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njlauren -> RE: Sub Plot to the Winter Olympics (8/18/2013 9:04:56 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Spiritedsub2
I wonder if 88% of Russians really favor anti-gay laws. Something tells me that accurate reporting in Russia of public opinion on that issue might be suspect...[:D]
Sadly, it is probably pretty close to that, based on talking to friends of mine who emigrated from there. Russia has never been a belleweather of human rights, and in some ways throwing off the USSR (which was no bargain) led to it even going downhill in more than a few ways. First of all, with the fall of the Soviet Union old bigotries flared back to life, especially anti semitism, life was never great in Russia for Jews before the USSR, and under the Soviet system still were not exactly thought favorably of, but today it is much worse, what was an unsaid part of the culture is out there and in the open.
A lot of this can be tied to the unfortunate resurgence of the Russian Orthodox Church, which in some ways makes the Catholic Church look progressive. Worse, the church is very nationalistic, and has developed interlocking ties with the goons running the Russian Government, so now church policy is government policy, and the government gets undying support from the church (they are basically a major member of the thugocracy that runs the country). Keep in mind the members of Pussy Riot were sentenced to years in Jail for the act of performing in some big Russian Orthodox Cathedral as a protest, and you basically better support the Russian Orthodox Church or at the very least never say anything bad about them. It doesn't help that Russia lost a lot of its well educated classes to Europe, the US, Israel and Australia, when the USSR fell, leaving for better opportunities, and you are left with a population that is older and much less well educated then it had in the USSR days, and that doesn't help, either.
You add that to the fact that Russia's population is set to drop precipitously, and it is a toxic mix. The Russian government has been trying to get the birth rate up, giving bonuses to people who have kids and such, and claiming they are 'protecting' the family is going to sit well with that attitude.
As far as what the athletes do, I would bet pretty good money on very little, if any athletes do show some signs of support, NBC will make sure they aren't shown and the Olympic officials will quickly squash it. Bob Costas may make some little speech about it, basically saying nothing at all, maybe they will be brave and leave Mary Carillo on their staff there, but other then that, you will barely see any sign of it, I can almost guarantee that.
The real protest would be to make the chief financial sponsors pay for allowing Russia the games, if NBC ratings are off, if boycotts are threatened of coca cola and other major sponsors, you might see something,but I would bet you won't tell the difference between 2014 Sochi and the prior one. It will be all about Russian culture, visiting local families, drinking local conconctions, eating local food, etc..
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