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Ross Stevens Donates $100M to Pay Every US Olympian and Paralympian $200k

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Re: Ross Stevens Donates $100M to Pay Every US Olympian and Paralympian $200k

#141

Post by solumunus »

watwut wrote: post #139
adastra22 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not what I was asking about. What should Israel have done in response to Oct 7th? What would be the downstream effects? What should a country do when a neighbor invades and massacres entire towns, live-streaming the violent deaths and rapes for the world to see? What is the correct response to this? You have clearly not thought through the game theory and repercussions of what you are suggesting. Like many college pr…

First, genocide is not necessary response. Second, Israel hard right was working on that and moving toward genocide for years.

So I guess no one is actually going to try and answer the question?

Re: Ross Stevens Donates $100M to Pay Every US Olympian and Paralympian $200k

#142

Post by JasonADrury »

wqaatwt wrote: post #134
mfru wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(1) The answer is simple: Stop the genocide in Gaza by any means necessary. The US has the power to do that with its proxy Israel. (2) Reading that I wonder if you also supported violent dismissals of Vietnam war protests

> by any means necessary Not that carpet bombing a densely populated city wasn’t extremely horrible were there any better was to destroy or at least massively weaken Hamas? For that matter Hamas could have stopped the Israeli atrocities any time they wanted, they chose not to.

> were there any better was to destroy or at least massively weaken Hamas?

Perhaps not pursuing policies that create the conditions for Hamas to thrive in the first place?

Re: Ross Stevens Donates $100M to Pay Every US Olympian and Paralympian $200k

#143

Post by actionfromafar »

wqaatwt wrote: post #135
ThePowerOfFuet wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Israel is fighting with a significantly higher amount of restraint and morality than their opponent Gaza would not be starving were this the case, and you should be ashamed of yourself for suggesting otherwise.

Please don’t be absurd.. or are you one of the people pretending that the October 7th attacks didn’t happen or that the victims somehow deserved it? What Israel ended up doing in Gaza ended up being extremely horrible. But what options did they really have? Not doing anything would have been the same(or worse) than the US ignoring 9/11… Hamas on the other hand had the option to stop the war at anytime they wanted, th…

If I had to pick a single thing differently (I have many) Isreal should have not only ”allowed in” (which they didn’t ) food and water but actively driven in huge amounts of it.

Re: Ross Stevens Donates $100M to Pay Every US Olympian and Paralympian $200k

#144

Post by xboxnolifes »

csense wrote: post #127
an0malous wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would have never guessed that a significant portion of western society would not only be ok with killing thousands of children but be outraged that anyone would protest it. I feel like I have more information about the world than ever and understand it less than ever.

I'm surprised that a significant portion of western society has any sympathy for the Palestinian side after October 7. Hamas started a war and used a bunch of heinous tactics -- kidnapping and murdering a bunch of random civilians, putting bases in hospitals, stealing food aid, and so on. Israel tries to avoid casualties when they can. For example when Hamas launches rockets at Israeli civilian targets, they shoot th…

History did not begin October 7th, 2023. We are capable of looking at prior events to see that the story is not so clear cut.

Re: Ross Stevens Donates $100M to Pay Every US Olympian and Paralympian $200k

#145

Post by Paradigma11 »

csense wrote: post #127
an0malous wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would have never guessed that a significant portion of western society would not only be ok with killing thousands of children but be outraged that anyone would protest it. I feel like I have more information about the world than ever and understand it less than ever.

I'm surprised that a significant portion of western society has any sympathy for the Palestinian side after October 7. Hamas started a war and used a bunch of heinous tactics -- kidnapping and murdering a bunch of random civilians, putting bases in hospitals, stealing food aid, and so on. Israel tries to avoid casualties when they can. For example when Hamas launches rockets at Israeli civilian targets, they shoot th…

That does nothing to explain Israels handling of the West Bank or Jerusalem. Personally I dont care for both sides. Also any resources and attention on this conflict is pretty much wasted and could save so many more lives in other conflict zones that nobody cares about.

Re: Ross Stevens Donates $100M to Pay Every US Olympian and Paralympian $200k

#146

Post by embedding-shape »

dylan604 wrote: post #31
embedding-shape wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A trust that says you don't get access to the rest unless you graduate college isn't meant as motivation? No, a trust that is setup to give your family money when you die, in order to serve as motivation for you to "break through new frontiers of excellence"

This isn't motivation though. This is a reward for achieving a place on the Olympic team. If this does not continue as a thing past the upcoming Olympics, athletes will still train in hopes of qualifying for the next team. They won't be doing it because this might be available to them. If they qualify, this will just be a bonus.

