I see.

Your plan is to boycott the games in China and a few othre secretive ideas that you don't feel like discussing here. I'm impressed. You're right that it's hard to debate someone who refuses to explain their side and only bad mouths the other side.

I see that moderators here have special priveleges that they can continually insult the posters here. I have to admit, these are new rules for me. I've generally seen moderators try to tone down the personal attacks, not initiate them.

Well, I guess if your plan is so secretive you can't even discuss it here, then there's no point in trying to analyze it.

Btw, I didn't say this:


I would appreciate it in the future if you would quote me correctly. I realize you're a moderator and as such, you can pretty much say and do to others as you wish, however, I personally don't like being misquoted. If it is the policy of this board for moderators to misquote other posters, then the issue is much bigger than this one time. I'm afraid I'd have a tough time accepting a forum which allows its moderators to constantly insult posters and misquote them for whatever reason might be at hand.

Since you propose no new ways to deal with China, other than boycotting a sporting event, I can say that China will not be compelled to change. The one concern I have mentioned here is that I find the current lambasting of China's illegal foreign intervention into Tibet a bit hypocritical. While it is nice to highlight their atrocities, I find it appaling that the same pressure is not exerted on China all the time and not only when they host major sporting events. A boycott would be simply meaningless. The US tried it with the Soviet Union in 1980 and the Soviet Union reciprocated in 1984. The only ones who gave up anything were the athletes themselves.

APL,

Not to belabor the point too much, my response was due to this from you:


I do believe that the above statement would qualify as a "belittling" statement about my post above it.

As far as the "hot air" statement is concerned, it appears to be correct up to this point. You have stated but one way to protest China, by way of the boycott. It has never worked before, and there's no reason to believe that it would work this time.

And though I won't repeat your vulgar satement about China, I can tell you that US foreign policy, as it stands today, has fully embraced China. If you wish to create an embargo on China unilaterally, such a decision would be catastrophic for the US. China owns a significant part of the US debt through the purchasing of US treasury bonds. In fact, they are second in total bonds owned with only Japan owning more. If China were to return those treasury bonds and demand other currencies instead, our economy would tank in a matter of weeks.

It may seem macho and patriotic to make the bold statements that both of you are chiming, but the reality of the situation is quite different.

http://www.discursivemonologue.com/2007 ... -trending/

I'm very much aware of the differences as well as the usage of vulgarity. I don't condone it myself, but if it's your preferred way of critiquing, more power to you. After all, you're the mod here. You're the example for the rest of us.