Those of you boycotting the Olympics, REPORT!!!

[backscatter712]

I've had it with the Olympics.

I've had it with China's authoritarianism.

I've had it with the Olympics selling out to corporate interests.

I hate how all signs of protest and dissent are suppressed. I hate how the videos of the competitions are strictly copyright-controlled, and we in the U.S. are forced to watch it on tape delay. I hate how the poor are swept out of Beijing so the elite motherfucks don't have their tourist strolls through the streets disturbed.

I hate how even the athletes are jerked around for daring to take care of their bodies in Beijing's polluted air.

FUCK YOU OLYMPICS!!!!

No, I didn't watch the opening ceremony. I didn't see that Hitler torch lit up. I ain't watching. I ain't participating. I ain't buying Coca-Cola just because they're sponsoring the Olympics. The Olympics can kiss my freedom-loving ass.

Who's with me?

[tama]

1. What Olympics? n/t

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. I'm not watching

Nor do I care to. Thanks for the heads up on who is sponsoring the events. I don't drink soda pop, but I believe Coke, like Pepsi, has larger corporate interests, so perhaps I can boycott them.

[mike_c]

3. I boycott television generally, so the Olympic coverage is easy....

Plus, I'm not especially interested, no matter where they're being held.

[backscatter712]

4. Excellent.

Who else is sponsoring the Olympics?

Here we go...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Worldwide_Olympic_sponsors

http://en.beijing2008.cn/90/53/column211995390.shtml

McDonalds can also kiss my ass. As can GE, Kodak, Lenovo, Panasonic, Samsung, VISA, etc. etc. etc.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Me

[thereismore]

6. I just don't care. My son said he likes sports but he doesn't like China. He does not

want to watch. Weird huh?

[On the Road]

7. Quite the Hater, Aren't You?

What exactly are people NOT watching going to report on?

[seemslikeadream]

8. war?

[backscatter712]

14. Yep, nothing like a good bread & circuses distraction...

to keep the plebes from knowing about the death and destruction in the world.

[rurallib]

29. I will be reporting on not watching an overhyped event

where 'athletes' who do one thing for years do it once again. I don't give two hoots about China. I do care about emphasis on things like ping pong when there are so many problems that need attention. And no I don't watch much other sports any more. Used to be a HUGE sports fan until the corporations got ahold of sports.

[On the Road]

32. Fair Enough

I just think there's enough room in the world to drop geopolitics for awhile and pay attention to a celebration of peace of global unity. In the long run, the Olympics discourage wars and promote mutual understanding and global solidarity at an idividual level.

That's what is particularly striking (to me) watching this Olympics. But you have a different take on it.

[seemslikeadream]

9. I'm boycotting extra marital affairs also

[Codeine]

10. Fuck the Olympics.

Fuck China.

Free Tibet.

[eleny]

11. We watched the opening cermonies with disappointment last night

I remember being gob smacked by Athens in '04. And Ali lighting the torch in '96 pretty much melted my cheeks with tears. But last night was too many people showing how they could do so much in unison. And they were told to smile a lot? Please!

My husband and I watched it together and his first comment was how it made him think of films of Nazi rallies. (And his dad was born in Germany, so no offense to Germans in general!) My first comment after that was about the goose stepping during the flag raising.

Now there were some beautiful costumes and sets. Yes, I've seen some still photos and they're magnificent. But I could not warm up to tone of the opening ceremonies even though I hoped I could. I really do love the openers. Not this year. I might go and buy a dvd of Athens.

Btw, catching W checking his watch did crack me up. A sort of comic relief that for once in these last 7 1/2 years of his sorry assed life I'm grateful to him for something. I would have wanted out of there, too.

[arcos]

12. Fuck you Olympics! nt

[monmouth]

13. No interest in it whatsoever. Listening to Pavarotti Puccini...n/t

[jwirr]

15. I have not watched any of it but I have looked at the pics on DU. nt

[backscatter712]

16. I got a kick out of that pic of Bush...

ogling that bikini-clad Olympic swimmer.

Pretty much sums up his level of classiness.

[backscatter712]

20. Also, seeing some of the pics of the opening ceremony.

Did anyone note the resemblence between the massed performers in Beijing and those massive card-stunt & gymnastics performances involving thousands of people in North Korea?

LOOK AT HOW WE CAN MARCH IN LOCK-STEP!!!

