While Russian forces invade Georgia...

[fpb]

...the silver and bronze medallists of one of the Olympic gun competitions not only shook hands, but hugged and did everything in their power to demonstrate the deepest love for each other. The silver medalist was Russian, the bronze Georgian. The BBC commentators were all over this like white on rice, calling it a wonderful display of the power

Comments

[fishlivejournal]

By that logic, taking part in the Olympics is in and of itself traitorous. The games *exist* to bring people together.
Something you should consider is this: wars *end*. One day Georgia and Russia will patch their differences up. And the hurting people of both nations will need every edge they can to deal with their pain and forgive.

In the meantime - the actions of these women will not harm their troops in the slightest. Quite the contrary: by demonstrating that the enemy is human, they will make atrocities slightly less likely. They have *both* defended their countries, by defending their peoples against the likely threat of war crimes.

And the more necessary their actions are, the more likely that your hope will come true.

[fpb]

Bullshit. First, I am sick and tired of the nonsense about sport bringing people together. It does so in order to make them compete. It is a replacement of war. Second, ubi maior minor cessat, where there is a greater and more important thing, the less important thing ceases. The Olympics were suspended in 1916 and 1940, for very good reason - after having given, in 1936, their thimbleful to the burning oil of war. The notion that you should hug and kiss the official representative of the country which is butchering your fellow citizens is nothing short of repulsive. And sportspeople attend the Olympics as official representative of sovereign states. The regulations are quite clear about this, which is why, differently from several sports - soccer, rugby, cricket - Great Britain attends the Olympics as a team instead of four. And if you are old enough to remember, I hope you will not tell me that the Soviet and East GErman representations in various Olympics were not directly intended to foster the political goals of those

[fishlivejournal]

in order:
yes, sport is a replacement of war. That's the *point*, to get people would otherwise shoot each other happily playing together. You're in Britain, yes? Ever wondered why the British Commonwealth exists, when the other European empires are gone?
It's because everyone who used to be in the British Empire wants to beat the English at cricket. Not, politics, or culture, or history - beating the poms at cricket is everything.

Yes, the Soviet Olympic athletes were soldiers in the army: both metaphorically and literally (Spetnaz troops regarded international events as a chance to scope out enemy territory). And American athletes are a propaganda tool. So are everybody else's athletes. So?
One of the reasons this planet survived the Cold War is that the space race allowed the superpowers to compete non-violently: and in the process, created a friendly rivalry between cosmonaut and astronaut.

The propaganda message of "we're interested in discussing peace" is a good one, even if it is a lie. It gets people to the table.

[fpb]

The French Empire is much more existent than the walking pretence called the British Commonwealth. And nothing excuses embracing the representatives of the murderers of my people, while murder is still taking place. Read Benjamin Franklin's letter to William Strahan of July 5, 1775, or find out Louis Pasteur's reaction to the proposal that he should meet Dr.Robert Koch. This is Cain's morality - "What am I supposed to be, the guardian of my brother?"