Do you think Canada should boycott the Olympics?

[. ._]

Personally, I wouldn't shed a tear. The Olympics hold no value to me. Big deal, someone runs fast.

Who knows what kind of evil crap is done in that undemocratic state. They have no respect for human rights, the environment, a fair judicial system. Of course the same could be said about Western countries too. (in some circumstances) I think China is getting too big for its britches and should be taken down a notch. Would boycotting the Olympics even matter to them? Hard to say. This is a real head-scratcher for me.

What do you think?

-istp

[CID]

The Olympic games have the potential to unite the countries of the world. Unfortunately they have always been used as a political grandstand and as a competition of who has the most money and better drug masking technology.

I'd be happy to see the whole mess scrapped. Having said that, I've never been in favour of boycotting. I say use the situation to draw attention to the issues like pollution, Tibet, human rights, unfair trade practices and China's contempt for international law.

[Dust Devil]

The only people who in the end would care that they were boycotted would be the athletes who busted their asses to get there.

[Doc]

I think it was a crime to give China the games in the first place. My guess is the Chinese were able to get better hookers for the scumbag members of the IOC, than any other country? But a boycott just screws the athletes.

[Wilbur]

We boycott Bejing, they boycott Whistler. The only ones who care are the atheletes.

If you want to make a political statement, being there provides you with a global audience and little ability for the commie bastards in charge to stop you. I'm betting there will be more than one medal winner standing on the podium and taking the opportunity to say something.

[twotterflogger]

I'd stand-up for any of our atheletes whom decided to boycott these games. Heck, if I wasn't on a pilot salary, I might just be able to send any of them a donation for standing up for their values.

[Guido]

China may ban live broadcasts during Games

I'm shocked... simply shocked.

I'd fully support any athlete who boycotted of their own accord. I'd like it even more if the government ordered a boycott, but we all know Harper doesn't have those kind of cojones...

[Highflyinpilot]

I couldn't be bothered one way or another, One thing I never much cared for was the olympics.

Get rid of it, keep it, whatever it's all the same to me.

[Phaedrus]

It would be great if we in the west could arrange or threaten an Olympic boycott as a means of pressuring China in the next 2 months.

Ultimately though, I think it may end up being more useful to go to the games. China can hardly contain the media of the entire world once inside the country. Not on a scale like that anyway. They would look even worse if they even tried to attempt it.

[Nark]

Do you think the Moscow olympics ended the Cold War?

Asking an athelete to boycott the olympics is like turning down a left seat in a 747, Beaver, or whatever floats your boat as a pilot.

[Rowdy]

I say have as MUCH media coverage as humanly possible. Expose every last little detail.. Show the world the horrid air quality that the athletes have to deal with. Give everyone worldwide all the gory details possible. Maybe at that point the chinese gov. would be pressured into making some drastic changes

[Walker]

http://kempton.wordpress.com/2007/11/09 ... cumentary/

What are you talking about we already are bowing to their pressure…

Boycotting the Olympics probably wouldn’t do all that much, although boycotting goods….. now that (if it was done on a global scale) “MAY” do something, but good luck maintaining your lifestyle.
In all reality nothing is going to happen and hopefully as the next few generations move up the food chain into places of authority things should hopefully continue to liberalize.
That being said Chinese youth are told very different things than people in other parts of the world. I was hanging out with a chick from old school china a few months ago, and somehow the topic of the falun gong came up, which I understand back at home it’s a big no-no to talk about. Now I will freely admit I don’t have the slightest idea what these people are all about, and I never saw the documentary listed above, so I can’t really comment on what’s true or not true about them. HOWEVER this chick went on to explain to me that it’s a cult which encourages people to kill and then eat their parents, sibling, children, friends etc… No I was told by her that this is common knowledge in China, and the authorities are doing all that they can to humanly stop these people, and if possible deprogram them etc…
Now I can only assume this is gathered from the media she was/ is exposed to etc… However when I hear that story, and compare it to the nothing I know, im sorry but my BS alarm starts flashing like a mother Fker.
Oh yes and also Tibetans were doing the same thing back whenever they were invaded, and they didn’t “invade” they went there to stop the religious nut-jobs from eating each other…………
Right………

Media and propaganda is the most dangerous weapon of mass destruction, (s)he who has the power to define holds ultimate power.

[JakeYYZ]

I dunno…I can remember the riots in Watts and Harlem, where the military were brought in with “shoot to kill” orders. I can remember Trudeau and the October crises, declaring martial. I’m no commie sympathizer, but I fail to see the difference. The ruling government elected or not, has the right to put down an insurrection, popular or not, and establish order.

[Sheila]

People have a right to go outside. The government there can't be trusted because they try to cover up stuff. But which country would boycott them?

[LH]

Well that would do it for sure with Canada boycotting the Olympics. Christ, I hope they don't do that and ruin it for so many other countries and their athelics because they'd surely have to cancel those Olympics

Fact of the matter is that all it would do is penalize Canadian althelics who have trained for years for this event. The whole world has known what Communist China was like eons ago and Tienamen Square even drove that in deeper and that was long before the Olympics were awarded to China. Now the world and Canada protests their treatment of the Tibetans?

[mellow_pilot]

Why is everyone so conserned about the athletes? They get tax money to do what? PLAY A SPORT? Run, jump, throw? Are you kidding me? I say cut all funding to amature athletes. You want to compete? Get a sponsor. The olympics are a joke, a shadow of thier former self, and do not represent the values they claim to proport. I really don't give a rats rectum about them, or the poor athletes who will miss out if we boycott.

[LH]

The discussion was about the ongoing politics of present day concerning the Olympics. The 'flavour of the month' now is to protest China's treatment of the Tibetans while people are dying by the thousands in central Africa, but protesting for them is not quite in vogue or 'in flavour' quite yet.

