If you’re not willing to respect the country you represent, you shouldn’t be at the Olympics. And if you disrespect your country, you should be kicked off the team.
Agree?
10 thoughts on “Protests at the Olympics”
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A public record of some of my thoughts. Feel free to comment, but don't expect me to respond.
If you’re not willing to respect the country you represent, you shouldn’t be at the Olympics. And if you disrespect your country, you should be kicked off the team.
Agree?
Comments are closed.
Respect and criticism are perfectly compatible.
Which is why it’s reasonable to suggest that the ones who commit disrespect in the process should be removed.
But the ones who express criticism without disrespect should not be removed.
That is correct. However, there have certainly been cases of disrespect.
Criticism has propositional content, it is not merely angry gestures toward symbols that are normally accorded respect. IMO such contentless gestures constitute disrespect.
I can easily understand why athletes would want to be paid, supported, and selected by their host country to represent them even if they plan to use their platform to advance their personal activism.
What I don’t get is why they think their fellow citizens who feel differently should be okay with this.
Also, sports are supposed to be a break from all that crap.
There have been all sorts of protests about race, gender, money and nationality in American and Olympic sports history dating back to 1883. Some even say the Nika Riot in 532 AD was a sports related protest. So, they’ve been around for a while and I suspect they will continue as long as people feel there is a need.
The rejection of racism is not to be regarded as merely personal activism.
The dispute going on in our culture right now is not about “rejecting racism.” It’s about defining racism in an objectively racist way, finding racism under every stone, attributing everything to racism ….
“Personal” relates to the actor, not the breadth of the cause.
Someone can serve in a representative role and act on behalf of an organization, or serve in such a role but act on their own initiative for their own goals. These goals could be worthy (donating money to cure cancer) or less worthy (donating money to me, to buy me shiny things).