Can ‘good’ athletes compete in ‘bad’ Olympics?

The Beijing Olympics is about as much about sports as Sexapalooza is about human rights.

No, this is not at all being facetious – it is a very valid comparison.  Without ‘human rights’ (specifically, the freedom to exercise them), Sexapalooza would not be able to educate its consumer base on ‘all aspects of sexuality’, its primary goal.  Similarly, without ‘sports’, the Beijing Olympics organizers (i.e. Chinese Government) could not educate its consumer base on ‘all aspects of how wonderful their regime is’, their primary goal.

(Why the comparison to sexuality?  Because typically, repressing sexuality is among the first goals of an opressive regime.  And, you can bet your bippies, there will be no Sexapalooza (or anything even remotely similar) anywhere within smiting distance of the Beijing Olympics.)

When, eariler, there were calls for boycott of the games, ‘people’ said:  “But what about the athletes?  It is not fair to them!”  It seemed that, in many people’s eyes, the ‘right’ of the athletes to compete in the Olympics somehow invalidated any concerns about the message the world is sending by allowing this farce to go on! 

By participating, the world is very much condoning the harvesting (yes, HARVESTING – like, as in, ‘reaping’ – by definition) of human organs from political prisoners/innocent citizens – and that is just a tip of the iceberg of opression in China! 

But, sending a message that this behaviour is not acceptable and NOT participating in this sham of an Olympics would, somehow, be ‘unfair’ to the athletes…  We just don’t understand – they TRAINED for this!  It’s their DREAM!  And everyone knows that an athlete’s dream is so much more important thant a ‘regular’ Chinese person’s nightmare!

Their ‘right’ to compete is SOOOO much more important than a ‘regular’ Chinese person’s right to keep her liver!  (I wonder if Monty Python, in their worst nightmare, ever thought that their ‘can we have your liver’ sketch would come true….ecxept without the ‘asking’ bit!)

So, as we are about to be force-fed a set of Olympic games in a regime so controlling of its people, it dictates how cheering may or may not be done, why is nobody asking: 

‘What ABOUT the athletes?’ 

Who are these people for whose ‘right’ to ‘get a podium’ so many others have to pay for in blood? (And, make no mistake about it – much of the Olympic fanfare HAS been paid by the proceeds from ‘organ harvesting’.  Instead of ‘blood diamonds’, these are ‘blood medals’!) 

Who are these priveleged few, whose desire for fame is so great, they will – literally – look the other way, amile and say nothing, accept the medals as their dues… while their hosts murder and torture to get them these medals?

I, for one, do not think that any being worthy of being called ‘human’ could possibly choose to elevate themselves this high above others.  It is arrogant elitism at its worst.  And it is allowing their bodies to be used to promote this corrupt and opressive regime – for a fitting reward, of course!

So, would ‘good athletes’ prostitute themselves to the ‘grim reapers’?

A long tail for your house

Please, consider the options which would open up to you if your house had a really long tail – a fibre optic tail, that is!  One belonging to the homeowner, NOT the ISPs!  We could take a step away from throttling off net neutrality.

‘The really long tail’ from ‘ars technica’

With more ISPs discussing ‘bundling’ accessible websites the way cable companies offer ‘bundled channel packages’, this would significantly improve consumer choice.

Question about ‘Hippies’

All right, we all know what the Hippies stood for:  peace and love and removing socially repressive barriers imposed by mainstream culture.  Sort of  modern-day Dionysians, except with LDS and marijuana instead of wine…

They self-describe as being peaceful, accepting, laid-back…  When one hears the word, we think of open-air music festivals, free love, the ‘peace’ movement, bad hair and ‘punch-Buggies’ painted in psychadelic colours and other similar cultural icons of the 60’s era.

Here is my question:

What can we conclude about the Hippie counterculture from the fact that they self-branded with the only car whose distinctive ‘look’ was designed by Adolf Hitler?