Anti - Olympic Protestors.

[Azure-Supernova]

Because they can. People love to complain, the Olympics is a pretty big thing, so why should they not. Just let them have their fun, it'll be forgotten. They're no different from people who argue the toss.

 

[mattman106]

You are a PRIZE WINNER Sir. yeah I agree, it's piss easy to protest about stuff like the Olympics without having to do anything beyond saying 'I am protesting against the Olympics'.

Do I win anything? Like, I dunno, a packet of gummy bears or something?

Umm, the satisfaction of knowing your opinion is shared by someone anonymous on the internet... sorry.

 

[Deleted]

All right. In my country, Canada the winter olympics is being celebrated. I had a friend that actually had the torch go right by him and he considered this an incredible experience.

'Once in a life time.' In his words.

Days and weeks later, the opening ceremony draws near, then I hear of Anti - Olympic Protestors rioting...

First of all, I don't actually give two craps about the olympics. Sports are one of the things I'm least interested in and care nothing about - I paid no attention to the ceremonies and I paid even less to the games them selves.

One thing that did interest me about the olympics is the Anti - Olympic protestors. I simply don't understand...Why are people protesting against the olympics? Animals are suffering, people are dying, so why is it people waste their time protesting against a few jocks playing a few games?

These people are commonly known as, Funsuckers like a real life troll. They grief humanity and take away fun.

These people just know how much taxpayer money goes into the Olympics and think it could be better spent anywhere else. Seriously, 2 weeks. Big deal.

Well what do you mean by 'better spent'. Of course things like health care and whatnot are important, but would you like it if the government didn't fund any activities at all? Only heath care, firearms, and other important things, no fast food, no sports, that would suck.

 

[DkLnBr]

All right. In my country, Canada the winter olympics is being celebrated. I had a friend that actually had the torch go right by him and he considered this an incredible experience.

'Once in a life time.' In his words.

Days and weeks later, the opening ceremony draws near, then I hear of Anti - Olympic Protestors rioting...

First of all, I don't actually give two craps about the olympics. Sports are one of the things I'm least interested in and care nothing about - I paid no attention to the ceremonies and I paid even less to the games them selves.

One thing that did interest me about the olympics is the Anti - Olympic protestors. I simply don't understand...Why are people protesting against the olympics? Animals are suffering, people are dying, so why is it people waste their time protesting against a few jocks playing a few games?

Think of the amount of money that goes into what is essentially pointless.

Your right, pouring money into the one thing in this world, other than a horrible natural disaster, that creates cooperation and unity between every country in the entire world is stupid. I understand what your saying, the money could be used for other things, but the point of the Olympics is more so the world can ignore their conflicts for a while, winning is just a bonus.

 

[Susano]

All right. In my country, Canada the winter olympics is being celebrated. I had a friend that actually had the torch go right by him and he considered this an incredible experience.

'Once in a life time.' In his words.

Days and weeks later, the opening ceremony draws near, then I hear of Anti - Olympic Protestors rioting...

First of all, I don't actually give two craps about the olympics. Sports are one of the things I'm least interested in and care nothing about - I paid no attention to the ceremonies and I paid even less to the games them selves.

One thing that did interest me about the olympics is the Anti - Olympic protestors. I simply don't understand...Why are people protesting against the olympics? Animals are suffering, people are dying, so why is it people waste their time protesting against a few jocks playing a few games?

These people are commonly known as, Funsuckers like a real life troll. They grief humanity and take away fun.

These people just know how much taxpayer money goes into the Olympics and think it could be better spent anywhere else. Seriously, 2 weeks. Big deal.

Well what do you mean by 'better spent'. Of course things like health care and whatnot are important, but would you like it if the government didn't fund any activities at all? Only heath care, firearms, and other important things, no fast food, no sports, that would suck.

Did you not read the rest of the thread? This isn't just a small amount of money, this is billions.

 

[Pokeylope]

millions

This,

money

money

this,

I'm amazed that not a single person is aware of why these people are protesting the Olympics - I suppose it really is a local issue.

Although I'm no expert on it, I do have a fairly good idea. As some of you may know, Vancouver has one of the WORST homeless problems in North America. The Downtown East side of the city is an extremely impoverished, drug-riddled area, and it's been like this for a long time. The idea that the government isn't doing enough to help this problem has long been a contested issue, but it's really been brought to the forefront in the years leading up to the Olympics. The city has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into projects being built PURELY FOR these two weeks in February, yet when it comes to helping people who actually LIVE in Vancouver, the government always seems strapped for cash.

