My personal boycott of the Olympics

[DemocratSinceBirth]

My girlfriend watches the Olympics from Sochi on the television. I won't watch it. I think it was a mistake not to boycott the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and a mistake not to boycott this one. The only difference, imho, is the choice of a target for persecution.

I know this has been beaten to death but I had to get it off my chest.

BTW, it's ironic they can't even get the housing right.

Putin sucks and so does the horse he rode in on.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

1. I'm boycotting Barney's. I promise to never shop there.

And I refuse to visit Russia. They aren't getting any of my money.

[DrDan]

2. so boycott the athletes' hard work . . . . makes sense

some great messages on display - seems a lot of athletes are wearing rainbow gloves

I am watching . . . and enjoying the games so far

[Vashta Nerada]

4. Frankly, I don't give a damn about the work the athletes

put into going into the Olympics.

Russia's government sucks and should be boycotted.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. I'm sure the athletes in 1936 worked hard too...

I was watching this HBO special on this Jewish woman who was on the German hurdling team. The Germans couldn't exclude her because that would have triggered a boycott from the International Olympic Committee. She also had the quickest time and would have won Gold. She was eventually excluded from the team after it became to late to boycott the proceedings.

That's the evil we are dealing with.

I pity the Russian people. Putin is no better than the totalitarians he replaced. Time for them to join the rest of us in the twenty first century.

[Vashta Nerada]

9. Exactly.

I'm surprised I haven't seen the love of Russia from conservatives yet.

[pangaia]

28. Check out this thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024466685

[Bluenorthwest]

15. Did you know that the US team in 36 pulled it's only two Jewish athletes from

competition on the day of their race to avoid insulting Hitler? That's what happened. What happened next was genocide.

[DrDan]

13. even openly gay athletes and other Olympic-related personalities do not support a boycott

Some Olympic Athletes Just Say No -- To Protests

U.S. figure skater Johnny Weir, a three-time U.S. champion who will serve as a television commentator on the Sochi Olympics, angered many in the U.S. LGBT community when he said that "the Olympics are not the place to make a political statement" about the Russian laws.

Weir, who is both openly gay and a self-professed Russophile, also called on athletes "to respect the culture of the country you're visiting."

http://www.rferl.org/content/olympics-athletes-protest-homosexual-russia-sochi/25256287.html

[Bluenorthwest]

18. Those paid a ton to support the Olympics support the Olympics, film at 11.

nt

[Vashta Nerada]

20. I will never respect bigoted and homophobic cultures.

[TheMathieu]

23. +1

"BUT WHAT ABOUT THE POOR ATHLETES" is a horrendous excuse.

When the athletes are being beaten to death in the street and jailed because of who they love, then maybe that bullshit line will work.

[Tien1985]

11. They're athletes...

It's not like they are scientists or doctors making world-changing discoveries.

I understand that sports are very important to some folks, and I like playing myself. But they don't rate higher than LGBT equality, and to me, supporting the Russian bigotry will only encourage it.

As to the LGBT athletes themselves, I can see where they feel like they don't have a lot of choice. So they'll make their choices and I'll make mine, and I'll see them when they leave that nasty place.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. I'm expecting something like this before it's over

Then my boycott will have been ill considered and I will be happy to admit it.

[Dawson Leery]

3. k/r

[AndreaCG]

5. I couldn't agree more.

This Olympics is a total debacle and it couldn't happen to a more deserving despot. With the exception of Hitler himself.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. Res ipsa loquitur

http://thechive.com/2014/02/06/conditions-at-the-sochi-olympics-are-badhilarious-32-photos/

[go west young man]

8. And did you boycott the U.S.

during the Iraq war.? What with the U.S. government killing all those innocent Iraqi's, I imagine you must have up and moved.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. I expressed my dissatisfaction at the ballot box and ...

"permanently boycotted" the party of the president that got us in that mess...I actually have boycotted them my entire life, hence my moniker.


As to your assertion, evil doesn't disappear because it has precedence.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

14. And miss this?

Don't boycott, stare it in the fucking face.

