To Boycott or Not to Boycott (or How Best to Boycott),That is the Question

After yesterday's protests, the Olympic torch parade route in San Fransisco was diverted and then the torch was put on a bus for safety reasons. Jim Capple over at ESPN rightly points out that "Relaying the torch by bus is only slightly more dignified than transporting it by clown car, but still far preferable to its scheduled arrival at the Olympic Stadium in Beijing via armored tank."

The debate is raging about what whether the Olympics are worth boycotting, and if political statements should be made against the human rights policies of the Chinese.

Capple & company argue that boycotting the Olympics is futile, but participating while making a statement is the best way to essentially humiliate the Chinese government.

"It's easy to say that the rights of synchronized swimmers to perform their five-minute routine isn't worth tacitly endorsing China's actions in Tibet or its support for the Sudanese regime. But that's because it's always easy to fight for a principle by having someone else make the sacrifice. (After all, it's how the war in Iraq is being conducted.) There is absolutely no point to a country boycotting the Olympics if it will maintain normal trade relations with China as if everything is fine. It's also rather painful to do so when China helps to prop up the value of the falling American dollar."

The more effective strategy would be to visibly protest with Tibetan flags and fist pumps as events are won and medals are donned and for whole teams to boycott the opening ceremonies.

"That's the benefit of staying in the Olympics. Boycott them and no one notices. Participate and you can make a statement. China anticipated using the Olympics as a giant public-relations gala for the rising country. Just as the torch relay is demonstrating, though, the Games also can be used as a stage to focus the spotlight on China in ways it never imagined when it bid for the Olympics."

Allison Kilkenny at the Huffington Post suggests a different approach- stop the cash flow of corporate sponsorships.

"You see, though American citizens and politicians are dutifully outraged by the Chinese government's repression and abuse of its own people, corporations can't commit fast enough to spending millions for advertising in Beijing.

So if you're interested in really affecting the Olympics, first you have to stop the steady cash flow, and you can stop the cash by asking (pretty, pretty please) corporations to withdraw their ads from the Olympics."