Boycott The Olympic Opening Ceremony

I am adding my blogging voice to the calls to boycott the opening ceremony of this summer's Olympic Games. I will not be watching the opening on television. That will send a message to advertisers that they should not support China's propaganda efforts, especially while China is suppressing the freedom of some of its citizens. It may even help convince the Olympic Committee not to place the Olympics in countries that do not respect universal human rights.

I will also boycott the closing ceremonies.

I will not boycott the athletic events, but will watch some of them on television. The athletes have done nothing wrong in accepting the location of the Games, and have worked very hard to reach world standards. Boycotting the ceremonies avoids the displays planned by the Chinese Government to make a propaganda coup, but the athletic contests do not have the same impact. (I will probably channel surf when the network highlights the state-built facilities; I don't want to be impressed by things built to make a show while the government allows poverty to continue in other parts of the land.)

I hope that President Bush will rethink his decision to attend the games. Surely he has important things to do with two ways in progress, the economy going to pot, the administration's relations with Congress in trouble, and hurricane season approaching. If he has nothing else better to do, perhaps he might learn some more about the environmental problems which his administration has ignored, or get his science advisor to explain why the cuts in government research and development funding will be bad for the nation in the long run,