Thor makes the Times

by Softie on Apr 1, 2008 11:03 AM EDT

"Anne Putz, Reebok's head of corporate public relations, said in a statement that the company does not prohibit its athletes from expressing personal opinions. Reebok sponsors the Norwegian cyclist Thor Hushovd, who announced last week that he may boycott the Olympic opening ceremony to protest the Chinese crackdown on Tibetans. 'We support our athletes 100 percent on the field, providing them with the best products to help them achieve their goals,' Ms. Putz said. 'Off the field, we never influence our athletes about their personal views.'"

---Today's NYT, article starting on A1.

Whether or not 'Anne Putz' is a real person or an April Fools' joke, it's nice to see lutfisk-eater and former green jersey Hushovd in the paper of record.

Poll

Should Thor boycott the opening ceremony?

Yes; Tibet and Darfur matter

15 votes

No; No Tibetan or Darfurian has ever won the RVV

0 votes

Immaterial; I've seen the Beijing road route, and Thor should stay home

4 votes

19 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

and the IHT

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/28/sports/EU-SPT-OLY-Norway-Hushovd-Boycott.php

by huy on Apr 1, 2008 12:43 PM EDT reply actions

Politics alert!

I am 100% for boycotting the opening ceremony. What China is doing in Tibet is coopting the culture as an excuse for liquidating the region's rich (and to the rest of China, scarce) natural resources. Smash and grab policy, really. Maybe the ways of the world are still "to the victor go the spoils" but China seems to think the world owes them a pat on the back. Fuck that.

by Chris Fontecchio on Apr 1, 2008 2:48 PM EDT reply actions

</politics>

by Chris Fontecchio on Apr 1, 2008 2:48 PM EDT up reply actions

Chris, was that you

I saw getting arrested in front of the Chinese embassy yesterday?

(Serious madhouse spilling out onto Connecticut in Kalorama).

I've a strong love/hate thing going on with the Olympics(TM). In truth, it's a giant scam to suck money out of the taxpayers of the host region, aggrandize the ancient old men running the governing bodies of the sports, and slap an ad on every surface visible to the human eye. Sporting competition plays a tiny tiny role. Certainly one that could be easily supported and conducted without the Olympics(TM).

That said, I'll always rank living in the middle of the 96 Olympics as one of the best times I've ever had. I lived literally in the middle of all the major venues, and thanks to Georgia's nonexistent ethics rules, had a bucket full of tickets. Saw basketball, fencing, track, and badminton medal matches. Wandered around Centennial Park in the most intoxicating atmosphere - all of the crass commercialism around us couldn't begin to dampen a collective realization that the world was hanging out together, and having a fantastic time doing it.

So I'll rail against the Olympics in general, but I'll show up in a heartbeat, given the chance.

by Sui Juris on Apr 1, 2008 3:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Heh

Did that once, yelling at that ugly building is deadly dull.

by Chris Fontecchio on Apr 1, 2008 4:14 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm thinking

That there will quite a big public protest at the opening ceremonies as well as some other protests at medal awarding ceremonies too. Good.

by ursula on Apr 1, 2008 6:36 PM EDT reply actions

by who?

The people with tickets to the opening ceremonies? Ha. People outside of the venue? That'll be a wasteland, populated only by police, I bet. The athletes marching in? A few will wear bands or something. The end.

by Sui Juris on Apr 1, 2008 7:23 PM EDT up reply actions

If it were anyone else

I'd say meh. But China is the best country to protest against, in the same way that people couldn't resist making fun of Red Sox fans (before the Great Realignment). You're guaranteed to get a full reaction.

by Chris Fontecchio on Apr 1, 2008 6:39 PM EDT reply actions

So what do you reckon you can do

Their pitch for the Olympics was something like: See those five rings. One of them is us.

And all those French jokes that have been going down so well in the US in recent years, well in China they use the same lines about the US.

by Monty. on Apr 2, 2008 12:13 PM EDT reply actions

Not about the US

Not entirely sure I understand... As long as people of all stripes keep pointing to what China is doing, the onus will stay on them to explain it. Poking fun at the US isn't going to get China off the hook.

by Chris Fontecchio on Apr 2, 2008 1:05 PM EDT up reply actions

That

wasn't meant to sound anti-american; I just suspect that the Chinese pay as much attention to criticism coming from foreigners as just about everyone else in the world. And I suspect that when things start to move in a positive direction in Tibet that the initiative will come from within China, not from us.

The Guardian newspaper in Britain came up with a bizarre idea around the time of the last US presidential election that readers should telephone random voters in key US states and tell them how badly George Bush was seen in Europe. When news of that spread around a few blogs their phone lines were jammed for days by irate Texans telling them to mind their own business.

by Monty. on Apr 2, 2008 8:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Ah ok

And I wasn't offended by any means, just not sure what you meant. Doesn't the CCP have a uniquely bizarre sensitivity to foreign media coverage? I agree most people don't care what outsiders think, but the party itself seems to.

by Chris Fontecchio on Apr 2, 2008 11:37 PM EDT up reply actions

protest-able...

for some humor...
I'd protest just because of these -
http://www.willfrischkorn.missingsaddle.com/2008/03/19/the-squatter/

Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want. -Randy Pausch

by nikki on Apr 2, 2008 12:39 PM EDT reply actions

Honestly very torn

I think this is important, but I have yet to personally sort what I think is the best course of action. For me, it should go without saying that China's treatment of Tibet is appalling, and ought to be condemned (and not in that half-assed press release way). Further, I think the Olympics really shouldn't have ended up in Beijing - it gives China (yet another) chance to fake its way into the world's biggest markets under the guise of being Just Like Them and Nothing To Be Concerned About.

And it's that last point that sends me in all sorts of contradictory directions. I want people to realize exactly how it is that China produces what it does for rest of the world. But I don't want to do it in some sort of Lou Dobbs Xenophobia Special sort of way. Which then bounces me back to the other side of things - I would be good for the rest of the world to realize that China is a behemoth in world finances, and cannot be treated as some semi-relevant curiosity. I was in Shanghai a few years ago, and took an elevator up the Jin Mao Tower for a view of the city. And what did I see from the 88th floor? A city bigger than New York. China does need to be dealt with in . . . not just a constructive manner (which is what every nation deserves, including Cuba), but a manner which takes its power and pettiness into account. While I'd personally be quite fine with the majority of Wal-marts supply lines drying up overnight, I suspect it's probably not the best thing for the US economy. So we ought to tread carefully. Just not obsequiously.

by Sui Juris on Apr 2, 2008 3:28 PM EDT reply actions