OT: Boycotting the Olympics
I tend to view political issues as largely relating to domestic politics. Apologies to the mods and readers if this is improper.
Given China's ongoing genocide of the Uyghur people and other human rights abuses, athletes from several countries are planning at least some form of boycott of these winter games.
On a personal note, I won't be giving the games any clicks or TV time. I hope you might consider the same.
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:25 PM ^
Didn't even know there were Olympics on quite frankly lol.
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:48 PM ^
The ratings are going to be dismal. NBC is probably going to lose money.
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:32 PM ^
Reading the results in the morning and watching commercial filled replays in the evening isn’t fun.
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:26 PM ^
I respect your principles.
Yet, I will enjoy watching the athletes pursue their dreams that they have pursued their entire lives. Bad countries can host good events - looking forward to watching!
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:47 PM ^
I hear you and wish you the best. I hope that neither you nor your family ever has to personally endure such horrors.
For some folks, I know these issues won't move the needle. I guess the post is more directed to those who may not otherwise know about what's going on but for whom it would make a difference if they had such knowledge.
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:59 PM ^
Thank you Caesar. No one should have to face the terrors of genocide.
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:28 PM ^
It’s this mindset which never moves the needle.
The Olympics have no business even being over in China and nobody has any business taking a part in them if they really gave two shits about human rights outside of virtue signaling for social recognition/acceptance.
I don’t care about how long these athletes trained. China is an authoritarian genocidal security state. Doing anything with them at this point that we do not absolutely have to is contributing to that.
But keep on respecting those principles..
February 3rd, 2022 at 8:55 PM ^
Why do we pick and choose who can do business with China and when they can? If we are going to have an anti-China stance for their decades of human rights issues it should be country-wide but that’s too cumbersome to undo so we virtue signal on small issues like China hosting the olympics or NBA players having Chinese company shoe deals because it’s easy.
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:31 PM ^
I make a conscious effort the buy things not made in China. It’s fucking difficult and impossible for some items.
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:44 PM ^
I've been trying to do the same for years, my dad was very passionate about it and inspected every label of everything he purchased. Dad taught me well, bless his soul.
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:52 PM ^
It’s honestly a good exercise and pretty alarming how dependent we are on countries that don’t particularly care for us. We are woefully ill-equipped to produce and supply ourselves with fuels, building materials, computer chips, medications, etc, etc, etc.
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:06 PM ^
Supply chain issues caused by the pandemic opened a lot of eyes to this. I think we see a lot more domestic production in the next five years. From an athletic pride standpoint, it's not ideal, but Intel is investing $20 billion into a Columbus superb chip plant.
February 2nd, 2022 at 10:36 PM ^
Just as of last year, we couldn't supply ourselves with fuels?
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:11 PM ^
I don’t understand why you would think that not buying made in China stuff made any difference. In fact, China got all the manufacturing businesses because US capitalists want to make more profit, so they moved production to a cheaper country. All China did was say yes to business opportunities. In fact the people you should target are the profit maximizing capitalists on Wall Street. They wanted max profits and minimal wages, so what can the companies do?
In fact, so many of your stuff contain China materials. Working at an automotive tier 1 supplier, I see first hand that it’s impossible to not source components from China, because if not, your quotes will be higher than all of your competitors’. China has the resources (labor and expertise) to make things cheap and good, which is unequaled anywhere else in the world.
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:18 PM ^
No shit, I'm not naive to reality of the economics. I'm willing to pay more for something made in the US. At least more of my money goes into another American's pocket. I would also add that I make a conscious effort to buy from local businesses with products made from US sourced products. It's fucking difficult. No where did I suggest support for corporate greed.
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:45 PM ^
>No where did I suggest support for corporate greed.
Literally very thing you said before this sentence suggests so, as well as the fact that you probably need to learn a little more about economics.
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:56 PM ^
My basic understanding of economics far exceeds your reading comprehension.
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:46 PM ^
I don't support tariffs but I DO support embargoes on nations that openly violate human rights. China probably isn't far off from the DPRK in terms of labor laws. Kind of astonishing that we continue to allow imports from so many nations that commit such egregious atrocities.
And yes I'm aware of the disturbing counter argument to this.
February 2nd, 2022 at 10:37 PM ^
Erm where did you read that China has almost DPRK level of labor laws? I have family and friends working in China and none of them are being subjected to DPRK labor laws. They are free to quit as they want, free to switch jobs and free to sue their employers for unpaid wages. Oh and they can ask for a raise too.
I don’t blame you for thinking that though, because the media narrative has constantly being portraying China as an evil empire who is exploiting their people, and there is a democracy movement waiting to explode if not for the army and police. Sadly or fortunately that is not true, because thanks to the influx of wealth and jobs since 2000, more people in China has gotten rich than you can imagine. And when your government can make people rich (as in everybody, not just the already haves) it will have support of the people, plain and simple.
Let me be clear that I am not defending all of the actions of the Chinese government. What they did in Xinjiang is unacceptable, detention centers don’t belong in 21st century. I just want to expel some of these misconceptions that I see everywhere, about how the entirety of China is bad and everything is terrible. A country does not see the kind of economic rise such as China with forced labor, or forced anything. People were willing to work hard to make their own lives better, it’s the American dream, and it’s the same China dream.
February 3rd, 2022 at 6:37 AM ^
China has a GDP of under $9k per capita. I realize that there are citizens who have good lives and live the equivalent of middle or upper class American lives. But just like DPRK there is a hidden side to China that we don't see. I'm not saying it's exactly the same, just not far off and we are kidding ourselves if we act like China doesn't have serious human rights issues across the whole country.