[conspirator]

17. You are right. These days is all about business. Can you believe that

mcdonalds sponsors important sports events like the soccer world cup. Young people watching it, will think
that eating at mcdonalds is cool and unharmful.

[lame54]

18. I only watch it for the synchronized swimming

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

19. boycotting here too

[Minimus]

21. Not watching but I am still drinking Coca-Cola.

I can't give up my Coke!

[madrchsod]

22. i may watch the womens soccer/football final

if the usa or brazil is playing. other than that--nope

[Captain Hilts]

23. The IOC is corrupt and China is a human rights disaster looking for legitimacy by hosting the games.

[otherlander]

24. I'm not watching

But then, I never watched the Olympics before, either. Sports bore me. I stopped buying Chinese stuff, too.

[sniffa]

25. "Hitler torch"

:rofl:

[backscatter712]

28. IIRC, the torch tradition was started in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin...

Certainly, Hitler made use of the torch as a symbol for that propaganda spectacle.

[2Design]

26. I was going to and then saw pictures of the opening and realized

just as we have a president who is evil so do they - but not all of us are evil - so I watched - the message was good - now the governmentS of all countries need to find a way to fill those dreams they showed of harmony and peace

[billyoc]

27. Technically, I just don't LIKE the Olympics, so put me down for boycotting

:hi:

[davidwparker]

30. I'm not watching. Communist China can kiss my red, white, and blue as*.

[onethatcares]

31. why would I watch?

I share your fyo sentiments. Peace

[TexasObserver]

33. I'm "slipping" by watching the basketball game now, but I'll go to an OA meeting later

Olympics Anonymous.

It's NOT our fault, but it is our responsibility.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

34. I'm like you "slipping" now and again.

I'll probably watch the women's gymnastics, swimming and track and field when they start but not the way I was "glued to the tube" for the past Summer Olympics starting in 1972.

The opening ceremony I refused to watch. I figured it would be something similar to the one in Berlin in 1936. Goose stepping soldiers for the Olympic flag huh, guess my hunch wasn't too far off course.

[arthritisR_US]

35. I have refused to watch anything to do with the Olympics....I check the

schedule and avoid it like the plague!

[Waiting For Everyman]

36. With ya. Not watching and not interested.

[lonestarnot]

37. The wha?

[hiaasenrocks]

38. GREAT Olympics this year! Go Michael Phelps!

[shadowknows69]

39. Is it olympic time again?

Hadn't noticed.

[Big Blue Marble]

41. Delete

Meant to respond to OP

[Kaleko]

40. I am a Tibetan

in the same way that JFK could say, "Ich bin ein Berliner."

[Big Blue Marble]

42. The 'Olympics" are so far removed from the initial vision of the event.

It was to be the celebration of the individual athlete and of the competition in each event.
But it became first political theater; then a corporate showcase.

At least in the sixties and seventies, ABC did a creditable job of covering the events.
Now NBC slices and dices many events in ways that minimize the pleasure of even following
them.

This year by allowing China to host, The Olympic Committee has bowed to their corporate masters
and totally violated the spirit of freedom and individual achievement that the games are to
represent.

IMO, it is best to move along. There is little of substance here. The athletes who have
sacrificed everything to be at these events are saddly the pawns in the quadrennial corporate dance.

I have committed to totally boycott these games.

[FloridaJudy]

43. Me.

Although I probably wouldn't watch them, even if I weren't boycotting. For one, I don't have cable. For another, watching most sports bores me silly, though I do like gymnastics.

But considering how abominably the Chinese government behaves, I've given it a pass - not just for Tibet, but for Darfur, Burma, and all the Chinese whose homes and/or livelihoods were destroyed to put on the spectacle. Yeah, I don't approve of how my own government acts either, and if boycotting an event would make it clear to them just how appalling their policies were, I'd do that too.

[csziggy]

44. Aside from the political considerations, NBC's coverage sucks

I'd watch the one or two sports that I like but NBC has destroyed coverage. They make it almost impossible to find a schedule, then do not show the events at the times on their schedules. So if you want to watch a less popular sport, chances are, you won't find it even if it is covered.

And NBC also has a very bad habit of only showing American wins. I can remember when the world AND the USA cheered for athletes from all over the world - now we're only treated to promotion of our professional athletes when they beat real athletes from other countries.