21–30 of 80 posts
Instead of boycotting, I would advocate for subversion. The Games have been a platform for highlighting social issues before: get on that platform and show that gay and lesbians can be winners too and that other athletes support their plight. At any rate, it's going to be interesting to watch.
> An absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 on Sochi is simply essential. Wow, I couldn't disagree more on this point. One of the great things about the Olympics is that it's without politics [er... in this regard]. I don't believe that it's acceptable to say that places with different cultural values make unsuitable hosts. Human rights criticisms were also levelled at London, and even more at Beijing. I…
> An absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 on Sochi is simply essential. Wow, I couldn't disagree more on this point. One of the great things about the Olympics is that it's without politics [er... in this regard]. I don't believe that it's acceptable to say that places with different cultural values make unsuitable hosts. Human rights criticisms were also levelled at London, and even more at Beijing. I…
"The idea that sport and politics don’t connect is worse than disingenuous, worse than stupid. It is wickedly, wilfully wrong. Everyone knows politics interconnects with everything for “politics” is simply the Greek for “to do with the people”.
> An absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 on Sochi is simply essential. Wow, I couldn't disagree more on this point. One of the great things about the Olympics is that it's without politics [er... in this regard]. I don't believe that it's acceptable to say that places with different cultural values make unsuitable hosts. Human rights criticisms were also levelled at London, and even more at Beijing. I…
Fortunately, Nazi Germany didn't arrest Jesse Owens upon arrival to the country. Russia has made it clear that they will not afford the same freedom to gays and lesbians, or more to the point they plan on arresting them immediately upon arrival.
At the risk of sounding insensitive (I'm not), I'd like to make a reminder that Hitler persecuted Jews and homosexuals alike...the Jews were a priority for him, but he had infrastructure dedicated to several groups. More importantly, because this article doesn't really cite much except for Stephen Fry's word, I'd like to here highlight that it's very much factual and well-documented, so as to remove doubt: http://en.…
What part of that comment did you think might sound insensitive - or was that a preemptive worry before you wrote the comment and you ended up not needing it? Either way, didn't feel insensitive at all. Worth noting that Fry is definitely aware of what Hitler did to gays, but what he did to Jews is higher profile, most known and most understood, so making that comparison is the easiest one in a letter like this.
I agree it's higher profile, but it also makes it more scary than it has to be I think. The issue of Gay rights is strong enough to stand on its own without making it seem as though Russia blames them for its problems.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Beijing sometimes romanized as Peking I didn't know that...
Sorry, it is written like that in my language and I didn't realize it's wrong in English; I corrected that
Beijing is much closer to the Mandarin pronouciation, bei3 jing1, meaning "north capital." (there is also a Nanjing, "south capital.")
> An absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 on Sochi is simply essential. Wow, I couldn't disagree more on this point. One of the great things about the Olympics is that it's without politics [er... in this regard]. I don't believe that it's acceptable to say that places with different cultural values make unsuitable hosts. Human rights criticisms were also levelled at London, and even more at Beijing. I…
Fortunately, Nazi Germany didn't arrest Jesse Owens upon arrival to the country. Russia has made it clear that they will not afford the same freedom to gays and lesbians, or more to the point they plan on arresting them immediately upon arrival.
Minister Vitaly Mutko... "No one is forbidding an athlete with non-traditional sexual orientation from coming to Sochi, but if he goes onto the street and starts propagandizing it, then of course he will be held accountable"
In any case, arresting athletes is sure to provoke immediate international outrage.