[Bluenorthwest]

16. Did you know the US team refused to let the two Jewish athletes compete?

Axed them on the day of their race. In order to avoid insulting Hitler. So that's the price of that photo. Would you support such a thing?
The Olympics of 36 was not boycotted after Brundage of the Olympic Committee visited Germany and declared there was nothing amiss. He said that the 'rumors' of discrimination were a conspiracy against Hilter launched by the press and -get this- the Jews.

[hrmjustin]

17. I refuse to watch the Olympics.

[Behind the Aegis]

19. agree

[go west young man]

60. Gay rights statistics US versus Russia.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_qUME4dV8P8LWlwZGdnWkh1cDA/edit

[Behind the Aegis]

61. Oh so, because you believe it is worse in the US, the Olympics shouldn't be boycotted?

I do so love when I, as a gay person, is lectured to as to what I can and cannot like and dislike as it pertains to my sexual orientation.

[go west young man]

68. I didn't realize being gay gave us special insight.

That was far superior to others.

[Behind the Aegis]

70. I didn't realize being gay meant we all have to be in lock-step.

Must have missed that meeting.

[go west young man]

71. Curious if you even looked at the statistics in my post?

[Behind the Aegis]

72. Yes. Some aren't correct.

I did get a good guffaw at the hate crimes stats.

[go west young man]

73. All info is sourced through

legitimate links. SOVA and FBI. The only thing that may explain that discrepancy, if it is one, is the reporting of the hate crime itself. It is possible they don't get reported in Russia. A couple of things of note from the stats. Russia allows gay people to donate blood. The US doesn't. The age of consent for any sexual relationship is 16 in Russia, it's 18 in the US. There are outright bans on gay sex in 12 US states. Russia does not have a ban on gay sex. There are a good many other points there. But you can see for yourself. It's not all it's being pumped up as. Ironically(if one considers censorship in light of the old Soviet Union) those simple stats were banned earlier for being homophobic. Makes you wonder what ever became of DU. Not much spine around here these days.

[Behind the Aegis]

74. That's what makes it clever propaganda.

Just because it is sourced, doesn't mean it isn't being manipulated. You seem to forget the recent law passed by the Russian Congress (the Duma) unanimously and then signed by Putin. You seem to forget the law passed prohibiting adoption by gay couples. You seem to forget the president of Russia, Putin, asking gay visitors to "leave the children be." How could I be so short-sighted to not see that Russia is a gay paradise.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

77. BAWAWAWAWAWA

Russia is a gay rights haven...It's some ersatz West Hollywood or Chelsea on a national scale...


SARCASM

[DemocratSinceBirth]

78. The anti-sodomy laws you cited are null and void./nt

[dsc]

89. It might not get reported in Russia

because gays aren't protected by hate crimes in Russia.

[jberryhill]

101. Uh, age of consent varies by state

I have no idea how it becomes a gay rights question, but there is no US national "age of consent".

In many US states it is 16, so your assertion that there is some sort of national age of consent of 18 is nonsense.

[MADem]

76. What a pantload of bullshit. There's no equivalence, no "it's not so bad" in Russia.

Those aren't "statistics," they are brightly colored propaganda.

You won't get fired for being openly gay in Russia, but you won't get HIRED, either.

You will get beaten in the street if you try to hold a pride parade.

The blatant lies about violence in that 'report' are laughable. Here's where you'll get a sense of how difficult life is for gay people in Russia:

http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/02/03/russia-sochi-games-highlight-homophobic-violence

LGBT people face stigma, harassment, and violence in their everyday lives in Russia, and LGBT victims of violence and groups told Human Rights Watch that these problems intensified in 2013. Victims in cities including Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Novosibirsk told Human Rights Watch they were attacked in public places, abducted, beaten, harassed, threatened, and psychologically abused. They told Human Rights Watch that they were afraid to go to the police to report violence, fearing further harassment and believing the police would not bother to pursue their attackers. When victims did lodge complaints with the police, few investigations followed.

The absence of relevant data makes it impossible to quantify the extent to which such violence and harassment increased during 2013, but all of the victims and LGBT groups who spoke to Human Rights Watch said they experienced an escalation in homophobic attacks starting in late 2012.

