y ALEXANDER PECHA
Contributing Writer
It’s time for the Winter Olympics, which means we’re going to see a lot of ice, sports, bobsledding and… intolerance?
There’s been no lack of controversy about the Olympics currently being held in Sochi, Russia this year. From the rampant costs, the killing of local dogs, the displacement of locals and the terrorist near Sochi, these Olympic Games have been the most controversial in recent memory. However, the biggest thing that irks me, and I feel should irk others, is that a huge ceremony and series of games based around the idea of peace, fairness and unity are being held in a country that respects very little of any of those concepts.
Russia recently has been sliding back toward the road of its wonderful communist roots in my eyes; a few years ago they started censoring the media and recently passed an anti-gay law that has led to public beatings and humiliations of LGBT people throughout the nation.
This seems like it should be a bigger issue for the world. There have been some mentions of this of course, but no real action. Why are we holding the Olympics in a place where basic liberties are stomped on and a whole minority of people can’t walk the street without the possibility of being beaten like animals?
I understand the situation is more complicated than that and Russia had to bid for the right to have the Olympics but it still sets a bad standard. We have been taught since we were kids that the Olympics are about camaraderie and fairness and yet they’re currently being held in a place that seems to be based on the exact opposite of those ideals. It just seems wrong that the world community has decided to turn a blind eye to the suffering of people in Russia so we can bring home some gold medals and see a dazzling Olympic opening.
This isn’t the first time this has happened. The games in China happened despite the lack of respect for human rights there, though not enough people brought up lack of respect for human rights then, either.
Even if the Olympics can’t be taken away from a country, can’t nations decide to not participate? Why did the U.S. send teams and contestants? Why France or Norway? Why don’t these nations set a higher standard for the world by saying, “No, we don’t approve of what this nation is doing and we won’t support it by sending our teams to the Olympic Games.”
Some people put the blame on Putin for all of this, which I understand but don’t quite agree with. Putin is just a politician; he’s doing what he’s doing to win reelection. That doesn’t make what is effectively state-sanctioned abuse okay, but I think it’s far too easy to just point at one man and say that it’s all on him and that he is the only thing wrong. It’s a mixture of ignorance in the country and a legislature that doesn’t try and stop that ignorance. Which leads back to my original point— we, as a nation, are effectively telling this legislature, and by extension, Putin, that it is totally okay to treat their people the way they do because in the end we won’t do anything beyond tell them it’s a bad thing and that they shouldn’t do it. We are the living epitome of “All bark and no bite.”
The Olympics would have been the perfect time for the nations of the world to take a stand and say, “This isn’t okay, and we don’t support you,” but we’re so obsessed with the Olympic culture and the pure fanfare of the event that we’re more interested in that than the rights and abuse of those rights of the people of Russia.
In the end, though, I am just one voice with one opinion, though I can hope that others reading this at least show some minor form of protest and don’t add to the already too-large viewer count for this year’s Olympics. It’s a small gesture but it at least shows you care and acknowledge the problems in Russia and how our nation is effectively sanctioning that behavior.
