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Re: [RC] Boycotting Sporting Events (was: UAE Culture) - Joe LongOn Thu, 28 Oct 2004 14:22:00 -0400, "katswig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <katswig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: ... 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. <rest snipped> I'd say that the idea that the Nazis would have been detered in the slightest by a boycott of the Berlin Olympics is naive. The Olympics are supposed to be non-political, a gathering of athletes from nations throughout the world to compete free of hostilities no matter what quarrels may be going on among nations. A beautiful ideal that cannot be completely attained in practice, but most years the Olympics have come pretty close. That's something the whole world can take pride in. There was a lot of talk in some circles prior to the Olympics this year that the U.S. athletes would be booed and jeered over the Iraq war. It didn't happen, of course -- the Greeks were gracious hosts, and most people leave politics behind when they go to the Olympics. It is to our shame IMO that we boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and if you paid attention at the time you saw that that empty gesture had zero effect on the Soviet's war in Afghanistan. It did, though, cause real harm to our athletes, and I believe it harmed the reputation of the U.S. by so baldly inserting politics into the Olympics. But I guess it allowed the Administration to claim it was Doing Something. What makes this relevant to Ridecamp is, that we should think carefully before initiating boycotts of International Endurance Rides, no matter for what cause. As in the boycott of the 1980 Olympics, we might do more harm than good. -- Joe Long jlong@xxxxxxxx http://www.rnbw.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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