I've got to admit that I've never been a fan of the Olympics (not even historically speaking).
I loved visiting Olympia and had a lot of fun there with friends and my favourite teacher on school trips, but... that's it.
Recently, things have become slightly annoying. Olympics by Olympics.
I truly hadn't been paying attention until China got the Olympics, and I found myself with the Olympic flame in front of me - and blocking the bridge I needed to cross in order to go to work. By sheer luck, I managed to cross the bridge and reach my classroom, but I started paying attention to Olympic gossip.
What do I remember about the Beijing Olympics?
In my corner of the world, the Olympics nuts bullied people in town, and no one had the right to smack them in order to kick-start their brains.
In Beijing, people were evicted with practically no compensation, and people weren't allowed to protest.
Why? But in the name of the love of sports and for the love of humankind, of course! [I haven't located the Sarc font. Sorry]
Then... London! Or as we called it Londinium MMXII.
If there were things that were no surprise from the Chinese government, I was utterly disappointed when the new Olympics bully decided that no one, for whatever reason, could use the names linked to the Olympics. I particularly remember the shops that had to drop a part of the names that had been theirs for years because there was olymp-something in it.
The Olympic bullies were allowed to harass anyone who refused to comply and obey.
Now, let's move to the winter variety of the Olympics.
Next, we're getting Sochi, in Russia. Russia, where the government (ex-KGB and ex-lawyers) has decided that their poor policies needed to be hidden from the sheeple, thanks to scapegoats; and therefore, the Russian government has passed laws that discriminate against and criminalise the LGBTQ community.
Some artists who were invited to the Olympics have refused to go.
The athletes are divided.
Some people want the games to be boycotted. Others are against it.
Whilst I understand that it's properly heart-rending to not participate in something when you've been training for years, I know that I couldn't caution the anti-human rights bullying of politicos who need a smokescreen.
As well, in this particular case, I can't help thinking that money is talking (I have no idea how much money is involved - I must have read something on the topic and forgotten everything about it - but I just bet it's a lot).
So, boycott or not boycott? Boycott!
Why? Because I cannot take the 1936 Olympics out of my mind. The world went to Germany and validated the Nazi regime.
It's no surprise that a lot of people have dubbed this one the "Nazi Olympics".
Of course, the athletes and the people from the Olympic committees all around the world, after considering a boycott, declared that sports had nothing to do with politics. <BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ!> Wrong, boys! By agreeing to go to Germany, you helped more screws get loose in Hitler's head, and that basically told him that he could bully his way to more power. Three years later: war, slaughters, death camps.
I'm not putting all the blame on the Olympics, but, bloody hell, that didn't help one bit.
A few years later, other Olympics people decided that what was going on with Apartheid in South Africa was not right, and the country was boycotted. Hurray!
Today, we're back to the square 'Let's not mix sports and politics'.
Why?
Because the Russians are not threatening the Jews, so they're not planning to kill the gays?
Chickenshit.
A scapegoat is a scapegoat, and if you don't fight for human rights now, History is going to kick you in the nuts and laugh at you whilst you roll on the ground calling for your mummy. Just saying...
No dictator (okay, the Russian boys may not be dictators yet, but, boy, how Vlad wishes he were) should be allowed to bully one minority in order to manipulate his sheeple - sorry, law-abiding citizens - to hide the holes in his politics.
1936, it was the Jews - and we all know (except denialists) how that ended.
2014, it could be the LGBTQ community next.
By solidarity with my Russian brothers and sisters, I (yes, I, tiny drop in this vast ocean) am going to boycott everything related to the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
I truly hadn't been paying attention until China got the Olympics, and I found myself with the Olympic flame in front of me - and blocking the bridge I needed to cross in order to go to work. By sheer luck, I managed to cross the bridge and reach my classroom, but I started paying attention to Olympic gossip.
What do I remember about the Beijing Olympics?
In my corner of the world, the Olympics nuts bullied people in town, and no one had the right to smack them in order to kick-start their brains.
In Beijing, people were evicted with practically no compensation, and people weren't allowed to protest.
