United States Will Boycott the Olympics

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... Only if their athlete's safety is at risk:

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The United States would only consider boycotting the Beijing Olympics if China was unable to guarantee athlete safety, United States Olympic Committee (USOC) chief Jim Scherr said on Tuesday.

Following recent protests over China's human rights record and stance on Tibet, Scherr was asked what could force the U.S. to pull out of this year's Games.

"If there is a point that we cannot guarantee the safety of the delegation we would look at whether or not we would send a team," Scherr told Reuters.

"However, we feel absolutely good about China's preparations on security and the safety of our delegation.

"We're committed to sending a team, we have accepted an invitation and we have nothing else under consideration at this point and time."

From 16-year-old gymnast Shawn Johnson to 39-year-old modern pentathlete Sheila Taormina, most of the U.S. Olympians taking part in a three-day USOC media summit have been asked about political issues.

Demonstrations along the Olympic torch relay route through London, Paris and San Francisco have taken the spotlight off the Olympics and put it on Tibetan anti-Beijing protests, sparking calls for a boycott.

OLYMPIC IDEALS

Scherr said the world should take the opportunity to embrace the Olympic ideals to get its message across in the same way that black sprinter Jesse Owens did at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

"As an Olympian and CEO of the United States Olympic Committee the Games themselves are inherently good," said Scherr. "The competition on the field stands for excellence, hope, inspiration and most importantly friendship among nations and peoples.

"That message comes through the Games and that message is an important one to deliver to the world.

"If Jesse Owens didn't go to the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and show the world that the ideology that was in place at the time was flat wrong by winning four gold medals he would not have had the opportunity.

"We're looking forward to taking this team to Beijing and making those statements."

The USOC and team coaches have said they will not try to stop their athletes from speaking out in Beijing.

"They (players) have the right to express their opinions... freedom of speech," said Mike Krzyzewski, head coach of the U.S. men's basketball team. "I would tell them to follow their hearts but understand they are representing U.S. basketball.

"Sometimes, through a performance you do more than what you say.

"None of these athletes have a responsibility to be political. They have responsibility to represent the country in the best possible manner."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080416/sp_nm/olympics_us_dc;_ylt=AhQLBAuadQRUgIaO0FM8Xn.s0NUE
 
Cunning as Zeus
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Funny how the people our athletes should be afraid of are in charge of their safety.
 
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Don't think it's safe? Don't send your athletes, no one's forcing you. Funny how people often think everything revolves around the US.
 
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Alright, Dan. You hate America. We ****ing get it. Now cut the **** already.
 
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I don't hate America (just for the record I don't expect that to convince you), it just ****ing pisses me off when they think they're in the center of the Universe. Which they're not.

If I said "Serbia will boycott the Olympics" or "Bulgaria will boycott the Olympics" or "Uzbekistan will boycott the Olympics" everyone would just cast it off. But no, not the US. They're in charge, right?

The US is acting like a spoiled child here. Like I said, if you don't like it, get the **** out. There's people who will come for what they want to do, no one ****ing cares about your athletes.
 
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What the **** are you talking about? If other nations said they might boycott the Olympics, it'd be all over the news because it's a hot button issue. You're acting like we're forcing everyone to report on our stances and policies. It's called journalism, guy. That's what they're supposed to do. Report the news. This is news, and so they reported it.
 
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No one else is doing it, and as far as I remember during the 3 olympics that I've lived through (not counting the one on my birth year), no one ever commited to something like this. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that they reported it. So everyone can see how ****ing immature and self-centered they're acting right now.

EDIT: When I said "cast it off" I was referring to the readers. The US is one of the World's superpowers, so when they make an issue like this everyone's hyped up. When some third-world country does the same, people don't pay attention to it. They will read it, which is enough for the news companies to make a profit by itself, but they won't pay it any mind.
 
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Either you're pretending to be completely ignorant of the current circumstances regarding China's human rights record, and its willingness to remove and censor any athlete that claims to be pro-Tibet, or you really don't know what is going on. Either way, enough is enough. Every time America is mentioned, you have to pop in to say "AMERICA IS THE DEVIL". No, you don't use those words, but the message is the same every single time. When we do something wrong, hop all over our ass. It'll be alright then. But throwing a tantrum because we made an announcement is retarded beyond belief.
 
