some things (like people's lives) that are more important than sports. China should not go unchecked for their continued support of genocide.

Now the reason I don't support boycotting the entire olympics is because I do believe that we can do more through competition than we can by avoidance. Which is remembered more, the olympics that didn't happen during world war II or the olympics before that where Hitler's "aryan" athletes got handed a can of whoop-ass by Jesse Owens and other blacks athletes? And which was a bigger slap in the face for the Soviets, us boycotting the Moscow Olympics or beating the Soviets at their own sport (hockey)and going on to win the gold medal? If we boycott the opening ceremonies, China will be embarrassed in front of the entire world, without major drawbacks for our athletes. On the basis of cost-benefit analysis this certainly seems like the best solution. Of course I don't think China ever should have been allowed to host the olympics in the first place, but that's a moot point now.

[bbinacan]

1. I agree.

Boycott the opening ceremonies.

[panader0]

2. I personally think that the Olympics should be above politics

There is a way and a place and a time to protest China's or the USA's policies, but the Olympics should not be one of them.

[Warpy]

3. It's not like we have any moral authority at all after 7 years of GOP

rule turning us into a fascist dictatorship with no regard for law or decency.

Had these Olympics occurred before or after this sad chapter in our history, I'd think a boycott of the ceremonies might be in order.

However, today, it most certainly is not and will only provoke a lot of very valid comparison of our country and China.

We no longer have any right to tell any other country what to do. We're doing it all.

[GodlessBiker]

4. The "U.S." should boycott nothing. Bush should not attend the opening ceremony.

[LordJFT]

5. why only Bush?

[GodlessBiker]

6. He's the president. It makes a strong enough statement, IMHO.

[LordJFT]

8. but then it only shows that the president opposes china's policies, not the rest of the country

and right now Bush has very little credibility in the world, while many people around the world still respect us as a country

[GodlessBiker]

10. The rest of the country doesn't necessarily oppose China's policies. Let those who do oppose it,

not go to China.

[FarCenter]

15. He's an idiot, an embarassment, irelevant, and it would cost $ millions to send him

Need any better answers?

[LordJFT]

19. that's exactly why he shouldn't be the only one boycotting

because he's so irrelevant it's not making much of a statement

[MercutioATC]

7. U.S. athletes should enter the opening ceremonies carrying the U.S. flag AND the Tibetan flag.

Yes, I know that China has threatened to sanction such behavior, but I can't see them actually doing anything.

[The Diest]

20. I agree! nt

[Mojambo]

9. Opening ceremonies. Heaps some dishonor on the Chinese govt and doesn't hurt our athletes

Seems like a fine middle ground.

I'll of course be boycotting the whole thing because it's boring as fuck and uber-commercial.

[Rosemary2205]

11. let them go and fully participate if they want to - it's not the athlete's fault.

If we require our athletes to sit out any part of it, they are the one's being punished, not China. If one of the athletes makes a choice on their own to make a statement at any point then that's fine with me. But it's their choice, not mine or anyone else's.

[Diclotican]

12. LordJFT

LordJFT

After 8 year with mr Bush, the US have no right, what so ever to say that they, or their friends should boycott anything larger than the "tiny joe" mr Bush have between his legs.. US have _No_ moral or otherwise right to claim anything when it come to human rights and so on... Maybe in 10 years time, when we have almost forgot the nightmare of mr Bush.. Then you can come back, and say what is wrong.. Not after almost 8 year with this son of a bitch in the office.. If I may say it, US are not that better than the Peoples Republic of China anymore...

Diclotican

Sorry my bad english, not my native language

[shraby]

13. The athletes have worked their bodies to the bone to

excell in their chosen sport. Why should they be penalized because of politics? This idea of boycotting is in my opinion totally wrong headed. If China is to be reprimanded for anything, do it in the political arena if at all possible now that Bush has made us indebted to them for a few generations in the future.

[LordJFT]

18. athletes don't care that much about the opening ceremonies, thats not what theyve worked their

bodies to the bone for

[NC_Nurse]

14. No boycott.

Offending them will not help them to open up to the world and to us.

[leftyclimber]

16. Let the athletes do their thing.

I know there's a lot of dirty pool in Olympic sport. Let me get that out of the way first. But I'm coming at this from a slightly different angle, which is this:

I had a shot at the Olympics when I was younger. I blew out my knee and never got the big chance. It hurts to this day, and "my" Olympics was in 1996. I know people on the US team who got screwed out of their chance in 1980, and a person on the Soviet team who got screwed out of her chance in 1984. I don't wish that on anyone.

There are a lot of sports where people have more than one chance, and a lot where people have only one. And there's always that chance of an injury that might make that second chance go away. So in a lot of ways it's always a one-shot deal.

Those people with only one chance, they're the ones that get hosed when they don't get to have the whole Olympic experience, including participating in that bizarre circus known as the opening ceremony.

Politically, I wouldn't set foot in China right now if you paid me a whole bunch extra, which, considering that I am a very broke grad student, it saying a lot.

But as someone who can't even turn on the summer Olympics because it hurts too much after many, many years, I don't want to deny someone else the chance to experience their dream. These people have worked very hard and many of them have sacrificed a lot personally, physically, and financially to get where they are.

It's not their fault the Olympics ended up in China this year, any more than the 1980 American athletes had anything to do with the selection of Moscow or the 1984 Soviets had anything to do with the selection of Los Angeles.

Let 'em do their thing. For some of them, this will be their only chance.

[supernova]

17. Don't boycott the games

Boycotting the games would only punish our athletes, who in most cases, won't get a second chance to compete four years from now.

Sending a smaller VIP delegation to the opening ceremonies is a fine idea.

[bhikkhu]

21. I have to completely disagree.

Having watched every Olympics since the early seventies, injecting politics into it has always been petty and inevitably harmful to the athletes. Boycotts and lesser snarky little displays don't reflect well on those involved.

On the other hand, the real hypocrisy is that the US laid aside all of its human rights reservations in favor of full trade relations. This was debated extensively at the time and the decision was made regardless. As everyone involved has made boatloads of money, I have heard no suggestions that we revisit the one thing that might again make a substantial difference.

As long as no real effort is made to use the influence we have as China's largest trading partner I would support no Olympic boycott. It would be a petty and cost-free way of making a public show of our feelings, while continuing the long tradition of avoiding every substantial or potentially costly means of actually changing things.

[HuffleClaw]

22. if the us boycotts the opening ceremonies they should be barred from competing

cheap and petty grandstanding needs to be punished.

[hulklogan]

23. No boycott at all. The Olympics aren't about China, they're about the athletes.

There are plenty of ways to make a political statement that do not involve shattering the dreams of so many athletes who work for years to represent the USA at the Olympics.

[Beregond2]

24. I am not so naive as to think that

the Olympics has ever been without political import. But I do think the ideal should be that it is the one place where all nations can gather simply as people, without any political ramifications. Because once you start down that road, where does it end? There are ALWAYS mattrs that could be used to justify boycotts and protests. Is that what we want the Olympics to be about? The one thing Carter did that I have always thought was a big mistake was his boycott of the MOscow Olympics. What good did it do? The only peple who were punished were the American athletes, who lost a chance they hadbeen working their whole lives for.

So, no. I don't think there should be any protests or boycotts at all.

I also think the Olympics should be held in Greece every time. All the money wasted on building new facilities every four years is a disgrace. And having it in one country would go a long way toward removing the political pollution from the games.

[Telly Savalas]

25. Boycott on what grounds?

They didn't help us invade Iraq?