Wesley Smith asks Americans to not watch the Olympics. No doubt, many Americans feel torn; we don’t want to punish American athletes for the actions of the Chinese government and the International Olympic Committee, but at the same time, if we tune in and behave as if these are just another Olympic games, we will be acquiescing to a lie and accomplices in a great crime.
One person who doesn’t seem all that conflicted is President Biden, assuming that White House press secretary Jen Psaki is characterizing his views accurately:
Q: And just a quick final one: Does Biden plan to watch the Olympics — U.S. athletes competing? I think it starts Friday.
PSAKI: Yes, absolutely. We all do. I’m not going to rule out an Olympics outfit here. I would encourage all of you to do the same. (Laughter.) Yes, we are looking forward to it and to cheering on our American athletes who will be competing.
It is likely that Biden doesn’t want to appear unsupportive of the U.S. Olympic team. But unsurprisingly, Chinese state-run media jumped on Psaki’s statement, and one scoffed, “Considering that Biden claimed a so called ‘diplomatic boycott’ of Beijing 2022, he seems to have a bad memory, again.” (A diplomatic boycott simply means U.S. officials will not attend, but Chinese state-run media will muddy the waters with glee.)
This is a hard lesson that there are limited benefits to a partial boycott.