Letters to the Editor
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Me thinks the protestors doth protest not enough
By all means all decent folk should boycott the Beijing Olympics. Those who argue that politics shouldn't play any part in the Olympics are either intellectually dishonest or just plain ignorant. The Olympics are all about politics. The PRC wanted the Olympics for the international prestige and cachet it would bring -- just like Nazi Germany did in 1936* (And boy, didn't that bring Germany into the family of nations!).
That said, if anyone really gives a rat's derriere about Tibet and other human rights violations by the PRC, then Chinese products should be boycotted as well. However, I don't see a lot of do-gooders advocating this.
And that said, given the US's very poor record on war atrocities, going back to at least the Viet Nam war, the US shouldn't be hosting any more Olympics any time soon either.
* BTW, I hope everybody knows the whole torch-running schtick as well as the Olympic symbol are both Nazi additions to the Olympic tradition. Zieg heil, sports fans!
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Gavin isn't SF
@Oscar: Gavin's popularity rests on two things:
1) his (laudable) support for gay marriage in 2004
2) the fact that most people don't pay enough attention to notice much else he's done
Gavin, IMO, doesn't represent this town. He represents the business interests and skates by with the populace because most people only remember one thing about his tenure. Also, we're living with a board of supervisors who manages to keep Gavin in check somewhat. I (almost but not really) wish they'd give him free reign so people would see what he's really about.
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Wouldn't it have been cool..
If the Toilet Plunger Torch had been carried proudly along the original parade route.. Drawing press attention from the other torch, and ending up on the news everywhere instead?
Oh well.
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To reiterate...
The whole Torch Relay thing was thought up for the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
And we all know who was in charge of thinking up publicity for the German government back then, don't we?
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Shame on Newsom
Kudos is due to the SF Supervisors for standing up to the Chinese propaganda machine, and nothing but shame on Newsom for bypassing their will and the thousands of protesters in order to protect one police state with another.
Newsome's ambitions are clearly for much larger office than he holds today; as a resident of the south bay I haven't had his name in front of me on a ballot but if and when I do, I will remember his actions today.
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Tool
"We felt it was in everyone's best interest that we augment the route," San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom told the San Francisco Chronicle.
"Augment the route?"
What a tool.
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overstated Olympics
I believe the media and average people make too much of Olympics' importance to China. True, the Olympics is very expensive party to be hosted by China, it is still very expendable. Only weeks ago, China was preparing a war against US over Taiwan should the election go awry, which means much more bloodshed and money loss.
The game is just a party, if you are willing to participate,fine, if not, it's all right.
Many people reckon 2008 Olympics as a gold opportunity to press China government to improve its behavior, in a sense, it is. However, when you push too hard, when you threat it with a boycott of the game, you also paint the average Chinese into a corner, they will push back more defiantly.
Don't underestimate the hostility and grudge against western powers, one and a half century's plunder, humiliation inflicted by Britain, France, US, Germany, Japan,etc maybe be easily forgotten by the perpetrators, not by the victims.
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Newsom/Bush in '08!
Indeed, as LS mentioned earlier in another letter, it's quite something to see that Newsom could apparently straight-faced say, "I believe people were afforded the right to protest and support the torch. They were not denied the ability to protest."
He means people were afforded the right to protest the torch much like others before them had been allowed to protest Bush? Again, they were lucky not to be fenced in.
Next time, he should "afford" people to protest something going through SF from, say, Central Park. In a globalizing world, what's 3,000 miles?
And yes, I agree - what a beautifully apt symbol of the Olympics it is to see police in all countries squashing free speech. I for one can't wait for the Putin ones in 2014!
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Maybe the prelude to the final Olympics.
This is a publicity fumble, to be sure, and a bad reflection on San Francisco. I'm certain the city government and the Chinese were worried about violent protests. But the real protests won't happen here, or anywhere along the parade route.
In fact, the real protests, which will occur at the Olympics, will never be seen. They will be instantaneous disruptions of the satellite and internet feeds out of China, blamed (of course) on terrorists. They will be the ever-present Government censors preventing anything from "getting out." And there won't be any Rodney King camcorders or videophone footage getting out, either; they'll be seized at the site by the "friendly" police. There might even be some major incident that will "explain away" the deaths of everybody present at the occasion.
The debacle will be blamed on the Chinese, and of course they will be physically responsible. But the ultimate responsibility has to be with the International Olympics Committee, for choosing a host country with so many massive negative factors. The IOC gets most of its loot from the massive commercial sponsors. How many - with the possible exception of Wal-Mart, the business partner of the Chinese - will want a piece of this mess? This may finally bring an end to the Olympics, and the moronic idea that sports has anything to do with international goodwill and joy. And about time.
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Yes I'm sure China lays awake at night
Wondering if latte liberals by the bay like them. Tell you what - everyone boycott all Olympics hot held by for or at some broken down brown people country. That way our hearts are pure.
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OLYMPIC COMMITTEE SHOULD BE ASHAMED!
How was a country like China selected for the Olympics anyway? Did the Olympic Committee think a few new skyscrappers means that all is forgotten where this country's despicable human rights record is concerned? Absolutely no one should be fooled for one minute that China has come into the 21st Century.
From the raw pollution of it's air and water, ignorant birth laws, severe human rights violatons, and constant spying on the U.S., why would anyone in their right mind even want to travel there, much less give the country credibility with the Olympics. Do people realize that the reason there are no homeless people in China's big cities is BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE THERE? And do people know that those lowly workers building the big new cities are subjected to employers that often DO NOT PAY THEM AT THE END OF THE YEAR AND THEY HAVE LITTLE RECOURSE? Yeah, suck on that with your Starbucks' double creamed mocha what-evah!
I, for one, will NOT be watching any of the Olympics this year. That will be my silent protest against the corporate greed, the deadly deceitful and manipulative Chinese government, and the morally corrupt Olympic Committee.
And for all those athelets who will whine and say, "it's about the sportsmanship not politics...blah...blah...blah." No, it isn't. It's about the freakin' money.