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I bet it would be just as important if Britain or France or Germany said they would boycott the olympics.
Even if not then it's not the US being immature, because afterall it's the readers who are interested in an article.
 
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There's no hidden message here. I meant what I said. America is immature, self-centered, and wants to interfere again. As always. They're basically saying "If we're not going, no one's going." Why should all other athletes that are not from America, who tried incredibly hard to prepare themselves for these Olympics have all their hard work thrown down the drain just because the US decided China isn't pretty enough for their athletes? Why are their athletes better than everyone else's?

As for the human rights record, they won't be living in China. They'll be staying there temporarily to compete with other athletes.

Now I want you to do a simple calculation, if you don't mind. Compare the number of pro-tibet athletes that will potentially be excluded from the Olympics by China, and the number of all athletes, NOT from the US. And tell me, which of them has more zeros?

I bet it would be just as important if Britain or France or Germany said they would boycott the olympics.
Even if not then it's not the US being immature, because afterall it's the readers who are interested in an article.
Perhaps, but you don't see Britain or Germany, or any other country doing it. Readers are the ones interested in the article, but the article is just the way to spread the news. They're boycotting the Olympics, whether it's written about it or not.
 
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What. The. ****.

We're saying "If our athletes are in danger, we're not sending them to China." That's it. We're not saying, "IF WE DON'T GO, NO ONE GOES RHEEEEEEE!!" That's you making **** up. Again. If China can't say with absolute certainty that our athletes aren't completely safe, our guys don't belong there.

When China threatens our or any athletes because of their political opinions, it's no longer an issue of separating politics from the Olympics. Then it becomes something very personal, and you can no longer ignore everything else, as you've chosen to do.

Where you're getting the notion that we control the Olympics and everyone must bow down to us and die, I don't know. Oh wait, I do. Your hateful imagination. You hate this country so much, that you're willing to completely distort reality so that you'll feel justified in demonizing this country. Believe me, there are plenty of valid reasons to dislike us. Look for and study those reasons and stop making **** up.
 
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I feel as though I'm overstating the obvious here, but if anyone here (I'm not going to name names) feels like posting about this issue and is incapable of doing so without employing very overt bias and sentiment - particularly against the figures in this article and the related issues (China, the US, and Tibet) - they oughtn't post at all. Politically-based threads were taken off of the "blacklist" because we couldn't find all that much in the way of such malicious sentiment, and I don't see us tolerating it any more now than we did in the past.

Be civil. Don't use statements that exaggerate the actions of elected officials and, even more so, don't transfer the onus of those decisions from those elected officials onto every citizen in that country. Claiming, for instance, that Americans are self-centered and attention-grabbing is a gross exaggeration and a stereotype based on the decisions of a fraction of the country's citizens.

I'm going to cut myself off, here, as I don't want to end up rambling. Long story short - deliver your arguments without gross bias and malicious sentiment. There are no ultimatums in this respect.
 
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The US is one of the World's superpowers, so when they make an issue like this everyone's hyped up. When some third-world country does the same, people don't pay attention to it.
Yeah that's how it works! This is going to sound really, really arrogant, but to paraphrase Ron Burgandy, "[We're] a pretty big deal". The US is a super power and pretty damn popular, so if we make a bold move, it makes news.



What I just said does NOT apply to this topic, because the US is just stating they may not send their athletes. Nothing self-centered about this.

Honestly dan, considering how pro-civil rights you are, I thought you would be glad that the US did not have the Olympics in a country that disregards said rights.
 
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After rereading the article two times, I couldn't see anything about the US speaking for the rest of the participating nations concerning a boycott. Dan, it honestly seems like you're just looking for a reason to bash America. You can deny it, but I think we all know it.

As Zeo said, every time such a thread comes up, you try your hardest to **** on America's name. This is called prejudice (of the ignorant sort). You don't seem to have read the article carefully enough, go back and do so again. And again. Make sure you understand it. Good. Now go ahead and post.

Oh, and try not generalizing America so much. Refer to the parties directly related to the subject matter, not America as a whole. Even if the whole of America were self-centered, arrogant pricks (which the majority aren't), what the hell does that have to do with just us boycotting the olympics because we feel unsafe in China? Exactly, nothing.
 

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