Comments on: In Prep for Beijing Olympics, Deer Penis Off the Chinese Athlete Menu; George W. Still on it

By: Islam Delenda Est

Islam Delenda Est — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:25:26 +0000

Hi Debbie,
I have been reading your blog for a few months, but have never commented.
This is the first time you have written something with which I disagreed.
We should remember how well the Olympic boycott of 1980 worked. There were decidedly few Soviet tanks doing u-turns to leave Afghanistan because American synchronized swimmers weren’t coming to Moscow.
The only things accomplished by that ill-conceived boyott were a repayment in kind by the Soviet bloc when they boycotted the LA games four years later, and the disappointment of hundreds of American athletes who had trained for years to compete on the grandest of stages.
As I said, although we disagree on this issue, keep up the great work! You’re a much-needed voice of reason trying to be heard over the din of political correctness.
Islam delenda est

By: c f

c f — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:59:25 +0000

The Washington Post has a major story today (4/3) which provides updates on Chinese espionage against the US. So we go to the Olympics in a country that has a totalitarian system, spies against us, is supporting our enemies all over the world, and, if that is not enough, we mute any criticisms against them, and say nothing about Taiwan & Tibet who the Chinese are either subjugating or attempting to subjugate. Any gesture of friendliness to them will be publicized by them and their stooges as US capitulation to them — and they will be right. And here we are running around talking about encouraging them to play a ‘constructive’ role in Korea.

By: c f

c f — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:16:41 +0000

NB — I’m afraid you omitted one part of the Jesse Owens quote; he also stated he wasn’t invited to shake hands with Hitler. That is a snub. The insult is the constant Nazi barrage about a Master Race and ridicule of Blacks over the entire life of Nazi Germany. If I was anything other than the Master Race, I would certainly be insulted by these rantings, and terrified by the barbaric actions following these rantings, although I did this partial quote on a website which also contained no attribution.
Your’re right; if a Tibetan were to win gold medals, China would be humiliated; but that just makes the point about the political nature of the Olympics. It has always been there; can’t be avoided, and is comparable to Owens winning four gold medals. It blasted the Master Race ideology, at least for a short time.
Your assertion about the athletes not being involved in Olympic politics suffers from two defects: 1) it is not true. Look at the 1968 Olympics with their Black Power salutes. In a broader sense the Communist countries always used the Olympics as a metaphor for their societies when they won medals.
In contrast, there were many patriotic U.S. athletes in the Olympics who realized were grateful to their country for giving them the opportunity to compete internationally. George Foreman may be the best example; he proudly displayed patriotic symbols upon winning his medal in the 1968 Olympics. It is insulting to the numerous patriotic athletes over the years to suggest they have no political reaction to the Olympics.
Re Roosevelt’s ‘snub’, in spite of all its defects, the US was still a country in 1936 where black people could enter the Olympics, where there could be a black heavyweight boxing champion, where blacks, even in the 30s, were able to conduct legal fights against segregation that would by the early 50s make tremendous strides forward, and be successful by the 60s.
Fortunately Nazi Germany perished, although tragically not soon enough. Do you doubt at all that any blacks unfortunate enough to live in Nazi Germany were treated as inferior citizens as not being part of the Master Race? They were non-Aryans, their music was ridiculed and attacked, as was their character, the African countries, and unlike the US, Nazi society did not contain within itself the means to progress to the point where segregation could be outlawed.

By: c f

c f — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:55:34 +0000

NB; I guess we’re halfway there; you didn’t say anything about my comments regarding Marty Glickman.

By: Norman Blitzer

Norman Blitzer — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:19:41 +0000

You are a complete idiot, cf. Learn how to read.
From cf:
“First, he[Owens] was snubbed & insulted by Hitler and the Nazis.”
From Owens himself:
ìHitler didn’t snub meóit was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send me a telegram.”(The film of Hitler leaving the stadium when Owens win is misleading.)
[cf:The point is that politics, generally appeasement politics, are strongly intertwined with the Olympics; the fact that Owens was successful does not change that at all.]
World politics are only intertwined into the Olympics because of politicians and eggheads, not the athletes.
[cf:I guess a comparable example today would be for a Tibetan to go to the China Olympics & win 4 gold medals. However, would a Tibetan really humiliate himself or herself by entering them, even if they could?]
If a Tibetan were to win gold medals, it would be China that gets “humiliated” and even more attention would be on Tibet’s struggle.

By: c f

c f — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:04:57 +0000

Silly arguments by NB re the 1936 Olympics. RE Owens, is this another form of the Bush is Hitler argument? Owens got better treatment in Germany than here; therefore the US is just as bad as the Nazis; that’s the logic of your assertion. First, he was snubbed & insulted by Hitler and the Nazis. All blacks were ridiculed throughout the Nazi era. Re Glickman, does anyone think, for instance, that if the Olympics had been held in France, under Blum’s Popular Front government, Glickman would have been excluded? The point is that politics, generally appeasement politics, are strongly intertwined with the Olympics; the fact that Owens was successful does not change that at all.
I guess a comparable example today would be for a Tibetan to go to the China Olympics & win 4 gold medals. However, would a Tibetan really humiliate himself or herself by entering them, even if they could?

By: Norman Blitzer

Norman Blitzer — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 20:21:19 +0000

Go, Bush, Go! Politics and athletics should not mix!
[NB: TELL THAT TO JESSE OWENS
http://www.jesseowens.com/biography/
AND MARTY GLICKMAN.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/olympics.html DS]
I don’t know how a boycott in any form of the 1936 Berlin Olympics would had done anything, but you gotta be kidding me about Owens, right?!? Owens got better treatment in Nazi Germany than in his own country of America. Plus, Owens proved Hitler wrong about Aryan athletic superiority.
And as for Glickman, it was the US Olympic Committee that denied him the chance to compete.
Gee, maybe Rev. Wright had a point after all?
Quotes from Owens:
“When I passed the Chancellor he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him. I think the writers showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in Germany.î
ìHitler didn’t snub meóit was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send me a telegram.”

By: mindy1

mindy1 — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:46:16 +0000

He sould not go-he makes it look as though he endores the chinese gov’t, and that Americans also endorse it, even though we DO NOT!! They are also funding genocide in Darfur, and are doing nothing about it.

By: allat

allat — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:05:57 +0000

Someone could take that logo here, with the N at the front and the ! at the end – print it on tees – and make a million $
I myself am AGAINST the Games – not only because of Tibet, but because all along China is Communist, Red and treats its own people with the jackboots.
I’ve always marveled at American tourists going there, pretending as if nothing wrong is happening. As if there were no prison camps there, and many other evils.

By: c f

c f — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:39:20 +0000

I’m not surprised either. Last month the State Department upgraded China’s human rights rating. I’m sure the people of Tibet will be elated to hear that. Does this mean less people are being shot, imprisoned, relocated? Bush has appeased China since he took office just as he is appeasing Iran, Saudi Arabia, and all the other Mideast terrorists. I don’t think we have any more business in the Olympics than we do in the United Nations. The idea of accepting terrorist countries as equals is repugnant.