Spring Break
Olympic money trumps Olympic integrity
Derek Simons
Issue date: 3/31/08 Section: Forum
NBC, having paid $2.3 billion for the broadcast rights of three Games (Athens, Turin and Beijing) also has a vested interest in avoiding a boycott.
NPR's "Talk of the Nation" had an interesting story about athletes and blogging last week. Under new guidelines, they will not be allowed to upload personal photos of other athletes, events or pretty much anything else. To avoid infringing copyrights, athletes will be reduced to showing you nothing more than their bedrooms in the Olympic Village.
Are there any more freedoms we can erase this summer? I'm sure they'll think of something.
Fortunately, public opinion does not always follow governmental policies and financial interests. In many forums, calls for a boycott are popping up more frequently every day. Many seem to agree China should not be allowed the honor of hosting this great event.
Athletes who have trained years for the occasion should not be needlessly penalized. There are solutions, such as changing venue. Granted, it wouldn't be easy. Perhaps the Games would have to be postponed a year, but it is feasible.
If, instead, everything continues in the pretend-world of sanitized images this summer, many should feel shame. Some say the Games are all about sport and politics should never enter into the discussion. These same people must live on some distant, as-yet-to-be-discovered planet. The Games have always included politics. From Hitler's Berlin Games in 1936 to China blocking Taiwan from participating at Montreal in 1976 under the flag of the "Republic of China," politics have permeated every final Olympic medal tally.
The Olympic torch was lit on March 24 in Athens. Yesterday, in Beijing, it started its world tour. No, it will not be passing through Kansas City, but it will make a stop in San Francisco. I will be curious to read about what measures are put in place on U.S. soil to block protesters along the route. I can already guess what will happen when the torch passes through Lhasa, in Tibet.
China must alter its tune quickly., or much as I love watching the Games, I know I will not be tuning in, I will not be buying the corporate sponsors' products and I certainly won't have any respect for statements made about human rights by a government not willing to back up empty affirmations.
dsimons@unews.com
NPR's "Talk of the Nation" had an interesting story about athletes and blogging last week. Under new guidelines, they will not be allowed to upload personal photos of other athletes, events or pretty much anything else. To avoid infringing copyrights, athletes will be reduced to showing you nothing more than their bedrooms in the Olympic Village.
Are there any more freedoms we can erase this summer? I'm sure they'll think of something.
Fortunately, public opinion does not always follow governmental policies and financial interests. In many forums, calls for a boycott are popping up more frequently every day. Many seem to agree China should not be allowed the honor of hosting this great event.
Athletes who have trained years for the occasion should not be needlessly penalized. There are solutions, such as changing venue. Granted, it wouldn't be easy. Perhaps the Games would have to be postponed a year, but it is feasible.
If, instead, everything continues in the pretend-world of sanitized images this summer, many should feel shame. Some say the Games are all about sport and politics should never enter into the discussion. These same people must live on some distant, as-yet-to-be-discovered planet. The Games have always included politics. From Hitler's Berlin Games in 1936 to China blocking Taiwan from participating at Montreal in 1976 under the flag of the "Republic of China," politics have permeated every final Olympic medal tally.
The Olympic torch was lit on March 24 in Athens. Yesterday, in Beijing, it started its world tour. No, it will not be passing through Kansas City, but it will make a stop in San Francisco. I will be curious to read about what measures are put in place on U.S. soil to block protesters along the route. I can already guess what will happen when the torch passes through Lhasa, in Tibet.
China must alter its tune quickly., or much as I love watching the Games, I know I will not be tuning in, I will not be buying the corporate sponsors' products and I certainly won't have any respect for statements made about human rights by a government not willing to back up empty affirmations.
dsimons@unews.com
Be the first to comment on this story