As I said in my original post on the subject, since it didn't happen
that way (i.e. we DID go...although it wasn't ME, Kemosabi :), so "we"
is a bit of a misnomer), nobody will ever know what may have been
learned or accomplished by not going.
However, as I also said in my original post on the subject, it is
difficult to imagine how it could have turned out WORSE (although, more
on that below).
Kat, while your points are well-taken, nobody would have expected to have
entirely thwarted WWII by going or not going to the Olympics. What
happened by our going was that Hitler's "master race" was greatly
embarrassed. Whether that display gave good people who observed it the
guts to hang on just a bit longer when the chips were down is
speculation--but I suspect in some cases it did. It certainly displayed
to those watching that the "master race" was not as superior as it thought
it was.
Hilter still killed 6 million Jews and other minorities not considered
the "master race." So what did we accomplish?
Had we not gone and had not this country had so many apologist for the
Nazi regime, had we not as a nation buried out heads in the sand saying
it was "Europe's problem" and ignored the evidence of the concentration
camps. Had we faced the probelm head on early on in 1936 - maybe just
maybe
we could have saved some suffering. We don't know. But we should have
faced it right up front.
Noone has ever doubted the character and courage of Jesse Owens. He
carried
the weight of a nation on his shoulders. He carried the weight of a
nation that did not reconogize the rights of his people - the
Afro-Americans - to equal jobs, equal education or even a seat in the
front of the bus. He was a true American hero. The United States should
hang its head in shame that Jesse Owens carried the weight of the
American people - and civilized people everywhere - on his shoulders
and when he got back home his kids had to go to second class segerated
schools.
But we have addressed that issue. Our political process has worked.
Rosa Parks who dared to not give up her seat to a white man on the bus
that day - set off a revolution that changed this country for the
better forever. We
are much closer to Martin Luther King's dream today than we ever have
been - although there is still some work to do. We've ridded ourselves
of slavery - we've ridded ourselves of oppression. But somehow we still
have apologist for those who commit such crimes against humidity.
Truman
-- Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for
lunch
Democracy is two
wolves and a
lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb
contesting
the vote!
--Benjamin Franklin
