Entries Tagged 'Politics' ↓

Obama Facebook Ad

Originally uploaded by jschwanz

I’ve seen this pay-per-click advertisement on Facebook a handful of times over the last couple of days. All I have to say is his campaign understands new media very well.

When two multi-millionaires call another millionaire an elitist, isn’t that like the pot calling the kettle black?  Just wondering.  This whole election season has been tiring and kinda depressing.

There’s been a lot in the news lately about the growing tension surrounding China, Tibet, and the upcoming Olympic Games.  I find a lot of, I dunno, personal unrest, and lack of answers for “what’s right” in this situation.

First off, reference this article.

[Hein] Verbruggen [the IOC coordinator for the 2008 Olympics] reiterated the IOC’s position that athletes must respect the Olympic charter and that the games were “not a place for political gestures”.

That’s funny, you forgot to tell that to history.  Berlin in 1936 was all about promoting the Nazi view.  Moscow in 1980 was over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.  LA in 1984 was mostly seen as a retaliation for 1980.  And definitely not outdone by 1968 in Mexico City — while done by individuals and not nations, still a very politically powerful move.

Anything international is political, especially something as competitive and “friendly” as sport.  National pride is on the line; we’re better than you.  ”Right” and “wrong” is one the line; our politics/policies are the way things should be.  Good v. Evil at the water polo venue in 45 minutes; stupid Commies are going down!

That brings us to today, and my reason for posting this.  The Olympic torch is making it’s 85,000 mile trek, and today was in London, where it received a very “exciting” welcome.  Some protester tried to take it, and another tried to put it out with a fire extinguisher!

My tension comes where the politics meet the field/mat/pool/court.

On one hand, the struggle in Tibet is very, very real.  The oft-reported human rights abuses in China are very real.  China’s (thankfully currently restrained) military might is very real.

On the other, these are (mostly) amateur athletes, competing at the highest levels, for their respective countries.  Most of them make enough money to survive, but not enough to live comfortably.  Especially when it comes to basketball, professional teammates shift gears and compete against each other.

And there’s the rub.  Once you pull on that uniform, once you are wearing something that says USA, Canada, Jamaica, Venezuela, Australia, China, etc. you are not just an athlete competing for yourself.  You are an athlete with thousands and millions of people behind you, and you represent them.

I just don’t know how to react.  The IOC is in fact not a political organization.  The Olympic Games, however, have a history of being politicized in both healthy and unhealthy ways.  This upcoming Olympic Games is being politicized, for what I perceive as healthy reasons.  I just am struggling to find internal peace with a “just and reasonable” way to express the political views.  I guess I just have to wait until history happens to see how well international leadership handles this politically non-political situation.

I don’t usually offer my thoughts on political issues, but I felt the need to do it today. I’ve been pondering the recent controversy surrounding the Dubai Ports International (failed) takeover of six major US ports, and I’ve had a consistent thought: we are the same prejudiced and paranoid society that we were back in the 1940s. What prompted me to write this post was this article in The Oregonian today.

During WWII Japanese-Americans all over the country were forced from their homes and placed in internment camps. The short version of the article from The Oregonian is that there are some in Gresham, Oregon, that want to construct a monument or memorial of some kind to a former mayor, Dr. Herbert H. Hughes (1941-1956). The problem is that Dr. Hughes was a director of an organization who tried to keep the Japanese-Americans from being able to return to their homes and farms in Gresham after they were released from the internment camps. 60 years after this took place there is still a lot of hurt and anger from those who it effected. These Japanese-Americans suffered undue prejudice and hardship because of wide-spread hysteria and parinoia.

Turn the clocks forward 60 years. 6 major US ports are managed by a foreign company. This foreign company decides to sell it’s management operations to another foreign company. The security for these ports will not change. It is managed by the US Coast Guard and US Customs. The management impacts security 0%. What the buying company is suffering from is American parinoia, purely because it is an Arab company. We will allow a British company to do this job, but because you are from the “wrong” part of the world you can’t.

What frustrates me the most is that the ones who got the most upset about it are the congressmen and congresswomen who should be above this prejudice. But, because it is an election year they don’t want to appear soft on terror and homeland security. Instead they take action against the takeover, showing the world that we don’t like the Middle East, and don’t trust anything (or anyone) that comes from it. In order for the Middle East to become a free(r) Middle East we need to be making friends over there, not making enemies. What the politicians perceive as “protecting American assets” has just fanned the flame of anti-American sentiment throughout the Muslim world.

My hope is that, in 60 more years, we don’t look back on these two separate-but-related issues and see that we are still the same. Unfortunately, I fear that it is just too much wishful thinking and not enough reality.

For more articles on the backlash of this debacle read this, this, this, and this.

[tags]Dubai Ports International, politicians, Middle East[/tags]