February 3rd, 2022 at 5:57 PM ^
Apparently, you don't have any trouble with what they are doing to the people of Hong Kong despite their signed guarantee not to do so or what happens to any group or individual suspected of disagreeing with or causing trouble for someone connected to the CCP (recent case of the female tennis player who accused a CCP connected male of rape, mysteriously disappeared for a week, and reappeared on social media saying she lied). Apparently, you've also forgotten what they did when the Chinese Spring movement demonstrated for basic human rights in China - 10,000 or more massacred in Tiananmen Square, hundreds of thousands more beaten, tortured, and imprisoned in horrific conditions. Apparently, you've even forgotten the tens of millions, tortured and killed during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:31 PM ^
Best of luck to all our US athletes and if you're comfortable watching no one should give you crap about it but count me out of TV viewership.
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:32 PM ^
You expect me to protest China when US vs. Italy curling is on?
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:37 PM ^
I gotta admit, I'm getting a little crush on Stefania Constantini.
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:35 PM ^
I thought I was the only one.
The American one is pretty nice too.
February 3rd, 2022 at 12:06 AM ^
No. Just no.
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:32 PM ^
You expect me to protest China when US vs. Italy curling is on?
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:32 PM ^
Outside of hockey, I don't watch anyway.
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:33 PM ^
Yep. Not watching. Not a fan of all the kowtowing that's done for China by large corporations and others. Pretty nauseating when Coke, NBA, etc. give us their moral pontifications about racism and how much they care about justice . . . and then you know do huge business with China and support their gov't without blinking. Not to mention them not being exactly as collaborative and transparent as they could have been about a certain thing that's going around.
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:05 PM ^
>Pretty nauseating when Coke, NBA, etc. give us their moral pontifications about racism
How is it remotely the same thing to cater to a domestic audience far more effected by anti-black racism than the concerns of an ethnic group in a far away land? You can blame Lebron and all your favorite black athletes for 'feigning' outrage over the murders of black people but let's be totally fucking honest here, your disingenuous, bad faith arguments in favor of an ethnic group you really don't give a fuck about are just an attempt to discredit one civil rights movement that's far closer to your own home.
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:09 PM ^
are you sure you're not maizen? maybe closely related to maizen?
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:20 PM ^
At least a neighbor/hair dresser/life coach or something similar
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:18 PM ^
Yours is a shit response.
The contradiction is clear.
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:31 PM ^
the contradictions are clear if you're a desperate racist shithead
February 2nd, 2022 at 10:46 PM ^
You need some new insults. That one is worn out and ineffectual.
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:22 PM ^
probably on the same level as incursion on our southern border is met with no opposition but all of a sudden the government is sending troops to Ukraine to defend their border against Russia. Plenty of disjointed causes to feign outrage over.
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:39 PM ^
How about don't arm Nazis against Russians in Ukraine and not treat Latin immigrants as in incursion, maybe you activists can dissuade the US government from doing that instead of directing your ire towards China.
February 2nd, 2022 at 10:07 PM ^
Psa-
Please learn the difference between the word 'immigrants '
And the words 'Illegal aliens.'
You just sound stupid.
February 2nd, 2022 at 10:15 PM ^
Just to be clear, do you think the people trying to get their children to a better future in the US are...driving tanks?
February 2nd, 2022 at 11:58 PM ^
You seem upset. Look, It is hard to truly give a shit about people you don't know personally. There's some truth to that. I'm not the type to say "my heart aches for the poor children in Africa. . . blah blah" and I don't buy it when other people use that type of language designed to display how much empathy they think they have. BUT genuine care and love for your neighbor is what has an impact. I'm fine with companies speaking out about anti-black racism and discrimination. That's great. I support it. But their hypocrisy, in my opinion, demonstrates that they're only doing it because it's good for business. And that's disappointing to me because it means there hasn't been real change. I'd rather that they just be transparent, but that's not how things work. I won't lose sleep tonight over the Uyghur genocide or racism toward blacks. You got me. I must be a racist shithead like you said. But I won't listen to people or corporations or support governments that pretend to care about certain issues and then try to talk down to us like their some sort of moral compass for how we should all behave. I don't want to participate in some weird contrived bullshit designed to manipulate me emotionally into buying a product or supporting something. Lastly, don't be silly. One can care very much about the anti-black racism that hits close to home AND be disgusted by what China is doing. China has a huge impact on the world. One issue doesn't take away from the other. Wish you the best buddy o pal. I have a weird feeling that you're Maizen.
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:34 PM ^
It's always a hard choice.
Do you deny your citizens (who have worked their butts off for the past 4 years) the chance to participate and win or do you allow a totalitarian state to try pull off a propaganda win?
We participated in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Not much different to this year's.
Edit: fixed the year of the Berlin Olympics.
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:39 PM ^
Hating you is my easiest choice. Hope all is well.
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:44 PM ^
It’s even easier since it was the 1936 Olympics. In ‘38, Germany was getting ready to invade a boatload of countries.
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:49 PM ^
If only they had been given the Sudetenland, the Nazi war machine probably would have stopped there.
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:11 PM ^
Thanks, this student of history will correct that.
February 2nd, 2022 at 8:46 PM ^
Kumbaya time for the two of you?
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:23 PM ^
He has mellowed a bit since the time my mother dressed him in leather and locked him in a steamer trunk and then invited John O'Neill over for dinner.
Could be a trick though. You can't trust marsupials.
February 3rd, 2022 at 12:23 AM ^
That is a core memory for me. Damn it all . . . That John O'Neil. He is the antichrist. I don't mean that in a joking way. HE IS THE ANTICHRIST.
February 2nd, 2022 at 9:12 PM ^
Doing ok here, thanks, you vile varmint.