Should the olympic games in the totalitarian states be boycotted? Should the Olympic Committee even allow such countries to have the olympics?

It's a tough question. The 1936 olympic games in Germany played a big role in legitimizing the nazi regime in Germany, and spreading the ideas of fascism. They showed the world that Germany is a healthy, energetic nation and that there's nothing wrong with it. In my opinion, it would've been best for the Germany, for the world and for the history of the Olympic Games if those Olympic games got boycotted and didn't get carried out.

Then again.. who is to decide which regime is totalitarian and which is not? After all, the people voted the Nazis in.
Take China. Would it actually help the Chinese if the Olympics got boycotted?

One could say that only aggressive regimes shouldn't be allowed to host the Olympics. But where does that leave the USA, the UK and most of the "civilised" world? Although I guess we could have the games in Japan and Switzerland all the time..

Thoughts?

The Games should not have been given to China.

Boycotting the games would not work. It didn't work in Moscow, It won't work in Beijing.

That being said having the games there does seem to shed some more international attention to what's going on.

This belongs in politics.

The Games should not have been given to China.

Boycotting the games would not work. It didn't work in Moscow, It won't work in Beijing.

That being said having the games there does seem to shed some more international attention to what's going on.

It didn't work in terms of pressuring the government to do certain actions - but it did kind of "de-legitimise" their actions.

E.g. with the Nazi Germany, the Olympics gave a huge boost to Nazi ideology.

E.g. with the Nazi Germany, the Olympics gave a huge boost to Nazi ideology.

I knew I'd seen this load of shinanigins before! thanks for placing it....

It didn't work in terms of pressuring the government to do certain actions - but it did kind of "de-legitimise" their actions.

E.g. with the Nazi Germany, the Olympics gave a huge boost to Nazi ideology.

So do you think having the Olympics in China will make more people supportive of having an oppressive Communist totalitarian government? I don't know, I think maybe having them there offers them up for the world to see what's really going on. I think we can expect to see some sort of mass protest/action in Beijing when the Olympics is going on followed by an immediate crackdown - the protesters are probably hoping for a violent crackdown - which will sully the Chinese reputation even more.

the olympics are about coming together. If a bunch of people decide to call out a country for rights violations or something similar its a good stage to do it on.

There is an important difference between the Munich and Bejing games. When the games were held in Munich, it was BEFORE the holocaust, BEFORE the invasions and BEFORE the madness. China, on the other hand, seems to be coming OUT of that stage, and into a more civilized one. I stress SEEMS, as one never actually knows, but I can definantly see why Olympic organizers would not withdraw from Bejing.

There is an important difference between the Munich and Bejing games. When the games were held in Munich, it was BEFORE the holocaust, BEFORE the invasions and BEFORE the madness. China, on the other hand, seems to be coming OUT of that stage, and into a more civilized one. I stress SEEMS, as one never actually knows, but I can definantly see why Olympic organizers would not withdraw from Bejing.

I see your point.

Firstly, I don't agree that the Munich Olympics were a boost to the fascist ideology. I'd say the most memorable athlete was Jesse Owens, an african-american who won four gold medals, kinda humiliating for an ideology based on white racial supremacy.
Secondly, what would have been achieved by a boycott of the German olympics? During 1936 the world's attention was on Germany and as a result the Nazi's stepped down anti-semitic propaganda and violence to try and make a good impression, of course this was reversed after the Olympics but it still gave many jews and other targets of Nazism a break and a chance to get out of the country (although some people actually returned as they thought the Nazis had changed). It was a positive thing and I'd be amazed to find a historian that would argue the case that a boycott of the games would have achieved any kind of positive effects.

As for China and this other political bullshit. The whole point of the Olympics is to bring the world together through sport, something that should be a-political. We are supposed to look past our differences in culture, politics, ideology, economics and unite in fraternal competiton. Using it as an excuse to lecture the host nation about how they are different and thus worse than our own country completely goes against the nature of the games and frankly I find it embarassing; Bush's rant in Thailand was ill-timed and offensive. How would America react if various nation's leaders took the Olympics as an opportunity to criticise the War in Iraq, economic disparity and human rights abuses in Guantanamo Bay? Badly I think, and it would be even more ridiculous to suggest that such criticisms would have any positive effect whatsoever.

politics and the olympics shouldnt mix anyway.

As for China and this other political bullshit. The whole point of the Olympics is to bring the world together through sport, something that should be a-political. We are supposed to look past our differences in culture, politics, ideology, economics and unite in fraternal competiton. Using it as an excuse to lecture the host nation about how they are different and thus worse than our own country completely goes against the nature of the games and frankly I find it embarassing; Bush's rant in Thailand was ill-timed and offensive. How would America react if various nation's leaders took the Olympics as an opportunity to criticise the War in Iraq, economic disparity and human rights abuses in Guantanamo Bay? Badly I think, and it would be even more ridiculous to suggest that such criticisms would have any positive effect whatsoever.

