no sochi for me
Feb. 6th, 2014 13:56![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
piranhanot like they'll care one whit, but i am boycotting the olympic winter games this time around. i'm not watching coverage, i am not supporting any athletes, i am not buying tchotchkes, i am not knitting scarves, and i am not gonna talk to anyone about results other than to say that sorry, i am boycotting the olympics.
it's a toothless boycott, i understand. i did my slacktivist duty by signing on to various petitions, and that too isn't much. if i were to travel there, maybe carrying a rainbow flag would make a small statement, but i was never gonna travel there, and even if, i am not sure i'd have the guts to let myself be beaten up and maybe killed. i am not that kind of activist anymore.
i used to get my sports on every 4 years under the conceit that the olympics "brought nations together", and that "regular" people, read "amateurs" could show off their amazing athletic feats. that hasn't really been true for quite a while, maybe not even within my lifetime, but hallowed myths die slowly.
a deeper than usual look behind the scenes when vancouver hosted soured me considerably; the politics, the graft, the cronyism, the disdain for the environment were pretty disgusting.
but the russian government is outdoing themselves by covering an ostensibly positive event with special shit sauce this time, and i've had enough. gay people are being beaten up, low income people's homes have been razed, stray dogs are being poisoned, and i am too sick of it to watch some people (who're not at fault for what is being done in their name) put on an athletic circus. i hope i wouldn't have supported the 1936 olympics either; putin does not deserve my support in any possible way.
maybe next time. or maybe not. i might just be done with the olympics for good.
instead i will be paying special attention to what politicians are doing during this time.
it's a toothless boycott, i understand. i did my slacktivist duty by signing on to various petitions, and that too isn't much. if i were to travel there, maybe carrying a rainbow flag would make a small statement, but i was never gonna travel there, and even if, i am not sure i'd have the guts to let myself be beaten up and maybe killed. i am not that kind of activist anymore.
i used to get my sports on every 4 years under the conceit that the olympics "brought nations together", and that "regular" people, read "amateurs" could show off their amazing athletic feats. that hasn't really been true for quite a while, maybe not even within my lifetime, but hallowed myths die slowly.
a deeper than usual look behind the scenes when vancouver hosted soured me considerably; the politics, the graft, the cronyism, the disdain for the environment were pretty disgusting.
but the russian government is outdoing themselves by covering an ostensibly positive event with special shit sauce this time, and i've had enough. gay people are being beaten up, low income people's homes have been razed, stray dogs are being poisoned, and i am too sick of it to watch some people (who're not at fault for what is being done in their name) put on an athletic circus. i hope i wouldn't have supported the 1936 olympics either; putin does not deserve my support in any possible way.
maybe next time. or maybe not. i might just be done with the olympics for good.
instead i will be paying special attention to what politicians are doing during this time.