Boycott

Anyone else planning on boycotting the Olympics this summer? I am. I'm not watching any of it. I will not purchase any merchandise. I will not support the sponsors either. I will support the athletes and countries that choose not to compete (not sure how, but I'll do what I can).

Now, I am not a huge fan of the Olympics to begin with so this isn't a huge loss for me. I probably wouldn't have watched much of it. I probably wouldn't have bought any merchandise either. Although, I'm sure it will be cute this year. China will, no doubt, plaster pandas on everything that they can. Pandas are adorable. They make the merchandise much cuter and much more sell-able. Avoiding the sponsors will be tricky. They are everywhere. It's big name companies. Coca Cola, McDonald's, Johnson & Johnson, Visa, etc. I'm joining the many others that will be boycotting them.

I know this will not change anything. It makes me feel better though. The Olympic committee made a huge mistake by choosing China for the 2008 summer games. They were advised against it. They thought it would bring a positive change to the country. They have been wrong thus far.

There are entire villages that are going without water so that the Olympic sized pools can be filled, cleaned, and refilled. Their factories are being shut down, putting thousands (?) of people out of work, to reduce smog levels. I'm pretty sure those people NEED those jobs. Chinese officials have been shipping the homeless out of Beijing to special camps (Nazi concentration camps anyone?) to give the city a 'cleaner' appearance. Beijing has begun killing hundreds of cats everyday after ordering citizens to give them up due to fears of disease. Most likely not a humane death either, based of the fact that thousands of dogs were clubbed to death by government officials about a year ago. All of this to give the city a 'cleaner and greener' appearance.

I've heard/read (New York Times) that Olympic officials are shipping in some 25,000 pounds of protein for the athletes due to fears of contaminated food in China. Great. You are sending the best of the best to a country that doesn't even have a safe food supply. Sounds like a great idea.

China puts lead in our children's toys, poison in our pet's food, and antifreeze in our toothpaste. They are one of the leading sources of pollution. The human rights violations are astounding, just unbelievable. They have no concept of animal rights. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The Olympic committee made a hell of a mistake when they chose China as the host.