The Russian LGBT Network, an umbrella LGBT group based in St. Petersburg, conducted an anonymous survey on discrimination against LGBT populations in Russia in 2013. More than 50 percent of the 2,007 respondents had experienced psychological abuse, and 15 percent had experienced physical violence. Only 6 percent of victims contacted police.

At least three murders allegedly motivated by homophobia were reported in May, a month before the adoption and signing of the federal anti-gay “propaganda” law.

They gloss over the adoption and marriage issue in a real hurry, don't they?

So yeah....Fuck Putin and his "Gayest Olympics ever!" Yes, the reviews are in:

The Gayest Olympics EverSorry, Vlad. Sochi's opening ceremony was theatrical, flamboyant, and fabulously haughty.


Sochi 2014: The gayest anti-gay Olympics ever

Sochi - the gayest Olympics ever?

And that's just the tip of the iceberg!

:large

[larkrake]

21. grow up, the athletes deserve to play-you are of an extremist view

[FreeState]

22. Supporting human rights is extreamist ? Wow, what website am I on? N/t

[Behind the Aegis]

25. Yes, and standing up against homophobia also makes you thin-skinned, a bully, and heterophobe!

That's what I have learned in just the past week or so.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

31. Edmund Burke>>>>some random poster

Last edited Sun Feb 9, 2014, 09:38 AM - Edit history (1)

"All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing."

[uppityperson]

53. Speaking out against people getting beaten and murdered for an inborn trait is "extremist"?

I do not think that word means what you think it means.

[ZombieHorde]

65. The poster is talking about not watching a TV show of people playing games.

How is that extremist or childish?

Thinking the poster is childish or extremist for not watching a TV show of people playing games because the country the TV show takes place in has some serious homophobic issues rights now is weird to me.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

79. The postern rather watch the National Basketball Association which educates people about homophobia

http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2011/05/nba-gay-slur-campaign-barkley-lgbt


BTW, I also don't watch Duck Dynasty...

[ZombieHorde]

84. Seems weird to me that people would call you an extremest

for not watching a TV show.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

85. Hehe

Also my tastes are more middle brow. I prefer the sports at the Summer Olympics like basketball and track better.

I realize there is homophobia in the good ole USA but it's of a different magnitude in Russia. The government is going out of their way to dehumanize gay folks and it's seeping into the populus.

[Jamaal510]

24. I have no problem boycotting the olympics;

most of it bores me to death, anyway.

[Warpy]

26. I'm not watching because US coverage stinks

I'll watch highlights when they hit You Tube, as they will once the Olympics are over and NBC has made their packet from advertisers.

That way I can avoid the "up close and personal" glurge along with the overlong breaks for commercials.

[rdharma]

27. I would boycott the Winter Olympics....... but I really don't give a shit about it! nt

[underthematrix]

29. I'm not watching either

[countryjake]

30. I've always enjoyed & watched them, but not this year.

I think the Sochi Olympics should have been boycotted for Putin's egregious oppression of the LGBT citizens of Russia. Basic human rights are more important to me than any enthusiasm I might have for winter sports, so this year, I'm skipping the Sochi extravaganza.

[frwrfpos]

32. its amusing to see the bubbling hate and vitriol against this particular Olympics

didnt see a mention during the games in any other country during the last few decades.

Must be the same people finding shadows under their beds and fighting the USSR.

Red baiting never gets old it seems. Some never grow up

[DemocratSinceBirth]

34. Opposing homophobia makes one a "red baiter"

I will try to wrap my mind about that.


Oh, and Putin isn't a red or communist imho. He is a fascist imho.

[frwrfpos]

36. plenty of homophobia right here in the United States.

and you dont have an understanding of political terms such as fascism. When you retrieve a clue as to what you are responding to . I will be happy to explain what real fascism is.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

40. Fascism= authoritarian nationalism. Sounds like your friend, Putin. There's that "red baiting" again

And as to your assertion that there's plenty of homophobia here you need to learn the difference between de facto and de jure discrimination. Here we pass laws to expand the rights of GLBTQ folks, there they pass laws to curtail them.

[frwrfpos]

42. Fascism= authoritarian nationalism

flag waving. Patriotic song. Pledges of Allegiance.

