I love watching the Winter Olympics, even Canadians rolling stones down the ice in that strange sport they call curling. About the only sport I can do without is the one where the cross country skiers are shooting at things.
Sadly, this is the first year in decades that I have not and will not watch a single second of this amazing spectacle that I enjoy so much.
I cannot watch an Olympics hosted by the Chinese as long as their government is perpetrating one of the most horrible and vicious events in recent history. Basically, the Muslim Uyghurs are being placed in the equivalent of concentration camps and we have a case of mass genocide, pure and simple.
You might say that one person not watching the Olympics is a futile gesture that will have absolutely no impact, so why deprive yourself of personal joy? You are right: one person's action means nothing. But if every person who usually watches the Olympics declined to participate, then the tv ratings would be horrible and then collectively the actions of everyone would mean quite a lot because sometimes contracts require Olympic organizers (in this case the Chinese) to return money to tv networks if the ratings don't reach certain targeted levels. Yes, one drop in a bucket has little impact, but millions of drops can create a powerful river. That is why we each must make our one little drop matter.
But, of course, almost no one is engaged in a boycott. China faces no consequences for conducting genocide against forgotten peoples whom we cannot see. And our Uyghur brothers and sisters will continue to suffer until they are no more because they remain invisible as few of us are shining a light on this grievous injustice. Nothing will stop this horror and future generations might wonder, "why didn't anyone try to do anything?" In small part, it was because we can't resist stoking our personal satisfaction by watching people sliding stones down a runway of ice and skiers shooting at targets.
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