.Sup wrote:
RastaBlasta wrote:
It's plain and simple: If enough people stop buying a company's products, they'll start take notice pretty quick.
It happened with McDonalds (a juggernaut) within the last few years.
And anybody whose bothered with lame personal attacks get nothing but a cos you're not even worth a snappy comeback.
Nobody's asking you to give a fuck about it, but why are you so offended that some people do?
Uzique defends China. I defend their inhabitants. As soon as you mention China you get bashed.
WHOAH WHOAH WHOAH.
Pointing out clear facts of economic-relations between the West and China (i.e. we couldn't survive without them nowadays) is not 'supporting China'. What is this, America in the grips of Red fever? Any comment that isn't devotedly in favour of aggressive capitalism and democratic freedom for all countries makes me a hardline Marxist? I don't have to be Pro-China to point out that boycotting a bunch of Western corporations such as Adidas, McDonalds and all the rest won't tickle the Chinese economy one bit. I don't have to be pro-China to say that the Olympic games is one big propaganda tool for the Chinese state to use in order to incite the feeling of great national pride and prosperity in its people. This is a basic observation on a political theory; Communism and other forms of near/absolute totalitarian political rule need propaganda and 'nationalism' / patriotism in order to keep the great majority subdued and on the right side. Anyone that's read basic-level stuff such as The Communist Manifesto grasps this... it doesn't mean I have a portrait of Chairman Mao above my bed that I salute every night before I go to bed.
We're through Rasta? You didn't even address any of my arguments... is that how feverently you support your Free Tibet argument? I'm all for the freedom of Tibet, but again I must say that boycotting or politically acting over the Olympic games achieves nothing. Not even the acknowledgement or recognition of the Chinese government. Let alone action. So the only acknowledgement you have of my posts in this thread is my 12-year old knowledge of ancient civilisation. Thanks for proving your intellectual infallibility. I do suggest you re-read my posts and consider what exactly either a) the boycott of Chinese product/export or b) the boycott of sponsor companies will achieve. As I've already mentioned, a total boycott of China is about as realistic as human colonisation of Pluto... all of our Western economies are reliant and in the back-pocket of huge industrial producers and labourers such as China, as well as in the wallets of huge investments from countries such as China, Japan and the Middle-East. We cannot afford to sustain our standard of living and economical growth without them on our side; and that is the realistic truth, that is why our governments continue to deal with them and continue to tolerate their morally and politically abhorrent decisions. Without China right now, we would be fucked. Simple. Plus, the concept of boycotting also implicates this concept of self-sufficiency. Forget it... most of the Western countries don't have the resources, the working-labouring segments of population or the willpower to turn around their culture and society to be self-sufficient. Globalisation has made us all lazy and seeking the most convenient option. Could our lifestyle, industry, economy and global place remain constant if we never ever took
anything from China again? Of course not- they're the next world superpower that will rise in the next century or so, we have to be riding their profitable wave of industrialisation and economic expansion with them, not against the tide.
Your mentality and attitude towards this issue, and your approaches to being pro-Tibet really were summed up appropriately when I called you "self-aggrandizing". That's not a personal insult or putdown as such... I just think you put far too much value and self-worth into yourself and into the Western world. We're powerless in every sense when it comes to being activist on the Tibet situation; militarily, economically and influentially. China aren't some dirt-poor dustbowl in the middle of the Middle-East that we can walk over to and bully into going our way on an issue. Politicizing the Olympics is stupid, illogical and ultimately a waste of time and effort.
Now I hope you read this, I summarized all of my contentions and arguments nicely for you. I'm willing to elaborate on any points that you disagree with or don't understand my explanation of.
