• Skull giver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl
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    5 months ago

    I agree with the sentiment. Israel should not be permitted to be part of the Olympics, their athletes should only be allowed to compete under the neutral flag, like the Russian and Belarussian athletes. Or, alternatively, if the IOC decides to go “no politics at the Olympics”, Russia and Belarus should be permitted to compete again.

    But going the extra mile to throw in a cartoonish evil smile and adding a random “USA” emblem? That’s kind of cringe. It’s detrimental to the message it’s trying to convey, unless I misunderstood the message, in which case it’s just dumb.

    • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldOP
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      5 months ago

      Many israelis are American nationalists and America provides israel the funds for their gear. There have even been pictures of American-israeli soldiers proudly wearing their American uniform in Gaza.

      There appears to be a lot of cognitive dissonance when it comes to US complicity in the Genocide.

      When it comes to any Houthi or Hezbollah topic invoking Iran is fine but the people funding israel can’t be named?

    • spankinspinach@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      Chewed on the no politics at the Olympics comment for myself and I think where I landed was that the Olympics should be apolitical. I do think these countries should be punished for their actions, however, with the number and types of international destabilizing events increasing, I think this is a quick win for international cooperation. Something all humans can get behind. Doping obviously should be punished, but that’s an athletic issue.

      Obviously the precedent of excluding countries has been set, so there’d be vitriolic pushback, but I think it would be worth it to have one majorly public institution (read: in popular awareness) that doesn’t judge, it just lets athletes compete.

      Thoughts?

      • Skull giver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl
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        5 months ago

        I do like the concept of a “politics-free” sporting event, but then those events need to actually be free of politics. That makes things like partially unrecognised countries (Palestine, Taiwan, South Ossetia, Sealand) very difficult, though, so you’d end up with tons of micronations and disputed areas in the line-up, which immediately becomes politics again.

        However, I don’t think the IOC is as neutral as they claim. Belarus being excluded for “invading during the Olympic ceasefire” or whatever they claimed was just a political move.

        If you’re trying to be free of politics, you’ll have to stay free of politics every time. It’s all or nothing.

        In that regard, I sort of respect the IOC for disciplining athletes that refused to compete with Israeli/Russian athletes. I can’t fault the athletes themselves, but at least the organisation seems to stick to its guns most of the time.

        Honestly, I think I’d prefer it if there were no flags involved at all.