Re: Vecsey On Olympic Protests - Say Amen Somebody!
George Vecsey wrote a little something for “that liberal rag” I hear about from time to time up here in New York. In it, he basically nails my sentiments regarding all this Olympic torch hoopla.
These impending - and I choose the word carefully - Summer Games are currently the target of people who rightfully protest policies in Darfur, Tibet, Xinjiang and Chinese labor camps, or laogai.
It frightens me to be in agreement with President Bush on anything, but I have to agree with him that any boycott of the opening ceremony on Aug. 8 would be counterproductive, a slap in the face, for what? Better the president and other world leaders should belatedly learn how to conduct diplomacy and draw attention to Beijing’s poor record in human rights and not use an overblown sports jamboree to cover up for their failures.
These Olympic protesters are like that slightly smelly (but vaguely attractive) girl in HS who would always raise her hand in Science class and then, when called on to explain what a vector quantity is, would stand up and instead launch into a screed about how big business was killing the environment and that we should all come to the Walk-A-Thon the Arbor Club was sponsoring that weekend. One can’t help but think, Hey! If you want to promote your worthy cause, go hang some fliers! But right now, we’re trying to learn about vector quantities! And that’s important, too! Don’t get in the way of that!
Ugh. Don’t be the slightly smelly (but vaguely attractive) neo-hippy girl, protesters. Just don’t.
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April 18th, 2008 at 11:25 am |
Heaven forbid protesters make a meaningful gesture like marching on Washington in support of trade sanctions etc. Instead, they usurp a medium (the Olympics) created to promote harmony and greater discourse and subvert it to political purposes. If this were a board game it would be called chess, and what figure do you think represents the athletes? Meanwhile they forget that the only real goal of the game is supposed to be getting to the king.
Chasing the torch with a fire extinguisher! Time to turn it on the “slightly smelly (but vaguely attractive) neo-hippy girl, protesters.”
Right on, Jeremy.
April 18th, 2008 at 3:10 pm |
As a nota bene, the ONE element of the protests that I think rings true to a certain extent, are those people protesting the torch’s path THROUGH Tibet, itself. In that case, the torch relay itself COULD be seen as an appropriate arena for protest. But I just have this sneaking suspicion that anyone with a grievance against Chinese political policy is turning out to these things.
And it still wouldn’t excuse all the boycott talk.