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In Heidi's referral to Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, she picked
a rather poor example for why it is appropriate to attend sporting events
hosted by regimes who are engaged in what the world considers to be
reprehensible practices.  There was a great deal of discussion at the time
as to whether THAT event should have been boycotted, and the debate
continues today as to whether Nazi Germany might have been better held in
check had most countries refused to show up for what was so clearly a
propaganda play. (A more detailed discussion of this can be found at:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/olympics.html)

There is plenty of historical precedent for the reasoning that going to the
1936 Berlin Olympics provided a tacit acceptance of Nazi policies as well
as being lulled into a false sense of security by the "gracious hosts" of
the games and may have contributed to Hiltler's boldness with respect to
his expansionist tendencies.

To quote: 

"The Olympics were a perfect arena for the Nazi propaganda machine, which
was unsurpassed at staging elaborate public spectacles and rallies.
Choreographed pageantry, record-breaking athletic feats, and warm German
hospitality made the 1936 Olympic Games memorable for athletes and
spectators. Behind the facade, however, a ruthless dictatorship persecuted
its enemies and rearmed for war to acquire new 'living space' for the
'Aryan master race. '"

and:

"For two weeks in August 1936, Adolf Hitler's Nazi dictatorship camouflaged
its racist, militaristic character while hosting the Summer Olympics.
Soft-pedaling its anti-semitic agenda and plans for territorial expansion,
the regime exploited the Games to bedazzle many foreign spectators and
journalists with an image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany.

"Having rejected a proposed boycott of the 1936 Olympics, the United States
and other western democracies missed the opportunity to take a stand
that--some observers at the time claimed--might have given Hitler pause and
bolstered international resistance to Nazi tyranny. With the conclusion of
the Games, Germany's expansionist policies and the persecution of Jews and
other 'enemies of the state' accelerated, culminating in World War II and
the Holocaust. "

And it is because the world did not want to repeat what was considered to
be a grave mistake in attending the 1936 Olympics that the 1980 Moscow
Olympics WERE boycotted.

Since (what virtually everybody agrees to be) the late response of the rest
of the world to Nazi expansionist propagandizing is considered to be a
major contributor to World War II where:

"Estimates of the death toll attributable to the war for military and
civilian losses have ranged upward to 60 million..."

Going to the 1936 Olympics and having a black man win the sprinting events
did not convince Nazi Germany of the error of its thinking about the master
Aryan race, what it did was provide Nazi Germany with the opportunity to
pretend to the rest of the world that their oppressive racist practices
weren't really all that bad...because they were gracious hosts at a
pleasant party, and "we didn't see anything like that when we were there."

Nobody will ever know if World War II could have been averted or
ameliorated by being more proactive in refusing to attend parties hosted by
people engaged in reprehensible practices (since it is impossible to go
back and re-run the experiment) I have my doubts that it would have had
much effect on the actions of the Japanese in the War in the Pacific (which
in a lot of ways, was really a different war); however, it is hard to
imagine how it could have been much worse! :)

Using this as an example of what great things can be achieved by "being
there" may not have been the best choice.

Don't get me wrong; I am not equating the Maktoums with Hitler (in a
roundabout way, it was Heidi who did that), but rather pointing out that
using Jesse Owens success at the 1936 Olympics hardly provides a good
reason to attend here. And if one does want to compare the situations, it
probably provides a better argument FOR refusing to attend than against it.

kat
Orange County, Calif.

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