Sport and politics do not mix

That was the era when African Americans were demanding reparations from white Americans. Did you pay your share?

You assume ries is a white American, she/he could easily be African American (you may be right of course, but that's besides the point) ... very telling... :x

Also, wtf sort of a response was that anyway!? The best I could say is that you are just trolling. But your logic is... :

Ries: Protest during the civil rights period by African Americans in sport was a good thing and lead to significant change for minorities. Therefore you are wrong in saying sports should always be kept politically 'neutral'

Sergio: I recognise the historical period when this took place and the civil rights struggle. But you're obviously white and American, so what did you personally do to help/'pay back'?!

So when given a concrete example that's your answer? Lol

You ignore the substantive example, and then try to denigrate the character of the person, I guess calling them a hypocrite?

Preposterous and offensive, good job.

The example actually very well illustrates why we shouldn't listen to the, unfortunately disproportionately loud, naysayers who are always calling for censorship when their particular moral or ideological standards are challenged publicly. That's how the rot of censorship starts.

Many regimes still do stifle public speech of this nature, sporting events are often state affairs in these countries. To say you don't want people to be able to protest politically in a sports event doesn't lead to a good place. Try unfurling a banner saying remwmbwr tiaanaman sqaare in a Chinese football match and see how well that goes.

In any case, the people who keep saying 'no politics in sport' either don't realise how heavily politicised sport already is, or are being disingenuous becuase they know that sports, for the most part, is generally very pro establishment in its politicization. And that's their same proclivity; conservatives by definition have an establishment bias.

Both in the developed, and the developing, modern state we can easily see the strong influence of the political realm in organized sports.

Argentina has, for example, the barra bravas who are used as political shock troops by whichever political or quazi-political group they are loyal to.

In the USA, UK, and many other developed democracies, the military uses organized sports as recruiting drives fueled by the easily created nationalistic fervour which is riled up at these events. A little group psychology and a few other tricks go a long way.

Those were just a couple of a multitude of ways in which the political is already a part of sports, as it has always been. Importantly, the vast majority of the already existing poiticization of the sports realm is, of course, carried out by powerful political, state, and corporate interests.

Yet those who say sports should 'stay non political' are always silent in that regard, and their silence is deafening, for they only raise their voices to complain when the actual sports players, or some other individual within the sport tries to protest publicly or raise awareness. That's when their 'don't politicize sports!' chant can be heard from the rooftops. How dare this lowly individual be allowed to speak and raise awareness, they should bow their head to the establishment like a good serf!

Luckily those voices didn't win out in the civil rights era.

Let's hope they don't these days either.

Cheers!
 
I agree that sport is politicized. It is commercialized and that alone has political implications. I think it would be better to avoid national anthems at sporting events. All the protests by extremely well paid athletes in the US could have been avoided by simply ending the unnecessary custom of singing the nationl anthem. Yes, I think politics should stay out of sporting events.
 
Those who support politics in olympic events are very selective in which causes they support meaning that freedom of speech is not want they want but dictation of their views to all of us. London 2baires was strangely silent about the argentinian olympic ad of 2012 filmed in the malvinas and condemned by the olympic committee and the united kingdom.


Why is this condemned and abortion in Argentina promoted ?
The public in Argentina in its majority are up in arms about the using of our national anthem to promote abortion. It was completely uncalled for and does nothing for the cause but create more opposition. There is a democratic process in Argentina the senate and they have voted.Lets respect their decision and the will of the silent majority.
 
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