Exactly. I fucking reel when the BBC commentators yap on about the Chinese, insulting them and their attitude and mentioning Tibet during the opening ceremony. It really annoyed me.

It's like inviting a friend to go bowling and then trying turn it into an intervention by going on about his drink problem, when all everyone else wants to do is bowl.

Exactly. I fucking reel when the BBC commentators yap on about the Chinese, insulting them and their attitude and mentioning Tibet during the opening ceremony. It really annoyed me.

It's like inviting a friend to go bowling and then trying turn it into an intervention by going on about his drink problem, when all everyone else wants to do is bowl.

Urgh don't get me started on the bbc coverage. In their defence, I turned on the other day and one of the presenters was being complementary to the Chinese peoples enthusiasm and the calibre of their athletes but they still can't resist the temptation to have a dig when the time arises. I was watching the tennis earlier and they were ridiculing the organisers for not putting a roof on the tennis court - like Wimbledon?!

I've also noticed a disturbing trend in excluding coverage of certain countries - I was watching the womens judo repeats and they showed all of the quarter final onwards matchups with one omission, when it came to the DPRK competitor they cut out. If they had gone over to another match this might have been understandable, but the screen was literally blank for 5 minutes with the title "coverage will resume" and they then rejoined after the match had finished.

I'm totally on track with Rawk in this one...

And one more thing... China is FAR from a "totalitarian regime"

Should the olympic games in the totalitarian states be boycotted? Should the Olympic Committee even allow such countries to have the olympics?

It's a tough question. The 1936 olympic games in Germany played a big role in legitimizing the nazi regime in Germany, and spreading the ideas of fascism. They showed the world that Germany is a healthy, energetic nation and that there's nothing wrong with it. In my opinion, it would've been best for the Germany, for the world and for the history of the Olympic Games if those Olympic games got boycotted and didn't get carried out.

Then again.. who is to decide which regime is totalitarian and which is not? After all, the people voted the Nazis in.
Take China. Would it actually help the Chinese if the Olympics got boycotted?

One could say that only aggressive regimes shouldn't be allowed to host the Olympics. But where does that leave the USA, the UK and most of the "civilised" world? Although I guess we could have the games in Japan and Switzerland all the time..

Thoughts?
I do not feel that the Olympic games had any MAJOR influence on the Nazi regime coming to power. It was a number of things that contributed to this insane twist in history. One reason had more to do with losing WW1 because they lost land in that whole ordeal. German culture really emphasizes the idea of a large country or "living space" and they were crushed when their borders shrank around them after the war. I believe there is a specific word in German that describes this idea a little better.
Also there economy was left in ruins and many people were desperate for better times. Using ideas like patriotism and strength in propaganda was used to try and sway public opinion.
Earlier before the Nazi party took complete control over the government, Adolf took many risks to increase his power that many people would normally not do in that situation. To further emphasize this point Hitler through out the war was viewed by his colleagues as careless and impulsive.

And to answer your question I don't think we should let certain countries host the Olympics, China was kinda pushing it. Imagine the 2012 games at North Korea?

I believe there is a specific word in German that describes this idea a little better.

Lebensraum! :D

E.g. with the Nazi Germany, the Olympics gave a huge boost to Nazi ideology.

no they didn´t, it was a black guy who has won the 100 meter run ..

It didn't work in terms of pressuring the government to do certain actions - but it did kind of "de-legitimise" their actions.

E.g. with the Nazi Germany, the Olympics gave a huge boost to Nazi ideology.

Until Jesse Owens won four gold medals. Talk about ownage. :D

Until Jesse Owens won four gold medals. Talk about ownage. :D

Yeah, talk about ownage... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Summer_Olympics_medal_count)

http://hnn.us/articles/571.html

Not to mention how Jesse Owens was discriminated against in the USA more than in Germany.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Owens#Berlin_Olympics

I'm not sure what you believe, but fuck all those retards who take what they say about Hitler at face value. He had to be the bad guy for 5 years. We had to believe he was evil or risk losing morale, losing the war. Is it any surprise that people are going to peddle bullshit about him to make it seem more acceptable that we won?

You can be sure that if the Nazis won the war, we'd have very different impressions of both sides.

no they didn´t, it was a black guy who has won the 100 meter run ..

It doesn't matter. The German regime was legitimised in the eyes of the world, which is a problem. Basically, the fact that the Olympics took place said "German people elected the government, we accept this government and there's nothing wrong with it. It's ok to do business with them and to work with them.", and it showed Hitler that he can do whatever he likes and nobody would care.

At least that's what I meant when I said "boost to nazi ideology". A poor choice of words I guess.

Olympics should not be political. As long as Germany did not do things like ban Jews or Black People from competing I believe they should have been held.