[water wings]

i don't think the athletes should pay for this by not going to the event they have trained for the past years of their lives, and had no say on where the games would be held. Maybe (HA!) the IOC had reform in mind when they picked China... pffft.
China has GOT to snap out of it and get out of TIBET!!!
It is now time to break out my old "free Tibet" t-shirt again, but if one more person asks me "what band is that?" i will go kung-fu on their behinds.
I believe the media has to go one step further - get into this stuff for the average mo-joe who's "news" consists of E-Now and Much Music.
People who give a crap have been aware of Tibet's plight for ages, but too many people haven't a clue. Ignorance is just plain frustrating.

Namaste

[g5]

I think they should girlcott the games...

[2R]

I hope not ,where would the drug companies find willing human guinea pigs if they cancelled the games.

When my dad was given steroids to help overcome the weightloss from cancer i asked the doctor if the steroids where safe and he assured me that they had been tested on the best athletes in the world.
So keep up the testing as we learn more from athletes than we would from using third world human guinea pigs.
The olympics are the best testing ground as the drug companies also have to be concerned with minimum toxic residue to avoid being caught using /testing drugs on the willing athletes

[Chuck Ellsworth]

Send Al Gore over to sell carbon off sets to the Chinese.

[Widow]

Cabinet to decide on possible Games boycott
Updated Mon. Apr. 7 2008 11:10 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff


As protests continue to disrupt the Olympic torch's journey towards Beijing, Canada's Defence Minister Peter MacKay said the Conservative government has not yet decided on a potential boycott of the Beijing Olympics.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, MacKay said the issue is likely to be discussed at the cabinet table and no decision will be made until that happens.

"Without having the discussion we can't rule anything out, so were not at that point," he said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he has no plans to attend the opening ceremonies of the Summer Games but he has stressed his decision is a personal one.

On Monday, activists clashed with police in Paris where the torch relay made a scheduled appearance. One day earlier demonstrators in London disrupted the torch relay when it made a stop in that city.

Much of the torch's 137,000-kilometre journey to Beijing could be hindered by the demonstrations, most in protest of China's human rights record and a recent crackdown on Tibetans.

The Canadian Olympic Committee issued a statement on Monday, saying its focus is on "the preparation and performance of our athletes."

"We recognize that the global reach of the Olympic Games often illuminates non-sports-related issues that spark deeply felt passions," said the statement from President Michael Chambers and Chief Executive Officer Chris Rudge.

"However, it is not the role or jurisdiction of the COC, as a National Olympic Committee, to engage itself in issues that concern sovereign matters."

The COC statement goes on to say that the organization respects freedom of expression and believes that the presence of the Olympic Games in a country is a force for positive change.

CTV's Senior Olympic Host Brian Williams, who has covered 12 Olympic games, said the recent protests come as no surprise.

"At the time we all said this is a recipe for mass demonstrations, given the human rights record of that country," Williams told CTV's Mike Duffy Live on Monday.

"The International Olympic Committee though maintained that by giving China the summer Olympics in this year, 2008, they would advance the cause of human rights in that country."

Toronto had also bid for the 2008 Games but lost out to Beijing. Williams pointed out that while the protests are disruptive, they are bringing attention to an issue that wouldn't be in the spotlight if Toronto had won the contest.

Williams said he is against Olympic boycotts, and said the athletes shouldn't be made to suffer for the actions of a sovereign country.

"My feeling is this," Williams said. "Young men and women, whether in our country or around the world, that sacrifice so much for their one moment in the sun, they should not have the problems in China put on their shoulders only."

Some international leaders have added their voices to those speaking out against China's human rights record.

Several high-ranking German officials have said they will not attend the opening ceremonies and IOC boss Jacques Rogge has called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict with Tibet.

French President Nicholas Sarkozy said last week he wouldn't rule out the possibility of boycotting the opening ceremonies.

MacKay said it's clear the world is making a statement about China's human rights record.

"It's undeniable," he said. "It's impossible to not see the reaction that's occurring around the Olympics. It has become a forum for expression for people and their concern for what is happening in China."

David Kilgour, an international human rights lawyer and former MP who once served as co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Tibet, said the IOC made a "terrible" mistake by awarding the Games to China, based on the country's human rights record.

However, he agreed with Williams that a full boycott of the Olympics would primarily punish the athletes, and said a boycott of the opening ceremonies would be a more reasonable option.

"I think a partial boycott -- if people of principal, governments of principal, would say 'we won't go for the opening exercise but we won't deny our athletes the chance to compete,' that might be good."

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... b=Politics

[Expat]

I think the Canada should put on its boots, and for one time side with a winner!
PNG the Lama, and side with China. We have nothing to lose. The lama, and Tibet, amount to nothing and never give us anything. It is the government's role to do what is best for its citizens. And boycotting the games is not providing Canadians anything positive.
This Lama is nothing more than a modern Che Guevara. he is a a first class trouble-maker.
Tibet is China, like Kuujak is Canada.

[Dust Devil]

What I don't get is the assults on the people carrying the torch. These people are not the Chinese. Anyone who lays a hand on that torch or goes near someone carrying it should be tased and probably pepper sprayed and shot in the leg just in case. Nothing wrong with protesting but do it peacefully.

[Hedley]

This Lama is nothing more than a modern Che Guevara

That bad? I have trouble believing he tortures
people like Che did.

In 1959, Che Guevara was appointed commander of the La Cabana Fortress prison. During his term as commander of the fortress from 1959-1963, he oversaw the execution of what some estimate to be approximately 500 political prisoners and regime opponents. Many individuals imprisoned at La Cabana, such as poet and human rights activist Armando Valladares, allege that Guevara took particular and personal interest in the interrogation, torture, and execution of some prisoners.