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There's been a lot of talk lateley about boycotting the Olympics over the Chinese continuing repression of Tibet. It's reached the point where even the Olympic torch requires extra police protection from potential pro-human rights "terrorists."
I fully support the rights of the Tibetan people and condemn the deadly acts of the Chinese authorities. But upon reflection, I've decided for the US to boycott the Beijing Olympics would be entirely inappropriate.
Most of Scandinavia (although the Danes are pretty suspect these days), Chile, maybe Spain, Canada (before Harper) -- I'm sure a more knowledgeable person could come up with a healthy list of countries that treat their citizens decently and otherwise mind their own business, and they should by all means not participate. But the United States? No way. For the US to boycott the Chinese Olympics on human rights grounds would be just one more exercise in hubris and hypocrisy (plus we can hardly afford to risk the line of credit).
No, I think the US must participate in these Olympics and show solidarity with the despots. Let these Olympics become a convocation of the world's rogue nations, a celebration of stagnant wages and obscene profits, a call to arms for those who would limit all human desire and discourse to nothing but consumer transactions, a raised middle finger to anyone concerned about global warming.
Besides, it's been a long time since the Olympics had anything to do with peace and mutual respect among nations. They're mostly a way to sell the world a Coke.
