Posted on 04/09/2008 10:48:22 PM PDT by XR7
A little lesson on the history of the Olympic torch relay:
You might think, as I did before Tuesday, that it was a representation of everything that is good in all of us. That its history was lush with goodwill.
Maybe you thought the relay dated back to the ancient Greeks, that it was a dramatic tribute to mythology. Prometheus stealing the fire from Zeus.
Those of us who watched, as the torch was carried across the Cascades and into a high-school stadium in Wenatchee on the Fourth of July in 1984, felt inspired. Wasn't that what this relay was all about?
The torch, I thought, was a uniter, not a divider. It was supposed to belong to all of us, a symbol of the Olympic spirit, the best of humankind.
Turns out the Olympic torch relay represents the worst, not the best, in humankind. And I'm not talking about this week's protests in London and Paris and San Francisco.
The roots of this relay are deeper and uglier.
The idea wasn't introduced by the ancient Greeks, but by the Nazis before the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It was an idea that was sold to Hitler by propagandist Josef Goebbels, who thought it could link the Nazi movement with the Olympic spirit.
Goebbels wanted the relay to bring positive attention to the Third Reich.
The relay is nothing more than a dark marketing ploy. It is a symbol of genocide and racism and the worst kind of suppression of human rights. And, on that basis alone, it should be discontinued.
Forget the protests. Think about the history.
Three Reichs and you're out.
The torch relay no longer is a symbol of the Olympic spirit and, frankly, it never should have been...
(Excerpt) Read more at archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Why did liberals not protest the Chicoms getting the Olympics years ago? I remember a good chunk of the FR board being quite upset.
On the other hand, if South Africa can head the Security Council,
If Islamic dictatorships can head the Commission on Human Rights,
If mexico can sue the USA for enforcing international borders;
Why should China not host the Olympics and add baton whippings to the spectacle?
Because liberals are not very bright.
This stinks like ten day old mackerel.
oh puleese. the torch was fine for decades. now all of a sudden, because the seattle paper has an itch for China, it’s the freaking resurrection of Hitler.
Interesting history, wretched logic.
Hey. Hitler had a few good ideas! Like the VW and the autobaun! Maybe this torch thing was one of them. He liked dogs and was a vegitarian too so should we ban dogs and vegitarians?
He was also a teetotaler.
It has been said that if he could only have relaxed and sat sat down to eat a filet mignon with a glass of good Cabernet once in awhile, history might have been entirely different.
“oh puleese...”
Thank you. The endless, out of breath, hyperbolic comparison of everything someone doesn’t like to the NAZIS gets old. The Nazis ate food, therefore everyone who eats is a brown-shirt. The Nazis brushed their teeth, therefore mouth-hygene is like sending jews to the death camps. They ran with a torch, therefore torches are EVIL.
Stop blaming symbols and blame people for their actions. The torch was not the cause of Nazi atrocities.
By the way, the modern Olypics started in 1896. 1896 to 1936 (the Nazi olympics) is 50-years of pre-torch olympics. 1936 to 2008 is 72-years with the torch. Sounds like a tradition to me.
That reminds me....what’s the stupid mascot look like?....A talking fortune cookie?
So what are you saying?
How quickly we seem to forget history.
Remember how just before 9/11/2001, Free Rebublic was abuzz with the crisis over the Chicoms and how it would be handled by our newly elected President. There was talk of boycotting Chinese goods, protests planned, etc. Then the unthinkable happened, and everyone forgot about China. The Olympics are a rich plum which the communist government is milking for every drop of propaganda value possible. And, we are willing accomplices if we continue to ignore history.
The Hainan Island incident was the April 1, 2001, downing of a United States Navy EP-3E signals reconnaissance aircraft by a People's Liberation Army Navy J-8IIM fighter jet that resulted in an international crisis - the major crisis of the Bush administration at that time. The EP-3, assigned to Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One (VQ-1) had been operating about 70 miles (110 km) away from the Chinese island of Hainan, when the craft was intercepted by two J-8IIM fighters. A collision resulted between the wing of the EP-3 and one of the J-8s, which caused the death of the J-8's pilot, Wang Wei, while the EP-3 was forced to land on Hainan Island. Recall that the Chinese at first refused to return the crewmen or the plane. Before they eventually "returned" the plane, they completely dismantled it and returned it piece-by-piece. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.-China_Spy_Plane_Incident
China controls the Panama Canal, and has established the world’s largest ocean shipping fleet (COSCO) and ocean transshipment center (Hutchinson-Whampoa at Freeport, Bahamas) just a few miles from Florida. They have made huge inroads into our technological structure. During the Clinton Regime they obtained our nuclear secrets, missile guidance systems, and even have had special operations forces trained by our Special Forces. They are now building a huge invasion fleet—allegedly for a future invasion of Taiwan—and are bolstering the South Koreans with military equipment and supplies. There are Chinese weapons and “advisors” in Mexico, and our border residents, including law enforcement, have reported “Asian males in uniform on, and crossing, the border” in California and Arizona. Also, Sealift containers full of Chinese arms have been intercepted in Long Beach, California and other places. The excuse we were given in the media was that they were smuggled goods earmarked for street gangs. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1509992/postsA company called Drewry, an independent maritime advisor, puts out a yearly report on Global Container Terminal Operators. Here are some of the leading Container Operators that have bases at ports in the USA: China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (aka COSCO) - the national flag carrier of the People's Republic of China. Headquartered in Shanghai. USA Terminals include: Port Newark/Elizabeth Marine Complex, Baltimore, Charleston, Houston, Long Beach, Miami, New Orleans, Norfolk, Oakland, Savannah, Seattle. Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) - wholly owned subsidiary of Orient Overseas (International) Limited (OOIL) based in Hong Kong. Dedicated terminals at Long Beach Container Terminal in California, Global Terminal in New York and New Jersey, Howland Hook in New York. Grand Alliance - includes Hapag-Lloyd Container Line (HLCL), MISC Berhad, Nippon Ysen Kaisha and OOCL. Ports of service include: New York, Charleston, New Orleans, Houston, Miami, Seattle, Savannah. http://www.drewry.co.uk
Yes.
A tradition started by Hitler & Goebbels.
Amazing that just because the writer is from Seattle, and maybe a lefty, you guys seem to be blind to the rich irony in all of this.
Rich irony or not, to fixate on the symbol is to completely miss the point. I think that doing so reveals a shallowness in thinking. Attempting to point this out does not mean that the irony is lost on me, its means that I think the supposed “irony” is meaningless
(and a continuation of the endless, simplistic Nazi comparisons that seem to substitute for considered thinking these days)
This must be "Nazi Sports Week"!
Also in the news this week is the scandal involving Max Mosley, head of the FIA the Worldwide Motor Sports governing body.
Mosley was revealed to have spent several hours with five prostitutes during which time they dressed up as Nazi guards and prisoners and administered "beatings' as well as having sex..
Max Mosley is the son of late Sir Oswald Mosley, who formed the British United Fascist Party in the 30's and who married Max's mother at.....
...Josef Goebbels' house in Germany with his close friend, Adolf Hitler, in attendance.
Irony? Hitler was a lefty too.
He was head of the National SOCIALIST WORKERS Party.
I'm saying exactly what I said. Reread if necessary.
Thanks for that historical tidbit.
Gotta link?
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