Sounds like America. You sure you want to debate me?

Go ahead and post. Let s have a frank conversation.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

44. None of those are compulsory

The difference is I can agitate for GLBTQ rights in the United States. If I do that in Russia I can be put in the hoosegow or worse.

Putin is at war with modernity. That's messed up.

[frwrfpos]

47. LGBT people have agitated for decades right here in the US and have been put down violently

I applaud Russia for housing its citizens in poverty. I applaud Russia for giving a true whistleblower on American Fascism a safe outlet to expose those in destroying the US Constitution.

Russia is leaps and bounds above this country is caring about its citizens and no amount of propaganda and red baiting is going to change that

[NYC Liberal]

58. Russia is decades, or more, behind the US on civil rights, and Putin certainly doesn't give

two shits about Russian citizens. The LGBT community in Russia is being violently, brutally, and systematically oppressed. The US is moving forward on civil rights while Russia is moving backward.

You live in the US and you are railing publicly and openly against the government and its policies. The difference between here and Russia is that the police here aren't going to kick your door down and haul you off to jail for doing so.

[frwrfpos]

64. the violent police kick down and brutalize people here every single day

do you really want examples?

[NYC Liberal]

67. I don't deny it happens here. Do YOU deny it happens in Russia?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

80. I saw the housing in Sochi for the elite.

God help those who have to live in the housing for the impoverished.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

81. They care so much about their citizens that they made it a crime...

They care so much about their citizens that they made it a crime for some of them to say they are normal,ergo:


http://www.policymic.com/articles/58649/russia-s-anti-gay-law-spelled-out-in-plain-english

[SfromCanada]

63. What a condescending and offensive post.

Who are you to tell a gay person how he or she ought to feel about persecution?

I too am boycotting these games. I lost interest in the Olympics any way after observing all the corruption. The outrages committed in Russia against their LGBT citizens only gave me another reason.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

82. Be careful, some of the Putin apologists...

Be careful, some of the Putin apologists are going to question your nation's human rights record, which of course would be preposterous.

[countryjake]

35. How would you know what we thought of other games?

frwrfpos Member since: Sun Jan 19, 2014

Supporting the basic human rights of LGBT citizens of Russia is NOT red-baiting.

(viewer discretion advised: video contains disturbing images, violence)

[frwrfpos]

37. calling out a new member is a TOS violation

but I wont alert because I can point out about a thousand example of homophobia and assaults against the LGBT community here is this country called the United States.

Fell free to ignore and continue to red bait.

Im sure someone will buy into it.


Not me

[DemocratSinceBirth]

41. He responded to your post.

Can you please point to where he called you "out" as is commonly understood.

[frwrfpos]

43. pointing to my membership status and date of membership is a TOS violation

It has nothing to do with my point.

[REP]

45. Wrong. It isn't a TOS violation.

It's not private info. It's in your profile, which isn't private.

[frwrfpos]

49. its alluding because Im a newer member I dont agree with the direction to fascism

its a subtle way of getting around the TOS. which I have read

[REP]

50. Erm, no. That's not the allusion being made.

Mentioning join dates isn't against the TOS in any form; there's nothing to get around. You can mention mine all you want (2002).

You may be conflating the TOS with Community Standards. Easy rookie mistake.

[fishwax]

48. no, it isn't n/t

[dsc]

90. Under most circumstances it would be a rule violation

but they pointed out your time of membership because you said you knew how we reacted to previous Olympics meaning you would have had to see posts from 2012 or 2010 etc.

[frwrfpos]

91. it is a rule violation. a blatant one that went ignored

Ive been reading this website for years. I just recently decided to join and participate. Do members here think that no one is able to read and follow without being a member?

[dsc]

92. No they don't

but I think it is quite rare for someone to read posts here for a year and a half or more without posting which one can't do without being a member.

[frwrfpos]

93. I would suspect that the ratio to members to non members is very large

many more non members just reading that actual posters. I just decided to join recently after reading this site for more than five years. I have had a job that doesnt allow a lot of spare time or I probably would have joined and participated.

