Protesting The Olympics

[dogcom]

I personally went to Steveston a fishing village a few miles from my house in Richmond BC to watch the Olympic torch go by. It was a great experience and it had a real community feel to it and it did make me feel a part of the Olympics.

Then you have these stupid protesters that may have good causes to fight for, but when they try to stop the torch run, I think they hurt their cause every time they try. Many say the money should be spent on poverty, but everyone knows the money would not get spent on the poor regardless of the Olympics. I also believe the time to protest the Olympics was before we won the bid and not after.

I know in my community of Steveston we would have probably pushed the protesters away. I heard on the news today how an elementary school in Vancouver missed the torch because the protesters made it detour.

[high octane]

I agree 110%. They also prevented the torch from going past the cenotaph

While they may have good causes, I don't know how they think this will gain any support at all. They are awfully near sighted if they think the Olympics are the biggest waste of money

Frustrated people with mis-directed anger

[humble_pie]

all big global events have protests. Vancouver's are a mere smidgin of what the tibetan protests were over the 2008 summer olympics. Surely y'all remember.

i was shocked & saddened, though, at the death of the georgian luger. Apparently another man slipped off his sled today on the same part of the track, which is near the bottom, and escaped death by being able to hang onto his sled so it didn't crush him.

now the international luge & bobsled experts are opining that the whistler luge run is too fast, too steep. So i felt badly as a canadian. Is it possible that our country has built a killer track. Was this made worse by rainy weather that iced the surface more than anyone ever expected. There's even talk that the sled events will have to be cancelled.

[dogcom]

High Octane I have a feeling your involved in the Olympic security and if you are then good for you and we all support you.

Humble Pie I think I speak for everyone on the forum and think all the protesters are idiots.

Having said that you have to be very very proud to be Canadian. Beside the Canadian team the people in BC Place gave the Georgian team a standing ovation and made me very proud to be Canadian. I was also pleased to see the Chinese and Japanese carry a Canadian flag in with their own when they walked in.

[high octane]

High Octane I have a feeling your involved in the Olympic security and if you are then good for you and we all support you.

Humble Pie I think I speak for everyone on the forum and think all the protesters are idiots.

Having said that you have to be very very proud to be Canadian. Beside the Canadian team the people in BC Place gave the Georgian team a standing ovation and made me very proud to be Canadian. I was also pleased to see the Chinese and Japanese carry a Canadian flag in with their own when they walked in.

I'm quite proud tonight as well. After 2 years of planning, training, and monthly trips to Vancouver, it's nice to see things finally start. It's really sad that the Georgian died the day before his dream.

I made it to the rehearsal in person thanks to a volunteer friend and I thought the show was very well done. It was innovative and touching without an outrageous budget. My favorite parts were Ashley Macisaac's performance, the scene with the ice and whales and then trees, and that Romeo Dallaire was a flag bearer

Tonight I streamed it in the Ops room off CTV.ca, and it cut out at the end before they lit the torch! The only part I didn't see in person

As far as I know the protesting was fairly tame tonight? The air defense went pretty much as planned.

[brad]

If the protesters are protesting because they think the Olympics are diverting money from better causes, it seems kind of arbitrary. Every big-bucks event diverts money from better causes. I didn't see any protesters at Apple's unveiling of the iPad a couple of weeks ago.

On the other hand, the Olympics have become so commercialized in the past few decades that I can't bring myself to watch them anymore; it feels like one big advertisement after another. I started watching the Olympics in the 1970s, and it felt different then: the focus was more on the sport, the achievements, and above all the athletes (and it was drilled into you over and over again that they were not professionals); today the focus seems more on nationalistic pride, product placement, endorsements, show and spectacle, and money. So I don't watch anymore.

[OptsyEagle]

It's no different than striking picketers preventing free people from going somewhere they have every free right to go. They have a beef and they want to interrupt the lives of other people who don't to make their point. Why they think they gain support doing this, I have no idea. They think that I should care that they want more salary or more job security or whatever other beef "they" have. I don't bring a bunch of crying idiots in to see my boss everytime I have an issue. My boss either fixes it or I go somewhere else or I bite into it. Not very complicated and no one gets restricted or accosted. Why the law allows them to act like this is beyond me.

Most protesters have no life and feel that by doing these protests they can justify put off getting one. That pretty much sums it up. The environmental ones are the worst, since they don't usually even understand the issues they are protesting.

Anyway, my opinion.

[bean438]

""

[wealthyboomer]

On the other hand, the Olympics have become so commercialized in the past few decades that I can't bring myself to watch them anymore; it feels like one big advertisement after another. I started watching the Olympics in the 1970s, and it felt different then: the focus was more on the sport, the achievements, and above all the athletes (and it was drilled into you over and over again that they were not professionals); today the focus seems more on nationalistic pride, product placement, endorsements, show and spectacle, and money. So I don't watch anymore.

Are the OLYMPICS a SPORTING event, or a ADVERTISING event?
It will soon be called the ADVERTISING OLYMPICS.

[high octane]

Are the OLYMPICS a SPORTING event, or a ADVERTISING event?
It will soon be called the ADVERTISING OLYMPICS.

EVERYTHING IS NOW AN ADVERTISING EVENT

We now live in a world run entirely by Corporate interest. I have no problem with people protesting that fact, but doing it at the Olympics gains no support

We perceive it as protesting the Olympics

I think they would actually get more awareness if people rallied peacefully on a random date. But I still see no point to these rallies