I love the Olympics! This year I am torn. What a great time to put focus on the Tibet issues, however, what about the Olympics and the Olympians? The torch relay is set to be in San Francisco tomorrow-the only US City. Yesterday, some climbers did an amazing job of scaling the Golden Gate Bridge to protest. They were all arrested, but I must say, they did an amazing job getting those banners up there! Many people are calling for the torch relay to be cancelled because of the protests. Many are telling world leaders that they should not go to the Olympic games. The Olympics are a time when the world should gather in the spirit of unity. Can we feel that unity if the host's neighbors are suffering from lack of basic human rights? This is a great time to take a stand and put pressure on China. I do think that protests are okay, if they are peaceful demonstrations. I don't think we should boycott the games.As my brother-in-law would say, "Don't hate the game, hate the playa." What is your opinion?
4 comments:
I'm torn like you. The athletes who have waited/trained/dreamt of these moments their whole lives will be suffering, as well as the Tibetan people, should anything drastic happen to the Olympics. BUT do we ignore what is and has been going on in Tibet? BUT still, will we (as a world) have more of an effect/impact on the situation if we don't have any sort of relationship with China at all?
IT's a tough call to make. Everyone should be able to have the right to have an opinion and verbalize it about what is happening with China and Tibet. It's just an unfortunate situation for what the Olympic tries to represent "Unity" . Shouldn't those responsible for Tibet be the ones targeted not the athletes of the Olympic games. It's a nice thought to think that hundreds of countries can rally together and enjoy cheering on men and women who have reached thier personal achevements to compete. Who knows what will happen from here.
Jenny, thank you for bringing this political issue to the forefront of your blog. I'm cheering on those climbers who risked their safety and freedom to make a statement. On the other hand, I remember predicting when China won the bid that this would become a problem. I don't believe we should boycott the Olympics in China at this point; the global community was well aware of China's political and humanitarian shortcomings when they were chosen to host the 2008 Olympics--what has changed since then?
While China's treatment of Tibet is beyond a travesty, winning the bid to host the Olympics has had many positive impacts in other sectors of Chinese society. And as the Baldwin Brigade points out: establishing a relationship with China provides us more opportunities for affecting postitive change than if we were to isolate ourselves from them.
The moral of the story here for me is that we all need to see ourselves as part of a larger global community; when people in any sector of the world are mistreated or live in substandard conditions, the entire globe suffers. The best thing for all of us to do now is make our voices heard. We CAN make a better world. YES WE CAN!! (Go Obama!)
I feel torn as you do Jen! I totally support the athletes but don't agree at all with China in most things! What can you do? I need your email because I am going private and want you to still to check out our blog. Post it for me if you want. Thanks!
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