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Linky

Stephen Fry wrote:An absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 on Sochi is simply essential. Stage them elsewhere in Utah, Lillyhammer, anywhere you like. At all costs Putin cannot be seen to have the approval of the civilised world.

All jokes aside, Mr. Fry is right. This is a despicable set of circumstances that Russia is enacting.

Ignore this, the UK should keep politics out of sport.

We didn't boycott the 1980 Summer Games, don't boycott the 2014 Winter Games. Stephen Fry doesn't have to watch if he doesn't want to.

 Orlanth wrote:
Ignore this, the UK should keep politics out of sport.

We didn't boycott the 1980 Summer Games, don't boycott the 2014 Winter Games. Stephen Fry doesn't have to watch if he doesn't want to.

To hell with that.
Just because we didn't do something before doesn't mean we should now.
What they are doing in Russia is bloody despicable and people have every right to speak out against it. More than that the International community has every right to condemn it and they should.

 Orlanth wrote:
Ignore this, the UK should keep politics out of sport.

We didn't boycott the 1980 Summer Games, don't boycott the 2014 Winter Games. Stephen Fry doesn't have to watch if he doesn't want to.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing

Russia's behaviour is unconscionable in this regard.

A stand needs to be taken.

Russia actions towards homosexuals are nasty bullying, no argument here. But once you start down this road where do you stop?

Should we have boycotted the 2008 Olympics over China’s obscene human rights violations? Should other countries have boycotted the London Olympics over our part in the Iraq war?

Also why is Stephen not kicking up a fuss about Qatar getting the 2022 world cup? A country which, in regards to the treatment of homosexuals, makes Russia look like San Francisco.

We should boycott that as well!!!
If other countries felt they should, they should have boycotted our Olympics over the Iraq war.

Why is Stepben Fry England's greatest man?

Well I can't think of someone I'd rather rule the country in a Benevolent Dictatorship... barring Boris...

Why?

Why him?
Well for one thing he seems to be a hell of a lot more sensible than our current politicians...

Boycotting the olympics is stupid, for any reason.

If you turn an apolitical sporting event into a political stage, then you might as well just get rid of the olympics and simply organize "The Sporting Competition With People I Agree WIth" games.

There are a lot of things people can do to any country to protest anything that they don't like about it. But the Olympics should not be used for that.

Maybe but if a country wants to be accepted into the international community (And thus have access to hosting the Olympics) it should learn to not be a dick.
Russia is currently being a dick, so are a bunch of other countries.
The Olympics seem as good a place as any to make a stand.

But you can pretty much name any country and I can give you a reason why they are being a dick and shouldn't be allowed to host the games.

Probably but there's some gak no one should have to put up with... Give it to the Swiss if no one else is good enough. Lord knows they are relatively inoffensive...

The Swiss have a record of being very anti-foreigners and borderline racist, including reports of police brutality against foreigners in certain areas.

I'm waiting for winners of events to drape themselves in rainbow flags.

Fine give it to the...
You know what?
Give it back to the Yorkshirefolk.
They're friendly enough and their accent is so genuinely difficult to understand it'll basically be a different country.
Loads of countries have reasons to boycott their Olympics, we should start thinking of the Olympics as a benefit for being a civilised country that treats its people fairly and not a right for just being a country...

 LuciusAR wrote:
Russia actions towards homosexuals are nasty bullying, no argument here. But once you start down this road where do you stop?

Should we have boycotted the 2008 Olympics over China’s obscene human rights violations? Should other countries have boycotted the London Olympics over our part in the Iraq war?

Also why is Stephen not kicking up a fuss about Qatar getting the 2022 world cup? A country which, in regards to the treatment of homosexuals, makes Russia look like San Francisco.

The big difference here is that China didn't threaten to arrest competitors and tourists. They may have their own problems on the world stage, but they didn't take them to the event.

Give it to us?

And yeah, this gak should be boycotted.

Also d-usa, what makes you think the Olympic games aren't a political stage? It's always been about countries doing their best dickwaggling performance to show who has the superior people. Do the sporters themselves view it as such? Probably not, doesn't change it though.

I vote we make grab-ass an olympic sport.

Yeah give it to the Dutch.

As a German I refuse to give it to the Dutch. We would have to play soccer over there if we did!

feeder wrote:
Linky

Stephen Fry wrote:An absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 on Sochi is simply essential. Stage them elsewhere in Utah, Lillyhammer, anywhere you like. At all costs Putin cannot be seen to have the approval of the civilised world.

All jokes aside, Mr. Fry is right. This is a despicable set of circumstances that Russia is enacting.

Who cares???
Winter Olympics is all about rich people. them and everyone who goes to one.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Da Boss wrote:
Why is Stepben Fry England's greatest man?

Anyone named Fry can't be great. This must be a trick. A trap...I's smells one!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 d-usa wrote:
But you can pretty much name any country and I can give you a reason why they are being a dick and shouldn't be allowed to host the games.

Especially the Dark Mordor that is Liechtenstein. One day they will pay for their crimes against humanity!

 purplefood wrote:

 Orlanth wrote:
Ignore this, the UK should keep politics out of sport.

We didn't boycott the 1980 Summer Games, don't boycott the 2014 Winter Games. Stephen Fry doesn't have to watch if he doesn't want to.

To hell with that.
Just because we didn't do something before doesn't mean we should now.
What they are doing in Russia is bloody despicable and people have every right to speak out against it. More than that the International community has every right to condemn it and they should.

Go ahead, boycott. Stay away. However don't force your hysterical attitudes on us.

You know the world has different cultures and just because some are more 'progressive' than others doesn't mean we suddenly have the right to judge everyone else by our standards, especially when standards are unevenly applied anyway. A 2008 boycott would have made a lot more sense.