> This is a reward for achieving a place on the Olympic team.

Well, that makes it seem like this isn't a donation then at all, if you need to "achieve a place on the Olympic team"? I thought this was given for people to be able to better reach that, not as a "reward".

This is a "prize" it seems to me, not a "donation".

Re: Ross Stevens Donates $100M to Pay Every US Olympian and Paralympian $200k

#147

Post by zck »

skylurk wrote: post #136
zck wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The stated goal is that the money will help people do better in the Olympics. I don't see how it will do that. It might be good to do, but it won't help people perform better.

> The stated goal is that the money will help people do better in the Olympics. Are you sure? It's not contingent on metals or anything. https://www.usopc.org/news/2025/march/04/united-states-olymp...

Your link includes this quote from Stevens:

> "The Olympic and Paralympic Games are the ultimate symbol of human excellence. I do not believe that financial insecurity should stop our nation's elite athletes from breaking through to new frontiers of excellence,” said Stevens.

And furthermore:

> By providing financial support for athletes so they can continue competing and by increasing that support for each Games in which they compete, the Stevens Awards will dramatically increase the likelihood that athletes will continue competing, and winning, for America.

Re: Ross Stevens Donates $100M to Pay Every US Olympian and Paralympian $200k

#148

Post by ZeroGravitas »

JasonADrury wrote: post #142
wqaatwt wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> by any means necessary Not that carpet bombing a densely populated city wasn’t extremely horrible were there any better was to destroy or at least massively weaken Hamas? For that matter Hamas could have stopped the Israeli atrocities any time they wanted, they chose not to.

> were there any better was to destroy or at least massively weaken Hamas? Perhaps not pursuing policies that create the conditions for Hamas to thrive in the first place?

Also avoiding literally supporting Hamas would help weaken Hamas:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_support_for_Hamas

Re: Ross Stevens Donates $100M to Pay Every US Olympian and Paralympian $200k

#149

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

JasonADrury wrote: post #142
wqaatwt wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> by any means necessary Not that carpet bombing a densely populated city wasn’t extremely horrible were there any better was to destroy or at least massively weaken Hamas? For that matter Hamas could have stopped the Israeli atrocities any time they wanted, they chose not to.

> were there any better was to destroy or at least massively weaken Hamas? Perhaps not pursuing policies that create the conditions for Hamas to thrive in the first place?

> Perhaps not pursuing policies that create the conditions for Hamas to thrive in the first place?

That sounds pretty easy when you're not involved, but things on the ground are rarely that simple. Much of Israeli society is convinced (somewhat accurately) that the Palestinians hate them and want them dead, as much of Palestinian society is convinced of the same (again, somewhat accurately).

I don't know how you get both sides to climb down from this, or does it just end with genocide (of one side or the other). Like, I'm from Ireland and the north of the island was engulfed in violence for the first half of my life (not to a Gaza standard but bad). That only got resolved because a superpower (the US) intervened to help mediate (and help the side that considered themselves Irish).

I would imagine that I might have been very angry at this if I were a member of the other side (the side that considers themselves British), but ultimately it worked out pretty well (modulo Brexit and potential other landmines).

But it's not over, the groups are still really segregated and people just don't talk about it. The Israel Palestine situation is much, much worse and I honestly don't see any superpower being willing or able to mediate this situation.

So yeah, it would be great if everyone could just sing kumbaya, but I don't see how we get there from here.

Re: Ross Stevens Donates $100M to Pay Every US Olympian and Paralympian $200k

#150

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

solumunus wrote: post #141
watwut wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, genocide is not necessary response. Second, Israel hard right was working on that and moving toward genocide for years.

So I guess no one is actually going to try and answer the question?

I think that a better response would have been much, much more targeted. Strategically, Israel have put themselves in a much worse position vis a vis the rest of the world (and importantly the US) by the indiscriminate leveling of Gaza. So it would have been much more like a police action than a war. Maybe take lessons (god I can't believe I'm saying this) from how the British responded to the nationalist terrorism/freedom fighters in Northern Ireland?
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