Boycott? Pshaw!

The only question I have for those out protesting the Olympic torch relay is “Where have you been?” The Tibet Problem has been around since the Fifties and now you decide to make noise. Why not last year? Or last decade?

Super Sports Fan is being assaulted by part-time Political Person. Go away.

The time for outrage was in 2001 before the IOC gave the Summer Olympics to Beijing over Toronto. Tibet was the same then as today, a non-willing part of the China motherland, taken by force in 1950, coerced into a 1959 seventeen point agreement.

And the United States acquired Puerto Rico and Guam how? The people there weren’t asked if they wanted to join the American team. What does political assimilation have to do with sports anyway? Well, yes, that is my main point. It has nothing to do with sports.

I empathize with the noble cause of fighting for human rights which I agree are far more important than games. The Olympic flame has sparked an opportunity for Johnny and Juanny to come out of their living rooms and into ours. Opportunists, they are, true bandwagoners and Sports Fan hates bandwagon fans.

Take, for example, Mr. Jones who continues a weekly silent protest against the Iraq war at American Memorial Park. Whether you agree or disagree with him, at least you must concede that his conviction runs deep and sincere. Contrast him with the people jumping on the latest sports train to further their own political cause. As soon as the Olympics are over, we won’t hear from them again. Yet the Tibet Problem remains intact.

One reason that the IOC awarded the Olympics to Beijing was to bring China closer to world norms. We are seeing it now through strange news stories that pop up such as workshops to teach people to smile and also how to line up since they are not used to standing in lines, something that I learned in a Saipan market. They are preparing to use rockets to disperse clouds above the open-air stadium so that it won’t rain on everybody. And now if it isn’t rain that will fall on their parade, it’s the boycott that will rain on their opening ceremony if some people have their way.

The only real effects of the boycotts of the 1980 and 1984 Olympics were depriving hard-working people in their prime of a once-in-a-lifetime dream. For what? For politicians who failed to achieve their goals in other ways. I can’t imagine the frustration of sacrificing a chance of fame and fortune for a political cause that ends up having no effect on anything else.

That’s giving your all for nothing.

If people want to get China’s attention, then stop buying their cheap stuff. That sends a louder and more effective message than boycotting the Olympics opening ceremony or games.