[countryjake]

94. If you've been reading here for more than five yrs...

then what you stated in your original post is even more erroneous, since there were many DU discussions on boycotting the Beijing Olympics.

You said:

its amusing to see the bubbling hate and vitriol against this particular Olympics
didnt see a mention during the games in any other country during the last few decades.


If I've misunderstood the "point" of your making a statement like that, please enlighten me as to what you actually meant.

We had many threads concerning boycotting those Beijing games; we ranted and rumbled over bastard Bush and his treatment of the Athens games; hell, we even had much to say about that corporate-predator Rmoney thieving from taxpayers so that he could supposedly "save" the Salt Lake City games. I'll have to say that if you didn't "see a mention" then you simply weren't paying very close attention to what goes on here.

[frwrfpos]

95. can you post to those threads because either they were notgiven many recs or kicks

or I truly did miss them.

[countryjake]

96. Google is your friend...

Just type in democraticunderground and then include whichever games that you think we should have boycotted.

[countryjake]

108. How's that googling going for ya?

And have you found the definition of "red-baiting" yet?

[countryjake]

46. I never said homophobia isn't a problem here; it's state-sanctioned there...

http://www.advocate.com/news/world-news/2014/02/04/watch-gay-russians-brutally-attacked-camera

Using clips from videos posted to Russian social networks that proudly document the violent assaults against people perceived to be LGBT, the Human Rights Watch video gives a brutal and all too real face to the hostility fostered by Russia's state-sanctioned homophobia. The video includes clips showing members of the Neo-Nazi vigilante group "Occupy Pedophilia," which claims to protect children by luring gay men with false offers of dates online, then humiliates and often brutalizes the young men captured, forcing them to "confess" to their homosexuality or pedophilia on-camera.

In addition to its shocking footage, the video also features interviews with LGBT Russians and activists, who place the escalation of anti-LGBT violence squarely on the shoulders of the President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin, which passed a ban on "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations" last summer, essentially criminalizing any positive mention or depiction of LGBT people. Russian activists contend that when they report the antigay attacks to police, officers tell them it's the treatment they should expect for being gay in Russia.

"Russia should take active steps to investigate these homophobic crimes, and bring the attackers to justice," says Tanya Cooper, a Russia researcher for Human Rights Watch in the video. "It should also denounce publicly this violence and make sure that there is zero tolerance to homophobic crimes and violence in Russia. And the Russian authorities should repeal the federal propaganda law."

I asked you a question, how would you know what any of us thought of any other Olympic games, precisely because you became a member here less than one month ago. You couldn't have been involved in our discussions on the Beijing games (or even the Salt Lake City games) so you are categorically wrong when you try to imply that DUers aren't appropriately concerned or that we ignored discrimination during any other Olympics.

And do you even know the definition of "red-baiting"? The irony in your statement is hilarious. Russia has not been "red" for many many decades, it operates as an imperialist state capitalist system. Very hard to ignore your accusations, considering that.

[uppityperson]

54. No, it isn't. Maybe you need to read the TOS again.

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[uppityperson]

55. Standing for human rights = "red baiting"? Do you think calling someone on their bigotry makes the

caller a bigot? I am not calling you a bigot, just trying to understand how protesting the awful homophobia in a Russia could equal "red baiting".

[Warren DeMontague]

97. You do realize that the USSR ceased to exist 23 years ago, right?

Just keepin you up to date.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

98. If he would have asked me I would have told him I supported Gorbachev...

He was flawed but a true social democrat at heart. And he seems like a bright, forward looking fella so I doubt he's a homophobe.

IMHO, Russia went to seed when Yeltsin and his cronies sold the means of production, i.e., the Soviet Union's major industries off to the oligarchs. And Putin has just carried on and solidified that tradition.

[Warren DeMontague]

99. Absolutely.

But it's pretty silly to frame this in some sort of cold war context.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

100. I knew things wouldn't end well with Yeltsin and then Putin.

Neither are small d (democrats) and have more in common with your Marcos, Batistas, and Somozas.

[Warren DeMontague]

102. Yeah, Putin is a capital-T Thug

pure and simple.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

106. I would definitely put Putin on the right side of the political spectrum.

I don't see how opposing him makes one a red baiter. Mikhail Gorbachev opposes him. Is he a red baiter?

