You do not need to tune into the news for long and you will hear of Chinese soldiers killing unarmed civilians, the Chinese government is controlling the news by not allowing outside press to report on the ongoing violent treatment of civilians. In the rest of the worlds press media there has been talk about boycotting the Beijing Olympics because of the China’s repressive treatment of it’s population. But there is more than China’s repressive and murderous treatment of it’s citizens to consider.
The U.S. State Department has issued this warning about traveling to Beijing. On the U.S. State Departments web site they state:
PRIVACY & SAFETY: All visitors should be aware that they have no reasonable expectation of privacy in public or private locations. All hotel rooms and offices are considered to be subject to on-site or remote technical monitoring at all times. Hotel rooms, residences and offices may be accessed at any time without the occupant’s consent or knowledge.
Then there is a recent visit from Adm. Timothy J. Keating, commander of the United States Pacific Command. He recently visited China and he and his entire staff left ALL of their electronic devices home. Why? Because of security concerns the Navy has over China hacking into the devices, thus being able to spy on the U.S. Navy and our government. If the U.S. Navy and the U.S. State Department have concerns over privacy shouldn’t we? And if the Chinese government is willing to kill it’s own citizens shouldn’t we be concerned for our safety too?
Many Olympic athletes train for years for a one time shot on the world stage of competition. The sacrifices these athletes and many times their families make over the years are nothing short of extraordinary. The athletes already know about the poor air quality and less than prefect conditions to compete. Now they are hearing about more violence of the Chinese government towards it’s people. It puts an athlete in a tough spot to choose over a sport and possibly teammates they have trained and sacrificed for over many years or possibly boycott the games.
Maybe the world should let the athletes decide to attend or boycott the games, after all they are the ones who worked so hard to get the honor and privilege to compete on the world’s stage. And the rest of us can boycott the games by staying home, but still support our athletes by watching their performances on television and cheering them on with emails and web postings.
To the Chinese it is all about the money and we can boycott them financially. Thank you for visiting Expressing Opinions.
Tags: media, olympics, sports
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