Stupid China
Just as we shouldn't use the Olympics as a protest venue, China should not use political reasons to stop an athlete from traveling to China.
Creek, the dude that was banned:
"I am saddened not to be able to attend the Games. The Olympic Games represent something powerful: that people can come together from around the world and do things that no one thought were possible. However, the denial of my visa is a part of a systemic effort by the Chinese government to coerce and threaten athletes who are speaking out on behalf of the innocent people of Darfur.The Olympics is supposed to be about coming together, in spite of all of our differences, to let our champions compete without all of the silly little games.
By doing stupid things like denying athletes visas, China is opening itself up to protests. I was originally against protests during the Games, and still will probably be against it, but I would also feel like they got their come-up-ins. I don't feel that China really has the ability to deny a country's choice in an event. Especially if he is a gold medalist.
Update:
I found out from a commenter that he isn't actually in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Shame on you yahoo and other news outlets. I would now have to argue that they had the right to deny him entry. He was not an athlete in the Olympics. He is associated with a political cause, which should not be using the Olympics to air its grievances. I don't like ethnic cleansing anywhere, but bringing it up at the Olympics is the wrong venue. Let's keep this clean people!
Its about bringing people *together*.
3 comments:
I heard about this on NPR this morning and that same reaction as you...
I'm curious to see how the games turn out...
The article on yahoo brushes over the fact but he won the gold in the Winter Olympics, not summer so he wasn't going to be competing in China.
I also wouldn't be surprised if a major news network does something and gets kicked out in the first couple of days.
NPR clearly stated that he was a winter olympics athlete...not someone competing for the summer games...so I still stand by my reaction.
The unknown is whether or not his sole purpose of the trip to China was to support and promote his stance on Darfur...or something else? Do you know if that is clear? (I'm guessing so by his quote...)
I think Chinas "no - protests" rule only encourages people to protest more...and on a wider range of topics. Or maybe thats just the stubborn part of me coming out....haha. "What? You're telling me I CANT do something... watch me." (Have there been similar policies of no protests in the past??)
Anyway, it will be interesting to see how it turns out b/c like it or not, there is a distinct political side to these olympics and how China handles that will speak volumes.
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