[quinnox]

33. I have never watched the Winter Olympics in the first place

It's very boring to me. It has nothing to do with xenophobia or hating Russia, I don't have any problem with Russians or foreign countries hosting the Olympics.

[backscatter712]

38. I'm boycotting.

I will not watch a single event. Not one.

I encourage everyone to boycott.

Because I will not be even a passive enabler for anti-LGBT bigotry.

Civil rights mean more to me than athletes.

[roody]

39. I'm boycotting, but have never watched

Olympics, so it doesn't count. I've never been interested in watching sports.

[madinmaryland]

51. We could find a reason to boycott EVERY Olympics, if we wanted to. There are

issues with EVERY nation that would give cause to boycott their Olympics.

[Thinkingabout]

57. K & R

The Olympics is about competition, to see who is the best. There has been hours of training and we should cheer our USA athletes to victory. There is a choice, everyone will have to make their own mind to watch or not watch.

[RKP5637]

52. We've got it on, I support the athletes, but not Putin and Russia. It all has a wet

blanket on it for me. Every time I glance at the TV I am reminded of how disgusted I am by Putin and those who are bigoted in Russia. Ha, come to think of it, the NBC Peacock up in the right corner of my TV looks like the colors of the LGBT Rainbow!

[progressoid]

56. Or...

Jesse Owens, in 1936 bravely turned Hitler's racist theories on their head by winning four golds in the 100m, 200m, long jump and 4x100m relay

[snooper2]

59. technically you are not boycotting the Olympics

if you are still posting threads about it and talking about it on the intertubes-

FYI

[ZombieHorde]

66. I don't follow your logic.

If I post about boycotting product X, then I am not boycotting product X because I am discussing it? That seems like word play to me.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

83. I don't follow the logic either.

What if you had a boycott and nobody boycotted?

[countryjake]

88. Technically, it should have been our government who Boycotted...

these Olympics, officially, so discussing what we are doing personally to oppose the hoopla going on at Suchi, in order to support the rights of the Russian LGBTs, is the best that we can do.

Have you read this?

WATCH: Masha Gessen Says It Will Get Worse for LGBT Russians After Olympics

The out journalist, author, and mother told MSNBC's Chris Hayes that the Kremlin will step up its crackdown on LGBT Russians after the Olympic Games conclude.

http://www.advocate.com/sports/2014/02/07/watch-masha-gessen-says-it-will-get-worse-lgbt-russians-after-olympics

Thursday night, MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes trained its lens on the 2014 Olympic Games, as out Russian journalist, author, and LGBT activist Masha Gessen discussed her concerns about the situation in Russia and her belief that life for LGBT Russians will worsen when the Games conclude.

Gessen, author of the 2012 biography The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, asserted that Putin used the Games to try to elude the "humiliation" suffered in 1980 when the U.S. and other countries boycotted the Olympics in protest of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. In Gessen's words, Sochi was Putin's bid "to show that Russia was great again and that he was one of the world's leaders."

But the controversy surrounding the country's draconian anti-LGBT propaganda laws has compromised Putin's efforts in this regard.

Dartmouth professor Jeff Sharlet, who also appeared last night on Hayes's program, described "the pervasiveness of the fear" in Russia and "the perversity of the law." Sharlet recounted his experiences on the ground, which he detailed in a recent GQ article titled "Inside the Iron Closet: What It's Like to Be Gay in Putin's Russia" and which Hayes summed up as "thuggish vigilantism with tacit state support."

[JEB]

62. War Criminal, Henry Kissinger on the IOC...

pretty much kills it for me.

[davidpdx]

69. I'm not watching it either

Though the Olympics usually bore me anyway. I still wish all the athletes well.

[hrmjustin]

75. I seen a few posts on DU putting those of us who are boycotting the Olympics down...

... and I am getting sick of it.

LGBT people who are being harrased, beaten, arrested, and killed are more important then an athlete getting a piece of gold!

And to those of you thinking we are kill joys or a buzz kill as I saw on this site I say I don't give a damn what you think.

[brooklynite]

105. ...and yet you've taken the time to tell us that.

