Don't Boycott the Olympics

Calls to boycott the 2022 Olympics in China have been increasing recently.  China's human rights record continues to be deplorable, but I don't think the Olympics are the appropriate place to express our dissatisfaction.  The whole point of the Olympics, it seems to me, is to be a place where countries of the world can come together regardless of political differences.  Even though China's actions toward the Uyghurs are reprehensible, I question whether they are so much beyond the pale that it is worth turning the Olympics political over them.

I say that because I do leave open the possibility that a country could do something so egregious that it would seem to be tacit acceptance to participate in an international event that it hosts.  I would expect most human rights issues to be addressed when deciding on the host country, however.  China's treatment of Uyghurs may have gotten worse recently, but their record has been bad going back at least 30 years and probably as long as the Uyghurs have been part of China.  The time to speak out against China's hosting the Olympics would have been when the IOC awarded the Olympics.  I don't know exactly when that was, but it appears that future host cities have been determined out to 2028, so it was very likely within the last ten years.  I'm pretty sure that China's treatment of Uyghurs has not gotten exponentially worse in the last decade, although I am willing to be proven wrong on that point.

There is also the issue of the athletes who have trained for years who are denied a chance to compete.  This is also a serious concern, and a reason not to boycott lightly, but it is secondary.  If we discovered Auschwitz-style extermination camps where the Chinese were killing massive numbersof Uyghurs, I would consider that sufficient reason to boycott the Olympics, and athletes' plight would not seriously enter into it.  Mass killing is more important than sports.  But to choose an ongoing issue, not raise concerns about it for ten years, and then call for a boycott:  that seems irresponsible on the part of politicians, and something that athletes should not be punished for.

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