Boycott the 2008 Summer Olympics in China Because of Internet Censorship
The ChiComs have just jailed another cyber-dissident for four years because he posted items on the Internet that the government didn’t like. According to Reporters Without Borders, there are more than 80 people in prison right now because of their activities on the Internet or as traditional journalists.
Do I expect a boycott to change the ChiComs? No.
What I am suggesting is that you don’t spend your money putting a pretty face on a thug regime that silences free speech by jail, torture, and worse.
Let the athletes participate. Jesse Owens showed the world in 1936 that one could compete before a dictator and do so with dignity.
That’s different than spending thousands of dollars to put a smiling face in the stands so that an oppressive government can use you as propaganda while it crushes fundamental freedoms.
Remember Tiananmen Square. Stay home.
About the Author
With an advanced international law degree from Georgetown University and more than 15 years of real world legal experience, Attorney Mike Young is President of the Internet Ethics Council and creator of Website Legal Forms Generator software. He helps entrepreneurs protect and grow their businesses online.
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Today’s Washington Post editorial blasts China for its nonresponse to Burma’s slaughter of monks…contending that it will cast a shadow over the 2008 Olympics. Quite frankly, the ChiComs could care less about moral outrage. Hit them in the pocketbook instead. Boycott the Olympics.