http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/23978408/
Me thinks that this might get worse.
Quite a mess really - I fear.
May we all desire greater peace and justice!
pastorkeith
Yes, the flame-bearers had a bit of fun in the UK too. It looks so impressive, surrounded by security guards. 
Protecting a sports symbol – What an unconscionable waste of resources.
I wonder how much is it going to cost taxpayers to provide security so a bunch of jocks can drag that thing all the way across the US?
Couldn’t they just stick it in a box and mail it?
I find it a cool and moving symbol. The carrying of the torch by athletes.
Kind of stupid way of protesting world conditions, imho, trying to snuff it.
Why sabotage any attempt nations make to work cooperatively, when the theme and purpose is generally positive?
I agree…there are far better ways to protest. This is a way for nations to actually come together, not grow further apart.
I know several people that have “carried the torch”. At least in our area, it wasn’t a bunch of jocks. People were nominated to carry it by different organizations and we had kids as young as 5 up to 90 year olds, those that ran and those that were in wheelchairs, etc. Each person carried it a mile (in populated areas).
People shouldn’t bring the protest to the flame or the athletes. It’s a symbol of peace and unity. (In the ol’ days, when there olympics were happening, all wars were on “stand by” and no athlete was banned from participating)
Instead, those who want to protest should do it in a way that will make the politicians in their country stay away from the opening ceremony.
Apparently the whole “torch-carrying” business was invented in 1936 for glorifying …something or other… which we might not want to get into.
It’s a COMPLETE waste of resources and glorifies no-one.
It amuses me to consider that “Nirvana” means “the snuffing out” (as of a candle or a flame). Which makes it an appropirately Buddhist protest. The Chinese really did not think this through. They’ve badly lost face.
I understand their motivation, I think, in that the human rights abuses that China has been, and continues to be guilty of, are what genuinely extinguishes the flame of International Unity and Cooperation.
I think that my neighbor got it right - the protests would be more effective if the protesters peacefully showed support for Tibet (and others) without violently interfering with the Olympic Torch progress … stand en mass, but allow the torch through - it represents the positive ideals, and should be seen to show a better path.
While the attempts to extinguish it are understandable, they have the opposite effect to that intended - it makes the protesters look like idiots instead of thoughtful people with genuine and demonstrable concerns.
This is a problem with protests a lot of the time… the message gets missed because, in part, it is overshadowed by the behavior of the protesters, and in part because the media then have the antics of the protesters to focus on instead of the message and the reason behind it… people end up mad at the protesters (not without reason), and they won’t even consider what would make the person willing to risk jail and anger to make their point - the point disappears and the backlash damages the cause.
I disagree.
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We’re veering toward the proctological here.
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Three times now, according to MSNBC.
I wonder how many of those “spare flames in lanterns” they have left.
Jeezus – You people sound like my parents did back during the Viet Nam war.
“I don’t mind them protesting, but do they have to be so disruptive? Couldn’t they just protest peacefully and write letters to their congressmen and work within the system instead of trying to tear it down? Why would anyone want to vandalize a draft board office? Don"t they have any respect for property?”
Sometimes to get listened to, you have to be disruptive. And sometimes you have to f**k with whoever is in charge just to underscore your point. And sometimes, you just have to tear sh1t up.
But the torch is a bit of a holy icon, isn’t it, and it bothers you that others do not hold it as sacrosanct as do you.
Sacred cows notwithstanding, is it not true that just as the torch is symbolic, so is snuffing it out?
The acts of protest do succeed in bringing public attention back to China’s human rights transgressions. As with any sort of advertising, you have to broadcast your message again and again and again before people start to wake up and take notice.
However, there is a different action that shows us historically that when countries start to open up to each other, trade brings not only commerce, but also exchanges of cultural values and mores. Government errors become more glaringly obvious this way, and as people’s prosperity improves and broadens, so does their education and world-view. It takes a long time, but it can be made to work eventually. Helping countries out of poverty into membership on a world forum seems to be the slowest, yet most effective, way of getting them beyond the feudal point of view.
China’s policies for treating with people, as well as swallowing neighbours, were developed in an isolated world where it stood alone from other nations. Now that China’s economy is opening up to the world, it is being exposed to world views and values. This, I think, is what will eventually bring change for China and eventually to Tibet.
djm
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yer in a mood today, ain’t ya!
The purpose(s) of the Olympics are 1) selling lots and lots of lovely crap, and 2) manifesting national might. We could all do with a great deal less of both.
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