But part of what enrages me is that they are being used as pawns -- dangling carrots with which to attempt to extort the sentimentality of the public. I've read articles and talked to people who say that they plan to watch the Games to "promote positivity" and "counter hate with love", but it DOES NOT MATTER whether people's reasons for viewing are noble. It really means nothing, because no price is paid by the other side for their actions. Stripping away all of the good intentions -- ALL that matters concretely is ratings, advertising impressions, and what that translates into in terms of dollars and cents. The more people watching, the more advertising impressions -- and who are the beneficiaries of this? Not the athletes, not in any way. The beneficiaries are the sponsors, advertisers, the IOC and the Russian government -- the very people who have chosen to NOT step up and either rectify or address this situation. The greater the audience, the greater the financial reward to those either actively promoting or turning a blind eye to the bigotry. Viewership puts money into the pockets of the perpetrators of the ugliness. The only message it sends is "You don't have to step up and do anything about the hate. You'll make your money because we'll watch regardless." God, I wish that this was obvious to people.
(Then there are the folks who'll pull out the "doing it for the athletes", "doing it for the comraderie" jargon when the bottom line is that they love the Olympics and don't feel like enduring the inconvenience of not doing something that they like doing, period. I'd almost respect them more if they had the guts to just say "Yeah, I care about gay people but not as much as figure skating.")
Do I expect the loved ones of Olympians to not watch their children, grandchildren, spouses, siblings, etc. compete? Of course not. They love them, have watched them train for most of their lives, and are bursting with pride. But I have no such personal affiliation with any of the athletes. I DO have a personal affiliation with the homosexual men and women that matter to me. I DO have a personal affiliation with civil rights. In terms of supporting the athletes in general, there is just no way that cheering on 1,000 or so Olympians is in any way comparable to standing up for millions of people, in Russia and around the world, who are being told that who they are is offensive and deserves to be in the shadows.
I refused to watch the Beijing games because of the glaring human rights violations going on in China, but in that instance I considered it for a fleeting moment. Not watching Sochi is one of the easiest decisions I've ever made. Each person will make his or her own decision. But it became a no-brainer for me the moment, despite global pleas, the IOC did and said NOTHING in support of its own [supposed] ideals. In staying silent, those representatives -- from all of the continents and many nations of the world, spoke loudly. They declared that the Games being hosted by a nation with heinous policies is not a problem. They said "We do not care about gay rights, not just at the Olympics, but in civilized society. Your vitriolic treatment of human beings does not violate Olympic standards of conduct. Homophobia is okay with the IOC." Who can really be so short-sighted as to think that this will not have reverberations long after the fortnight is over? Dear Lord -- what kind of precedent does this set? Maya Angelou says that when you know better, you do better. Yes, there have been past Games that haven't been shining beacons - no one is arguing this. Do we not know better now than we did then? Should we not be more enlightened now than we were even with Beijing? Are we evolving or devolving? In 2014, can we do no better than this?
We have seen some absolutely hideous anti-gay laws enacted federally in different countries very recently. Uganda. Nigeria. India. This is so, so dangerous. Are we watering the seeds of hatred that could lead to another 1972 Munich, with gay athletes as the target? This is no joke. This is what happens when a government makes it clear that one group of its citizens does not have the same protections as another group. If draconian and inhumane laws in Russia aren't worth speaking up against, that there is no reason why those laws shouldn't be seen as perfectly acceptable to implement anywhere else.
I can't help but ponder the question that we should always ask ourselves when contemplating injustices -- what if the situation was one that affected me more directly? What if the Olympics were allowed to take place -- in 2014 -- in a nation with overtly racist instead of homophobic policies? Where public displays of affection by people of different races was deemed offensive and outlawed? What if my sister and brother-in-law walking down the street holding hands was labelled "racial propaganda" and punishable with imprisonment? What if the men targeted in the video I linked to above were not gay, but black? How would that rattle my consciousness? Could I say "I really support blacks BUT..." and then append something to it that attempted to justify why I was still supporting the Olympics anyway? The answer to that is clear. Sochi might be the beginning of the end for me. I don't know that I can feel the same way about the Olympics again, knowing that the IOC allowed these Games to go forward. But that's just me.
I don't believe in a hierarchy of civil rights the way I once did. When I was younger, the "importance" of civil rights to me was directly proportionate to the ones I felt affected me most. 1) Racial equality 2) Gender equality 3) Everything else. I now know that where human dignity is denied to any group, it is denied to humanity as a whole. What is happening in Russia right now is appalling. What the IOC has done is complicit, and egregious. Many of us wish we could do something to help, wish we could raise our voices. I can only speak for myself myself when I say that I believe I can. It is very easy. I can speak with my remote control. If I choose to. I can.
- TT, Feb 6/14
Go to Part I
- TT, Feb 6/14
Go to Part I
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