• forrgott@lemmy.zip
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    6 hours ago

    Frankly, I have no respect, and certainly no sympathy, for any athlete representing our country at the Olympic games.

    Which abso-fucking-lutely were NOT founded to honor athletic outlets, or competition, or any of that shit; they were founded to distract from the authoritarian nature of the government of the time.

    • ch00f@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      I’m not super well versed on how this works, but many of them depend on sponsorship deals to be able to train and compete and the level they do. Those deals probably depend on them at least appearing pro-USA.

      We can all talk about how we’d like the protest what’s going on in this country, but asking someone to give up the opportunity to compete on a global stage at the thing they’ve trained literally their whole life to do is a very tall order.

      • architect@thelemmy.club
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        1 hour ago

        I mean we deserve to get booed like any other country has gotten when they pull shit like this.

        That’s the exact kind of thing that needs to happen more often.

      • harrys_balzac@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        4 hours ago

        If they took a sponsorship, then we should be looking into those sponsors.

        I get your point about it being difficult to give up going and I hope a lot of them are having some sleepless nights over it.

        By sending the couchfucker and a contingent of ICE goons, it is a political statement to be there. It’s not about the sport, it’s about the glorification of the Orange Rapist.

        • ch00f@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          Sweet. All the astronauts working for NASA should probably quit too.

          • forrgott@lemmy.zip
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            3 hours ago

            …what?

            But what the fuck ever, dude. If present circumstances DON’T justify radical responses, then I see no point continuing this thread.

            Just…what the fuck.

            • ch00f@lemmy.world
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              2 hours ago

              It’s called empathy my dude. Put yourself in the shoes of an athlete who has maybe one chance in a lifetime to perform on a global stage what they’ve been training their whole life for. They’re not harming anyone by competing, and their withdrawal from the event would accomplish absolutely nothing.