Stephen Fry speaks out

[bae]

I just came across this superb letter from Stephen Fry to David Cameron and the IOC, on the topic of participation in the upcoming Olympic Games in Russia.

http://www.stephenfry.com/2013/08/07/an-open-letter-to-david-cameron-and-the-ioc/single-page/

More interesting than Snowden, I think.

[iris lilies]

I just came across this superb letter from Stephen Fry to David Cameron and the IOC, on the topic of participation in the upcoming Olympic Games in Russia.

http://www.stephenfry.com/2013/08/07/an-open-letter-to-david-cameron-and-the-ioc/single-page/

More interesting than Snowden, I think.

I didn't know this was going on in Russia. Ugh, troglodytes.

[Mer05]

I hate to pop in just for the Policy forum, but here goes... I'm not optimistic that international objections will inspire Russia to change direction; there's a long history there of scapegoating and promoting violence against minority groups (see, pogroms). Also a complicated relationship with Western culture.

But Stephen Fry is right: we should not ignore the known propaganda value of the Olympics. It's expected that the host country will try to sweep its problems under the rug, but I don't remember the hosts dictating what - and who - is allowed to be visible at the Olympic Games themselves. So this strikes me as a bad precedent.

I read what seemed like a good suggestion (for those of us who are not Stephen Fry or George Takei): if you want to complain, complain to the money. The blog post (http://http://mightygodking.com/2013/08/08/how-to-potentially-make-a-difference-re-the-olympics/) goes into more detail on the major Olympic sponsors, etc. It's big business, and those who run it are mainly interested in keeping the business good.

[Tiam]

I hate to pop in just for the Policy forum, but here goes... I'm not optimistic that international objections will inspire Russia to change direction; there's a long history there of scapegoating and promoting violence against minority groups (see, pogroms). Also a complicated relationship with Western culture.

But Stephen Fry is right: we should not ignore the known propaganda value of the Olympics. It's expected that the host country will try to sweep its problems under the rug, but I don't remember the hosts dictating what - and who - is allowed to be visible at the Olympic Games themselves. So this strikes me as a bad precedent.

I read what seemed like a good suggestion (for those of us who are not Stephen Fry or George Takei): if you want to complain, complain to the money. The blog post (http://http://mightygodking.com/2013/08/08/how-to-potentially-make-a-difference-re-the-olympics/) goes into more detail on the major Olympic sponsors, etc. It's big business, and those who run it are mainly interested in keeping the business good.

I wish the link to the Blog worked, I wanted to look at it.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Problem is the leaders of the countries this is addressed to (Britain specifically) have no moral authority themselves. Asking for saints would be too much, but basically what they have on their hands is no not their treatment of gays, no not Snowden and the architecture of oppression (although that is what it may architect), but the one glaring impossible to ignore thing: backing the U.S. in the invasion of Iraq - premeditated illegal war - 1 million dead Iraqis. Yes, I know, that was a decade ago, the Utah Olympics took place right at that time though - where was the worldwide boycott of the U.S. then?

Plus how conflicts with Russia, and China, and the West look, in real-politics terms, to Russia itself probably: conflicts over resources. What they really are in every single case, how should I know, but how they look ...

So Russia is all screwed up, the West could protest, but many governments themselves have blown most of their moral authority. And meanwhile parts of the West (Europe) have fascism right in their *own* backyard which is another reason they have NO moral authority (no not the police state, that's another matter, but what is pretty undeniably Nazi: The Golden Dawn - police look the other way in Greece too. While Germany turns another austerity screw even though it is economic desperation that is breeding such things in places like Greece. Germany is encouraging the Golden Dawn by it's economic policies in far more *direct* ways than an Olympics would encourage Russia's mistreatment of gays probably).

Boycott vodka though, I never said individuals have no authority, just that states these days have blown their wad and then some. And hey if they want to wage a trade war over it, trade wars have been fought for far less, it's just when they try to come off as pure and stuff ... they do so badly at it.

A note on ancient history: Maybe noone noticed Hitler banning Jews from office and academic tenure at that time because meanwhile U.S. universities had serious quotas on Jews as well and so weren't exactly welcoming them into academia either (though no things were never on the level of Europe - but hey if you played a role in such an academic system, those particular steps might seem almost normal). But sure Russia's history is pograms dating before Hitler and noone in the end took it as far as Hitler.

[Jilly]

http://mightygodking.com/

[IshbelRobertson]

I didn't see Stephen Fry calling for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics a few years back... The Chinese position re gays is also appalling...

[flowerseverywhere]

Jilly posted an excellent link. At the end I loved the sentiment, don't just rave on the internet, boycott the companies that sponsor and tell them why. I think a lot of the world isn't too happy with us. The Iraq war, Guantanamo and our use of the death penalty leaves a sour taste in many mouths so it isn't like we are the most shining example of human rights. We have made great strides with gays but women, not so much recently.

[Jilly]

Jilly posted an excellent link. At the end I loved the sentiment, don't just rave on the internet, boycott the companies that sponsor and tell them why. I think a lot of the world isn't too happy with us. The Iraq war, Guantanamo and our use of the death penalty leaves a sour taste in many mouths so it isn't like we are the most shining example of human rights. We have made great strides with gays but women, not so much recently.

It was not mine, I only corrected a broken link that Mer05 posted. Glad though. I read this forum often, but do not post because I am dumb about practically everything and do not want my ass kicked any more than necessary.

The entirety of this issue is important to me; important enough to take more interest here.