At least, that’s what Bush would like you to think when he hears about people boycotting the Olympics in China due to their less than admirable record on human rights. That’s also the excuse given for the backlash received by two Olympians making a point regarding the racial division in America in 1968.
Let’s not forget that the US later boycotted the Olympics in 1980 in Russia for the USSR’s actions.
Oh, but the Olympics aren’t political.
I remember my dad telling me about these two guys. More power to them for doing what they did and braving the consequences. They are what make America great.
Will Rhodes Said:
on August 12, 2008 at 9:28 am
It ages me to know that I remember Mark Spitz winning his golds on the back of an Arab attack in Munich. I remember the boycotts and that the US was calling for her friends to do the same – was that the first time I heard about other countries being un-American, I think it was.
I do remember the protests of some great Americans – and yet I see no real protests now. Are we all protesting on the web when we should all be protesting on the streets?
marcys Said:
on August 12, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Why don’t you tell the story here of the 1968 protest you seem to be alluding to? It was totally benign and symbolic–yet the two athletes who staged it were immediately thrown out of Olympic City, despite their medals.
lunawolf Said:
on August 12, 2008 at 9:41 pm
The article does it. Sorry for the laziness. It definitely is a story worth telling, but others have told it in words better than I may have chosen.
lunawolf Said:
on August 12, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Not a whole lot of protesting against the government is going on, at least in my area. There have been protests all over California regarding gay marriage. We’re the second state in the Union to legalize it, yet the homophobes want a state constitutional amendment to bar liberty from a whole group of people just because they don’t fit into the bible. It’s sad.
leapsecond Said:
on August 13, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Actually, the Olympics has had a long history of political implications… To name a few:
Berlin
Moscow
Munich
Lake Placid
(Every other Olympics during the Cold War)
Los Angeles
leapsecond Said:
on August 13, 2008 at 4:51 pm
have had* above… woops.
lunawolf Said:
on August 13, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Lol. Absolutely. Sending Jesse Owens and many other black track athletes to the Aryan Fatherland in 1936 had absolutely nothing to do with politics. Neither was the rematch between the Brown Bomber and that German what’s-his-name (not an Olympic event, but it goes to the argument that sports is politics).
lunawolf Said:
on August 13, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Same racial issue here, though. Our country was wonderfully proud to have black athletes represent US power on the field and off, but at the time we wouldn’t let these very same heroes vote or take a leak in certain restaurants.