Shelley Batts is a Neuroscience PhD candidate at the University of Michigan. She studies hair cell regeneration in the cochlea, and is trying to finish that quixotic quest called 'thesis.' She lies awake at night pondering how science intersects with politics, culture, policy, money, medicine, and religion in an attempt to be more than just a niche scientist sitting in the oh-so-lovely ivory tower. Follow me and my parrot, Pepper, on our quest to finish my PhD, land a post-doc, and stay sane.
Steve Higgins is a psychology graduate student at an online university. He hopes that the three weeks and $29.95 that he is spending on his Ph.D. will get him a job at a Tier 1 research university. Do online universities have postdocs? Ok...just kidding, Steve is really a Ph.D. Candidate in Psychology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign studying high level vision. You know... stuff like scene & object perception.
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Category: Popular Culture
Posted on: July 6, 2008 9:02 AM, by Steve Higgins
According to CNN:
President Bush on Sunday defended his decision to attend next month's Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, saying that to boycott "would be an affront to the Chinese people."
Uhh yeah, wouldn't that be the point of a boycott?
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Comments
And the proposed boycott would achieve .... what? Other than destroying the dreams and months of training of the thousands of NON-POLITICAL athletes about which the boycotters don't give a damn.
Oh yes - the athletes - just jocks anyway so who gives a fuck, eh?
Posted by: Oldfart | July 6, 2008 9:23 AM
W is not known for his higher reasoning skills. Or for his appreciation of human liberties. Does anyone know whether Congress can FORBID him from attending the Oppression Games?
Posted by: tom B | July 8, 2008 10:45 AM
Actually, I had thought that the point of a boycott would be to scorn the Chinese state.
The ultimate question is whether such boycotts actually help advance human liberty in China, whether they're just self-indulgent wankery, or whether they might actually have the opposite effect. I don't claim to know the answer.
Posted by: Jacob Wintersmith | July 8, 2008 1:00 PM
Its not him attending that we care about, its the US team.
Congress holds the purse strings for the US gov., but I doubt that means much to the Olympic team which is probably not funded by the US government to any great degree. How does an Olympic boycott work?
Posted by: Greg Laden | July 8, 2008 1:00 PM
"Its not him attending that we care about, its the US team."
I actually think the teams should play. Athletes have a limited period during which they are competitive. In my mind, the opening ceremony is the best time to express displeaure at the venue. Or, for athletes, on the medal stand, although doing anything there could lead the mealy-mouthed politicos at the IOC to take disciplinary action.
Posted by: tom B | July 8, 2008 1:45 PM
Let's go and punish the athletes, because clearly it's all their fault.
China is what it is. Skipping the games, or the ceremonies, or whatever, won't change it in the slightest. Nor will insulting them. If you're so upset, write the IOC a letter.
Posted by: jvarisco | July 9, 2008 10:37 PM
Compared to Bush's US the present Chinese government is - well, - not all that horrible.
What Vacuity (aka 'shrub') says, - who gives a toss??
Maybe China should boycott US athletes for Vacuity Co's war crimes?
Posted by: shonny | July 14, 2008 12:02 AM