The Way of the World

So, this year's summer Olympics are scheduled to take place in Beijing, China. I'm quite morally opposed to this. The Chinese government has a terrible human rights record, terrible environmental record, and no transparency whatsoever in their processes or in their press. I'm sure it's a beautiful country, and I'm sorry for the people that are forced to live there in horrible conditions and would like to have something about which to feel pride, but if I were an athlete there is no way I would agree to participate. It's almost impossible to boycott items produced in China--I tried it in college when the whole Free Tibet thing was really big. And as many problems as I have with organized religion, I don't think the Tibetan monks really pose the same type of threat as Islamic extremists or Christian fanatics. I'm not even that anti-Communist really, I am just anti-secrecy and tyranny, and those are the things that seem to grow out of governments like the one in China, or what happened in the USSR, even if they start out with noble intentions.

I mean, I guess it's not as bad as trying to hold the Olympics in Syria or Darfur or something, but it's not far above. And of course, our reasons for participating are purely economic: to maintain good or at least cordial relations with a large, powerful country that we do more importing from than anywhere else. It's so hypocritical. But I shouldn't really be surprised, since money is at the root of almost all of the decisions our government makes. Money for large corporations that don't care to act responsibly, money for oil companies, money for drugs, hookers, designer clothes and haircuts for our elected officials.

Sometimes it's hard to be the amongst the smallest cogs in such a large wheel. And although I know I won't be able to do it 100 %, I am going to try to be more aware of where the money I spend goes. I'll try to patronize smaller, localized businesses, and do more research on the business practices of larger companies. To me, this is part of being a responsible, and even patriotic, adult. I already don't drive, so I feel good that I don't spend anywhere close to the amount of money most Americans do on gas. Of course, we all rely on it, and I wouldn't want to live without the opportunities it affords us for comfort, travel, whatever, but I would like it if the oil companies and our government felt a bit more pressure to come up with alternate energy sources. There's certainly no way of turning back the clock on the Industrial Revolution, but I'd like to be more progressive about the way we deal with its fallout.