Why? But in the name of the love of sports and for the love of humankind, of course! [I haven't located the Sarc font. Sorry]
Then... London! Or as we called it Londinium MMXII.
If there were things that were no surprise from the Chinese government, I was utterly disappointed when the new Olympics bully decided that no one, for whatever reason, could use the names linked to the Olympics. I particularly remember the shops that had to drop a part of the names that had been theirs for years because there was olymp-something in it.
The Olympic bullies were allowed to harass anyone who refused to comply and obey.
Now, let's move to the winter variety of the Olympics.
Next, we're getting Sochi, in Russia. Russia, where the government (ex-KGB and ex-lawyers) has decided that their poor policies needed to be hidden from the sheeple, thanks to scapegoats; and therefore, the Russian government has passed laws that discriminate against and criminalise the LGBTQ community.
Some artists who were invited to the Olympics have refused to go.
The athletes are divided.
Some people want the games to be boycotted. Others are against it.
Whilst I understand that it's properly heart-rending to not participate in something when you've been training for years, I know that I couldn't caution the anti-human rights bullying of politicos who need a smokescreen.
As well, in this particular case, I can't help thinking that money is talking (I have no idea how much money is involved - I must have read something on the topic and forgotten everything about it - but I just bet it's a lot).
So, boycott or not boycott? Boycott!
Why? Because I cannot take the 1936 Olympics out of my mind. The world went to Germany and validated the Nazi regime.
It's no surprise that a lot of people have dubbed this one the "Nazi Olympics".
Of course, the athletes and the people from the Olympic committees all around the world, after considering a boycott, declared that sports had nothing to do with politics. <BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ!> Wrong, boys! By agreeing to go to Germany, you helped more screws get loose in Hitler's head, and that basically told him that he could bully his way to more power. Three years later: war, slaughters, death camps.
I'm not putting all the blame on the Olympics, but, bloody hell, that didn't help one bit.
A few years later, other Olympics people decided that what was going on with Apartheid in South Africa was not right, and the country was boycotted. Hurray!
Today, we're back to the square 'Let's not mix sports and politics'.
Why?
Because the Russians are not threatening the Jews, so they're not planning to kill the gays?
Chickenshit.
A scapegoat is a scapegoat, and if you don't fight for human rights now, History is going to kick you in the nuts and laugh at you whilst you roll on the ground calling for your mummy. Just saying...
No dictator (okay, the Russian boys may not be dictators yet, but, boy, how Vlad wishes he were) should be allowed to bully one minority in order to manipulate his sheeple - sorry, law-abiding citizens - to hide the holes in his politics.
1936, it was the Jews - and we all know (except denialists) how that ended.
2014, it could be the LGBTQ community next.
By solidarity with my Russian brothers and sisters, I (yes, I, tiny drop in this vast ocean) am going to boycott everything related to the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
People suggested to move the games to another, friendlier country, but I'm afraid that money talks (from the committee down to some of the athletes). Piece of news guys, when you kick the bucket, you won't take your money with you, so it all boils down to 'How do you want to be remembered?'.
It's quite easy: either you stay home in protest or you go stroke the Russian politicos' egos and you face the potential consequences. I'll help you: imagine that some dictator orders all sports to become illegal; wouldn't you like someone, abroad, with an international reputation, to defend you and your rights to do what you want? Now... Make a choice...
It's quite easy: either you stay home in protest or you go stroke the Russian politicos' egos and you face the potential consequences. I'll help you: imagine that some dictator orders all sports to become illegal; wouldn't you like someone, abroad, with an international reputation, to defend you and your rights to do what you want? Now... Make a choice...
2 comments:
Was chatting to an artists who is helping sort out the commonwealth games intro things in Glasgow and she was bemoaning the Olympic legacy which was big brash and wrong!!!! so you are not alone and if you tweet me I can connect you to the artist who is a sweetie and very very good.
Oooooooooooh! I'll hop to Twitteropolis in a moment. Definitely! :)
I think that many "common citizens" are growling more and more because of this circus. It's the big names that aren't loud enough...
The few things I found about a possible boycott of Sochi were about athletes saying that they wouldn't boycott the games because they thought it'd do nothing. Ouch.
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