[hrmjustin]

107. Indeed I did.

[panader0]

86. Louis Zamperini--my dad went to USC with this guy, a friend whose treatment by the Japanese

made my dad forever prejudiced against the Japanese. A great man, overshadowed by Jesse Owens in Berlin.
On a personal note: my mom, born 1908, swam in the relays at the LA olympics in'32.
The following is from Wiki:



In the Olympic trials at Randall's Island, Zamperini finished in a dead tie in a heat against world-record holder Don Lash and qualified for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany, though neither he nor Lash had much chance of winning the 5000 meter race. Zamperini has related several amusing anecdotes from his Olympic experience, including gorging himself on the boat trip to Europe. "I was a Depression-era kid who had never even been to a drugstore for a sandwich," he said. "And all the food was free. I had not just one sweet roll, but about seven every morning, with bacon and eggs. My eyes were like saucers.” By the end of the trip, Zamperini, in common with most athletes on the ship, had gained a good deal of weight – in Zamperini's case, 12 pounds. While the weight gain was not advantageous for his running it was necessary for his health, as he had lost 15 pounds while training in the summer heat in New York for the Olympic Trials.

Zamperini finished eighth in the 5000 meter distance event at that Olympics, but his final lap of 56 seconds was fast enough to catch the attention of Adolf Hitler, who insisted on a personal meeting.[8] As Zamperini tells the story, Hitler shook his hand, and said simply "Ah, you're the boy with the fast finish."[9] According to a profile on Bill Stern's Sports Newsreel radio program, Zamperini climbed a flag pole during the 1936 Olympic games and stole the personal flag of Hitler.

Two years later, in 1938, Zamperini set a national collegiate mile record of 4:12 which held for fifteen years, earning him the nickname "Torrance Tornado

[frazzled]

87. Just a question for you (I don't know the answer)

Do you think if the world had boycotted the 1936 Olympics that Hitler would not have invaded Poland and beyond? Or would not have built the concentration camps or instituted the Final Solution? Would the situation for Jews, gays, Gypsies, and others who defended these groups have been better?

Do you think the Olympics made him popular enough to retain support and do all that? Or do you think it wouldn't have mattered? Or does the answer lie somewhere between?

In other words, my question is: what effect did holding the Berlin Olympics have on the ensuing geopolitical events? Was the course of history changed by holding them?

I honestly don't know the answer, though my suspicion is that it may not have mattered much (except for internal support from the German people, which he perhaps didn't even need; dictators, once in power, tend to make do with or without the support of the people.)

One thing I think we all need to remember is that Hitler's anti-Semitism was pretty standard fare throughout Europe at the time, and not considered the biggest problem at all with Hitler. It really didn't bother most people and governments at the time. I remember watching a program on PBS a number of years ago that presented the immediate postwar footage made by the British at the war's end: a sort of propaganda film for "why we fought." Alfred Hitchcock was hired to direct it all. It was explained that the footage of the liberated camps had to be generalized not to mention Jews at all, because anti-Semitism in Britain, even at that time, was as bad as it had been in Germany. The government felt that people would not have felt the country's sacrifice in fighting the war would have been worth it to save a bunch of Jews. I was shocked, but in retrospect, it makes sense. Even in the US, after the war, my father was denied a job with a pharmaceutical manufacturer because they didn't hire Jews; and redlining was a common practice in preventing Jews from buying houses in certain neighborhoods.

That's why I wonder if the Olympics really made any difference. It wasn't until Poland was invaded and a geopolitical issue was at stake that the rest of the world decided maybe they should stop this guy.

[Jenoch]

103. Do you know why thousands of athletes from all over the globe

gather every four years to compete in the Olympic Games? It's so they don't have to watch it on television.

I remember watching the 1976 Olympics when I was a kid, and of course the 1976 and 1980 Winter Olympics. To me the Olympics lost it's lure when there were no more commies to root against. I miss the days of the East German swimmers with balls and mustashes.

[indie9197]

104. It is ironic that we boycotted the 1980 summer olympics

in Moscow because Russia invaded Afghanistan.

We will never again boycott the Olympics. Way too much money would be lost by Corporate America.