Boycotting: What's the point when you get down to it?

[PinkFloyd]

Alright, so this popped into my head when I was replying to a thread on the Olympic games in Sochi, Russia.

I don't see much of a point of boycotting the Olympics due to of Russia's extremely homophobic nature. People there are for Alpine Skiing and Figure Skating and what not. The athletes and spectators are not thinking about homophobia.

I feel like if the Olympics are watched and people forget about the nasty homophobia, then it'll be all good. Right?

Some people I talk to make such a big deal about boycotting the Olympics that they are actually FUELING the hate by merely bringing up how bad it is. It would be like me making a thread about how bad pornography is and them posting a bunch of links to adult videos.

Or how about this. The Westboro Baptist Church. Yes, those lovely people. They get money whenever someone goes to the site that shall not be named. Even of people go to it just to look down at them, the WBC are the real winners.

I hope whoever's reading this doesn't find it at all offensive. That was my two bits worth.

[Elysium]

I don't have a strong opinion either way, but...
I feel like if the Olympics are watched and people forget about the nasty homophobia, then it'll be all good. Right?
No, not right. Forgetting about the homophobia does not make the problem go away. If anything, it probably exacerbates it.

[PinkFloyd]

I don't have a strong opinion either way, but...

No, not right. Forgetting about the homophobia does not make the problem go away. If anything, it probably exacerbates it.

I'm curious to know what would happen if people were to just not acknowledge all the hate in the world and live their lives like they should be lived. What if people could just not be phased by the "god hates fags" sign in Salt Lake City or not let swastikas spray painted on the walls of a certain memorial museum in southern Poland bother them.

Obviously, that's not what we as humans can do, but what if.

[Abyssal Echo]

I'm curious to know what would happen if people were to just not acknowledge all the hate in the world and live their lives like they should be lived. What if people could just not be phased by the "god hates fags" sign in Salt Lake City or not let swastikas spray painted on the walls of a certain memorial museum in southern Poland bother them.

Obviously, that's not what we as humans can do, but what if.

I know that this is getting off topic but, Reading this post brings to mind 2 people that had similar ideas. Martin Luther King and John Lennon Sadly they were both killed. Obviously things haven't changed much since they were talking about equal rights and peace because we still don't have either one.

[Harry Smith]

If we simply ignored all the hate in the world then we'd have mass genocide, we'd have a South Africa still ruled by the white elite, we'd have an Ireland still marred by conflict and hatred, we'd have a pretty crap world.

As I've said a million times- we boycotted South African support of the apartheid. Not everyone agreed with it in the 60's- many people in Europe still believed in the superiority of the white man. But the world took action to stop a brutal regime in the cradle.

We can't just ignore all the hatred in the world and pretend it doesn't exist because it still will. You can't ignore away a problem

[Hypers]

What the world want's to see from Russia is them stop discrimination based on sexual orientation, which is sanctioned by the state and popular among vigilante groups. To achieve this goal, the world has to show the Russians who discriminate and act violently that what they do is incorrect and immoral and unfortunately other forms of protests such as high level political exchanges and demonstrations both in Russia and in the rest of the world have not worked, so boycotting the olympics is their "last resort."

I'm not saying that boycotting is good. Certainly, when an olympic event is boycotted, its the athletes who have trained hard that lose, and the effects might not be as expected, but it has come to a point where some would argue that the only thing that can make the discriminatory Russians wake up is to boycott the olypmics.

[Elysium]

I'm curious to know what would happen if people were to just not acknowledge all the hate in the world and live their lives like they should be lived. What if people could just not be phased by the "god hates fags" sign in Salt Lake City or not let swastikas spray painted on the walls of a certain memorial museum in southern Poland bother them.

Obviously, that's not what we as humans can do, but what if.
What Harry said; if we ignored all the senseless hatred in the world, it would be everywhere. Think about what effect it would have in schools, for example. A kid is getting bullied but nobody gives a shit. That's what it would be like for everyone. People like MLK advocated to stop hate, not ignore it. There's a huge difference. Ignoring it doesn't solve anything.

[JamesSuperBoy]

Just ignoring - is wrong.

[PinkFloyd]

Just ignoring - is wrong.

What Harry said; if we ignored all the senseless hatred in the world, it would be everywhere. Think about what effect it would have in schools, for example. A kid is getting bullied but nobody gives a shit. That's what it would be like for everyone. People like MLK advocated to stop hate, not ignore it. There's a huge difference. Ignoring it doesn't solve anything.

What the world want's to see from Russia is them stop discrimination based on sexual orientation, which is sanctioned by the state and popular among vigilante groups. To achieve this goal, the world has to show the Russians who discriminate and act violently that what they do is incorrect and immoral and unfortunately other forms of protests such as high level political exchanges and demonstrations both in Russia and in the rest of the world have not worked, so boycotting the olympics is their "last resort."

I'm not saying that boycotting is good. Certainly, when an olympic event is boycotted, its the athletes who have trained hard that lose, and the effects might not be as expected, but it has come to a point where some would argue that the only thing that can make the discriminatory Russians wake up is to boycott the olypmics.

If we simply ignored all the hate in the world then we'd have mass genocide, we'd have a South Africa still ruled by the white elite, we'd have an Ireland still marred by conflict and hatred, we'd have a pretty crap world.

As I've said a million times- we boycotted South African support of the apartheid. Not everyone agreed with it in the 60's- many people in Europe still believed in the superiority of the white man. But the world took action to stop a brutal regime in the cradle.

We can't just ignore all the hatred in the world and pretend it doesn't exist because it still will. You can't ignore away a problem

I know that this is getting off topic but, Reading this post brings to mind 2 people that had similar ideas. Martin Luther King and John Lennon Sadly they were both killed. Obviously things haven't changed much since they were talking about equal rights and peace because we still don't have either one.

You guys are all right.. I don't know what I was thinking to be honest.

[JamesSuperBoy]

Its cool - I would agree that sometimes we have to shut out the bad stuff - just to be happy or at least smile - we cannot even together has history as proved many times conquer all evil or bad.