Moving the Olympics - Sochi 2014
Moving the Olympics out of Russia won't do anything to help gay rights there. Seriously. If anyone says that it will, ask them what Osama bin Laden's main reason was for blowing up the World Trade Center. There - see? There's your proof. Stopping the Russian Olympics won't do anything.
It was the U.S. Armed forces, by the way. In Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden wanted them out. The reason behind 9/11 was that he saw the troops as an abomination - Saudi Arabia is holy land, and similar to Mecca, only Muslims should be there. Did you know that? It's kinda odd if you didn't. I mean, even if you didn't believe our president's declaration of "They hate our freedom!", you'd think you would have heard it. We do have a free press here after all, with several 24 hour news channels. We've also got unfettered access to the internet, a few hundred thousand independent news bloggers, and other nonesuch. And we've all heard all about 9/11, right? I mean, we've heard LOTS about it - it was an event that changed us, as individuals and as a country. So what accounts for bin Laden's motivation being widely unknown in the U.S.?
It's probably due to a mix of official spin and local beliefs. The government said that they hated us, and we already knew that they hated us, and most of us didn't look beyond that. Even with our freedom of the press and indie bloggers. Nobody bothered asking the questions.
Consider Russia. They don't have the same free speech rights that we do. If we protest over the Olympics, they can and will change our story in their press. They will say that it's all an American plot to embarrass Russia and weaken her relations in the international community. We could tell every Russian that this is a protest for gay rights, and the Russian press will tell everyone that we're lying. They'll say, "Obviously this is a cover story. Anyone who reads an American newspaper or follows American bloggers can see that the rights for homosexuals is still a contested and unsettled issue there. Why would they protest in other countries what they can't resolve in their own?" And the Russian public would believe them. Because "The Americans don't want another Cold War with Russia, so the American government is doing something sneaky" is the more credible story. Nobody will bother to ask questions.
Anyway, even if we did convince them that we were sincere about gay rights, it still wouldn't help. How do you feel when a group that you don't particularly like gets in your face and tells your group to change? How would your group react? You may notice that we still have troops in Saudi Arabia.
It was the U.S. Armed forces, by the way. In Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden wanted them out. The reason behind 9/11 was that he saw the troops as an abomination - Saudi Arabia is holy land, and similar to Mecca, only Muslims should be there. Did you know that? It's kinda odd if you didn't. I mean, even if you didn't believe our president's declaration of "They hate our freedom!", you'd think you would have heard it. We do have a free press here after all, with several 24 hour news channels. We've also got unfettered access to the internet, a few hundred thousand independent news bloggers, and other nonesuch. And we've all heard all about 9/11, right? I mean, we've heard LOTS about it - it was an event that changed us, as individuals and as a country. So what accounts for bin Laden's motivation being widely unknown in the U.S.?
It's probably due to a mix of official spin and local beliefs. The government said that they hated us, and we already knew that they hated us, and most of us didn't look beyond that. Even with our freedom of the press and indie bloggers. Nobody bothered asking the questions.
Consider Russia. They don't have the same free speech rights that we do. If we protest over the Olympics, they can and will change our story in their press. They will say that it's all an American plot to embarrass Russia and weaken her relations in the international community. We could tell every Russian that this is a protest for gay rights, and the Russian press will tell everyone that we're lying. They'll say, "Obviously this is a cover story. Anyone who reads an American newspaper or follows American bloggers can see that the rights for homosexuals is still a contested and unsettled issue there. Why would they protest in other countries what they can't resolve in their own?" And the Russian public would believe them. Because "The Americans don't want another Cold War with Russia, so the American government is doing something sneaky" is the more credible story. Nobody will bother to ask questions.
Anyway, even if we did convince them that we were sincere about gay rights, it still wouldn't help. How do you feel when a group that you don't particularly like gets in your face and tells your group to change? How would your group react? You may notice that we still have troops in Saudi Arabia.