To not want my family to watch the Olympics ?

[KatieDD]

I want to boycott viewing because I think it's disgusting they were ever given the games and DH has just put the opening ceremony on for the children to see.

Wondering if KatieDD has binned her 'made in China' goods yet?

Just watched a great day of sport, all those countries all around the world, people tuned in to enjoy the same games, how fantastic..more of a step to world peace and understanding than all the waffle and politics.

By TeacherSaysSo on Fri 08-Aug-08 21:20:20
YABU the whole superior holier-than-thou tone of the uk press about china over the last month or so is disgusting.

If the press ever bothered to highlight the mess the british colonials made of africa and the effect it is having right now, and the dodgy arms and oil deals still going on in Africa and the middle east by high ranking brits...blimey.

Just a reminder that Mao's Great Leap Forward of 1958-61 saw the deaths of 30 million Chinese through famine and purges. I think it probably still stands as the world's fastest murder rate

although I can understand the OPs reasons I think explaining to her children that the Chinese government have committed crimes against basic human rights it is not the ordinary Chinese citizen's fault .

ds has just asked me if we can set the alarm for 3am and watch michael phelps going for his first gold medal and I've said yes . Dh is on night shift so ds is coming in with me.

He knows all about how I feel regarding the human rights atrocities, not only in china but in zimbabwe, iraq etc etc, and we discuss them openly and in a way that he can make his own mind up about things.

It also means he can enjoy sport, the "pleasure and the pain", if you like, of winning and losing, and enjoy the spectacle that is the Games.

Totally agree, won't be watching.
Devil has some good tunes but really, can't stomach China.

Devil has some good tunes?? Sorry, what does that mean?

great fireworks, opening ceremony etc
brutal regime

But mrz find a country that has not done or is not doing bad things. Its impossible. So if we are only going to allow whiter than white countries to host the games, better remove these from your shortlist for starters....

*Countries and territories that retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes

Afghanistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, China, Comoros, Congo (Democratic Republic), Cuba, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Korea (North), Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saint Christopher & Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent & Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad And Tobago, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United States Of America, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zimbabwe*

ooh here's a better one, taken from amnesty website, here are 150 countries where they are trying to make changes due to human right violation:

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
American Samoa
Andorra
Angola
Anguilla
Antigua & Barbuda
Antilles
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bermuda
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Cayman Islands
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Congo
Cook Islands
Costa Rica
Côte d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
DR Congo
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Falkland Islands
Faroe Islands
Fiji
Finland
France
French Guiana
French Polynesia
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Gibraltar
Greece
Greenland
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Guam
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
La tvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macao
Macedonia
Mada gascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Martinique
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegr o
Montserrat
Morocco/Western Sahara
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Niue
North Korea
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Palestinian Authority
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Pitcairn Islands
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Reunion
Romania
Russia
Rwanda
San Marino
São Tomé and Príncipe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thail and
Timor-Leste
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad & Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Turks & Caicos Islands
Tuvalu
UAE
Uganda
UK
Ukraine
Uruguay
USA
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Vatican
Venezuela
Vi et Nam
Virgin Islands (UK)
Virgin Islands (US)
Western Samoa
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

just not joining the party.

which leaves????????

Its just SO easy to jump up and down about the latest media led human rights travesty but its all so terribly smug and ineffectual while you sit on your behinds doing nothing.

Not smug, just dissenting.
What are you saying, you can't stop it so just join in and clap?

ninah we are not clapping the politicians poor behaviour, by enjoying the olympics.

My point is you are having absolutely NO effect on china by not watching turning the telly on!!!!

On the otherhand if you actually DID something to help, put your money/time or effort into helping change things, then fairplay.

Otherwise its just smug mumsnetters trying to make out they care about the less well off and that they actually know about world politics, and aren't they martyrs.

Wonder if you'll mention the word Tibet this time next year..

..and when was the last time you bought a chinese meal

Well I will be watching the rowing tomorrow as I have a good friend competing. I will also be watching the swimming......

I also have a message for misdeameanor. If I had lived in 1936 i would have been watching as I wouldnt have missed Jesse Owens winning four gold medals, what a historic moment to witness his bravery and talent.I would have liked to have seen him punching his fist in the air with his black glove.He competed despite being faced with adversity.

oohagh you know when someones arguments are ropey when hitler and WW" are used as analogies..urgh.

See your point but still can't switch off and stomach it.
Dunno how buying a Chinese meal is relevant but fwiw cash strapped lone p living on stew.
If no one watched it would have a massive effect!

well, buying a chinese meal would mean giving money to the chinese people, hence encouraging a corrupt society etc etc

[possibly a ropey analogy!!!!!]

If noone watched it wouldn't make any difference!!! The Chinese govt will not care if noone turns on the TV - being passive never gets anything done.

Just forget the politics and enjoy the sport.

But why should the sportsmen miss out on something they have aimed for for most of their lives?

Agree totally,Teacher, about the hitler analogies!!

x-posts!

only if they do not like it

Hmmmm... although you are making me peckish tss I think it is a bit ropey.
Our local takeaway is second generation not Beijing sponsored. And if it was, and I could afford it, I'd honestly still say no.

lol Bejing sponsored.

OH NO, I will have to stop posting girls..on a mission to throw away chinese sponsored goods, I have just looked at my computer keyboard and it is made in china..in the bin it goes......

Pedant alert - TeacherSaysSo - I don't know where you cut and pasted your list from but Kazakhstab is spelt incorrectly.

To OP YANBU to want to boycott watching the Plympics if that silent protect means something to you, you are even NBU to want our family to do the same. However trying to make them do the same would be a little umm... well, totalitarian, which would kind of ruin the point wouldn't it?

kazakh stan

Well I'm trying to get ds's into it so that in 4 years' time they'll be enthused enough to want to watch some of it live over here.

And I'm naïve enough to hope/believe that sport is sometimes more powerful than politics.

2016 in Harare, anyone?