Musings —02.03.2014 10:37 AM
—Back in the closet in Sochi
My view on Sochi remains the same – we shouldn’t have gone and ignored/validated Putin’s gay-hate.
My friend Strombo just tweeted something, however, you should read: a member of the LGBT community is behind the curtain in Sochi. His/her stuff is here.
Keep watching. I know I will.
Warren, is not the official spin something along the lines of ‘bringing the Games to Putin’s Russia will allow more sunlight and democracy in’? We have a recent precedent: The Beijing Olympics. Did any of us notice any discernible sunlight and democracy breaking out in post-Olympics China? Tibetans are still being shot in the head for insisting on being Tibetan
As an out and proud gay man, I admire your stand, Mr. Kinsella…….however, I have to put aside my own feelings on the matter, and think of the athletes who have perhaps trained a lifetime in order to participate……In this case, I believe their efforts shouldn’t be sacrificed in order to make a point to Mr. Putin…..
I do hope, however, that if there are gay athletes who make the podium to be awarded a medal,(and I suspect there will be) that they will not do so in silence…..
I have a slightly different take on that. We have a bunch of self-absorbed people who have squandered years of their lives, and piles of our money, sliding down hills or skating in circles or whatever. I personally don’t give a rat’s ass if they miss out on the chance to be in the world’s spotlight at the most expensive circus in history, put on by one of the most repressive dictators on the planet.
I love the way you roll.
Thanks Warren. I’ve had a hate on for these circuses all my life, but these Sochi games take the cake.
thanks Iris, you put into coherent words, what I feel, (every two years I get angered.) But this latest bout of olympiamania is a big travesty. I think they should have cancelled it this year and reevaluated if this planet needs this kind of trumped up BS.
I coached, reffed and organized sport for teens in 6 decades of my life. I always leaned toward participation rather than the exclusive stuff of elitism. I have always been aware of the local politics that move local sport to broad participation, or to elitism.
I remember some international games in the 1980’s (Commonwealth Games? I forget precisely…) and talk was that the federal government might pull out Canadian athletes as a boycott, to support African nations who did not like New Zealand because Kiwis had played rugby with South Africa. (I am not sure how to draw a flow chart here…)
Our athletes and coaches were moaning that our government should not insinuate politics into sport.
I allowed my self righteousness to show…I figured ‘You athletes and coaches are beneficiaries of all kinds of political decisions putting resources into your elite programmes, rather than into the community at large, and now you pretend that there are no politics in sports. You get to do sport year round, spend half a year in Europe canoeing, and you think political decisions on resource allocation aren’t paying your tab?’
The local editor didn’t print my letter.
But it’s still the way I see it.
Thank you Iris. You have just made my day.
tired argument. sorry. but actor, musician, athlete or fame seeker is pushing. we don’t need them as much as they need us. because they have to shove into our lives relentlessly in order to make it they know all too well the truth (see Philip Hoffman or Bieber.) Learning three chords and being cute and then making millions is a fraud. it can’t sustain.
the surgeon, the lawyer and the good professor are pulling. they don’t need to push. we want them in our lives. we need them. it’s self-evident and it lasts. it’s a thin line but it makes all the difference in the world.
do you want Miley cutting you open or a Christian Barnard.
I’d be more impressed if they offered their athletic skills hunting and gathering and building in Attawapiskat but that doesn’t make for good television does it. If it did Harper would be there with a film crew but never has.
When a writer, musician, or any kind of artist creates something, they leave something, good or bad, for people to enjoy, or not. When an Olympic athlete slides down a hill, he/she slides down a hill. That’s it. That’s all. It’s hard to imagine any activity that contributes less to the betterment of society. And these jerks are regularly referred to as heroes! We live in a world gone mad.
It wasn’t long ago that Canadians in Vancouver were actively cheering for Russia when Russia was playing against the USA-junior hockey. Of course the phenomena of displaying annoyance against close neighbors isn’t unique: Scots vs Englishmen, New Zealanders Vs Aussies,etc. But In Canada as well as the US, the tentacles which elect disdain for our institutions run deep and unnoticed. They arrive from the messaging of Noam Chomsky, Herbert Marcuse, Angela Davis, Eric Fromm and other cultural Marxists who meticulously designed a strategy for generating a form of social autoimmune disease-turn our institutions into their antithesis.
Sometimes we need to close rank and form a united front and this time is one of them. I’m a proud Canadian, not afraid to fly the flag, and embace our county warts and all. On the issue of tolerance, human rights, gay rights etc, we’re right and Russia is wrong. And I shall be cheering for us and our closest friends in Sochi.
I wish a fraction of the concern about gays in Russia was directed toward the persecution of Christians around the world. Thousands are being martyred for their faith and 100 million are being persecuted for being Christian, but that’s a ho-hum story compared to a law banning “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations to minors.”
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304403804579262180183994364
http://www.ibtimes.com/global-persecution-christians-doubled-2013-syria-accounting-half-killings-1533746