Frankly I think we should keep politics out of sport completely, if you want to protest choose another means, stop buying Russian Vodka for example and encourage others to do also.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 d-usa wrote:
Boycotting the olympics is stupid, for any reason.

If you turn an apolitical sporting event into a political stage, then you might as well just get rid of the olympics and simply organize "The Sporting Competition With People I Agree WIth" games.

There are a lot of things people can do to any country to protest anything that they don't like about it. But the Olympics should not be used for that.

QFT

Has it been mentioned that Stephan Fry is a big gay rights activist and he himself is gay. Russia would in effect be arresting one of the country's biggest Tv figures if he were to go there, which would create really. ...really bad PR. The number of people who are gay and go to the olympics probably isn't a huge number so much to create a loss in the Olympics income if they didn't go.

Stephen Fry is of course being perhaps a theatrical with his statement, but he does have a point. The state of the Russian government and their treatment of the opposition is pretty despicable. Had they passed that law when they were still in the running for the games I doubt that they would have been awarded them. Actually I'm thinking that the Olympic committee isn't kicking up so much a of a fuss about this just because there's no time to rehost it somewhere else, and they don't want to have to cancel the games for something other than a war. =P

 Frazzled wrote:
Anyone named Fry can't be great. This must be a trick. A trap...I's smells one!

That's just the peanut oil Frazz, it's okay.

While China has a terrible human rights record, and there were some consternations about hosting the games there, actively coming out (pun intended) and saying that you might possibly detain homosexual athletes and tourists because their existence is an affront to your conservative country is a dick move, and your olympics should be boycotted...

Maybe Russia is hoping no one shows up like back in 1980 so they can sweep the competition again.

 Wyrmalla wrote:
Has it been mentioned that Stephan Fry is a big gay rights activist and he himself is gay. Russia would in effect be arresting one of the country's biggest Tv figures if he were to go there, which would create really. ...really bad PR. The number of people who are gay and go to the olympics probably isn't a huge number so much to create a loss in the Olympics income if they didn't go.

Stephen Fry is of course being perhaps a theatrical with his statement, but he does have a point. The state of the Russian government and their treatment of the opposition is pretty despicable. Had they passed that law when they were still in the running for the games I doubt that they would have been awarded them. Actually I'm thinking that the Olympic committee isn't kicking up so much a of a fuss about this just because there's no time to rehost it somewhere else, and they don't want to have to cancel the games for something other than a war. =P

Did Stephen fry protest China?
No he didn't.

However now he wants to protest about Russia he expects everyone else to join him.
Why?
Do gay rights matter more than Tibet or crackdowns on democracy. Which evidently Fry doesn't mind so much as he made no protests then and called for no boycott..

Why must society make a stand here and now? These stands have a cost in diplomatic relations, and relations with Russia are delicate at the moment, nations must be careful where they make their stands. Action here may result in Russia placing support elsewhere on such issues as oil and the Falklands, which we cannot afford. It's not worth it, but Stephen fry wants us to pay any price as a nation, for his own cause, and damn the consequences. Feth him.

Oh hey I'm not making a ruckuss about every single issue in the world, guess that means I can't ever make one. I'm sure he did actually post something about China at one point, but let's just assume that he didn't because this is the internet. If the guy was constantly campaigning about every single issue in the world and making statements like he did he'd lose public opinion overnight.

And uh... Did you mean to sound like Neville Chamberlain there when you said, "let's not off the guy's who are pulling all these human rights abuses, they might not like us"? One guy is hardly going to lower the Russian opinion of the whole country by making a grandiose statement, though I doubt the Russian opinion of us would drop one bit if we did boycott their Olympics. As it stands our relations with the Russians is at an all time post Soviet low, but I doubt that one comedian is really going to tip them over the edge and make them even bigger on the international stage than they already are. =P

Erm... Mr Fry wouldn't be arrested just for being gay in Russia - he may well be arrested if he attempted to give information about being gay to those under 18 though.

I believe that if you're outwardly gay in russia you will be arrested. So say you're holding hands with your boyfriend, or just publicly known as gay, the Russian police will arrest you (oh and probably beat you, and failing that the conservatives will sort that out for you). At present the right of Russian politics is openly prosecuting gays, amongst other groups, in an open manner. The Nashi and other state sponsored groups openly attack organisations that oppose the government. Evidently this kind of thing doesn't bother other members who're willing to glaze over them as long as the Russians are supporting their countries, but they aren't. Russia's been alienating itself from the west recently and tensions between us are rising. However just because of that we're supposed to just roll over and ignore their failings? Shall I pull the Neville Chamberlain card again and say that you can't just let a country pull more and more increasingly questionably actions just because we don't want them to pull out what little support they are giving us?

 Wyrmalla wrote:
I believe that if you're outwardly gay in russia you will be arrested. So say you're holding hands with your boyfriend, or just publicly known as gay, the Russian police will arrest you (oh and probably beat you, and failing that the conservatives will sort that out for you). At present the right of Russian politics is openly prosecuting gays, amongst other groups, in an open manner. The Nashi and other state sponsored groups openly attack organisations that oppose the government. Evidently this kind of thing doesn't bother other members who're willing to glaze over them as long as the Russians are supporting their countries, but they aren't. Russia's been alienating itself from the west recently and tensions between us are rising. However just because of that we're supposed to just roll over and ignore their failings? Shall I pull the Neville Chamberlain card again and say that you can't just let a country pull more and more increasingly questionably actions just because we don't want them to pull out what little support they are giving us?

Which is way worse then Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, or Communist (actually Fascist at this point) China right? Right?
Summer Olympics should be in Greece. Winter Olympics should not exist, or maybe in Jamaica.