There a number of other factors too - in a recent article, it was revealed that Vancouver has the most expensive housing market in the entire fucking world. With housing costs already at all-time highs, people are worried about the additional price increases the games may bring, not to mention the tax hikes which are likely to follow the games, considering the MONSTROUS debt the city has taken on. To give you an idea of how huge the debt is going to be, Montreal, who hosted the games in 1976, just finished paying off their Olympic debt two years ago. So yeah, as you can see, there are a shit load of reasons why people are against the games being here, and I personally feel the protestors are fully justified in their opposition.

and this.

Seriously, as a person who lives in BC (and grew up in northern BC for that matter) the amount of money shoveled into the Olympics utterly disgusts me. All those billions of dollars (the Vancouver Sun estimates that more than $6 billion, with $1 billion just for security and the new trade/convention centre EACH, will be the total cost) would have been better spent almost anywhere in the province (say, perhaps, in the north). Let's not forget that millions were paid to already-billion-dollar corporations for advertising. And the whole thing with Vancouver passing bylaws making it illegal to place any advertisements near the game venues that are anti-Olympic, then later altering that bylaw to simply make it illegal to "interfere with someone's enjoyment of Olympic entertainment".

Gross misspending of tax-payer money during economic recession.
More tax money given to billionaire private corporations.
Plans to recoup by cutting social programs, education, and jobs in the working class.
Infringing our freedom of speech.

Yep, nothing to protest at all.

tl;dr The four people quoted above know the score. Everyone else, apparently not.

[edit] And Akalabeth. Nice to see people that actually are at least semi-familiar with the situation are appearing in the topic now.

I haven't really been following the olympics, but if these concerns were clearly voiced and ignored before the committee had decided upon Vancouver to host the games, I'd prolly be pissed.

Are they hoping it'll bring in more money than it cost? Seems like they're banking heavily on people becoming enchanted with Canada and expecting a tourism boom.

 

[Agayek]

Well what do you mean by 'better spent'. Of course things like health care and whatnot are important, but would you like it if the government didn't fund any activities at all? Only heath care, firearms, and other important things, no fast food, no sports, that would suck.

1) Fast food receives exactly $0 in federal funding (if not, Canada is fucking stupid, and there's no way around that)

2) Sports do not and should not typically receive federal funding.

The government should, and usually does, only be spending money on the military, police force/justice system, and social welfare programs (ie, welfare/unemployment, healthcare, etc).

 

[Zykon TheLich]

As a few people have said, it's probably about how much it's going to cost the country and the impact it might have on local facilities or housing.

Having lived in London until recently I keep up on developments there, and there has been a lot of anger in the areas that are being bulldozed to make way for olympic developments as well as stupid decisions about where the funds are going, temporary buildings instead of stuff that could stay and benefit local communities etc. There are a few areas that I used to frequent that have been bulldozed for the Olympics.
The general feeling on the ground is that it's all going to be another government "White Elephant" like the millenium dome. Costs a lot of taxpayers money and becomes useless after a short period of time. With the economy still arguably in the tank it's another financial burden that a lot of people think we could do without.

That's as far as the UK goes, I imagine it's something similar in Canada.

 

[Mrsoupcup]

All right. In my country, Canada the winter olympics is being celebrated. I had a friend that actually had the torch go right by him and he considered this an incredible experience.

'Once in a life time.' In his words.

Days and weeks later, the opening ceremony draws near, then I hear of Anti - Olympic Protestors rioting...

First of all, I don't actually give two craps about the olympics. Sports are one of the things I'm least interested in and care nothing about - I paid no attention to the ceremonies and I paid even less to the games them selves.

One thing that did interest me about the olympics is the Anti - Olympic protestors. I simply don't understand...Why are people protesting against the olympics? Animals are suffering, people are dying, so why is it people waste their time protesting against a few jocks playing a few games?

Wait Protest it? But the olympics is an extremely important event! think about it, most of the world stops fighting to have a friendly competition. (Thats why people get so mad when somebody cheats, it disturbs the temporary peace)

 

[Dogstile]

All right. In my country, Canada the winter olympics is being celebrated. I had a friend that actually had the torch go right by him and he considered this an incredible experience.

'Once in a life time.' In his words.

Days and weeks later, the opening ceremony draws near, then I hear of Anti - Olympic Protestors rioting...

First of all, I don't actually give two craps about the olympics. Sports are one of the things I'm least interested in and care nothing about - I paid no attention to the ceremonies and I paid even less to the games them selves.

One thing that did interest me about the olympics is the Anti - Olympic protestors. I simply don't understand...Why are people protesting against the olympics? Animals are suffering, people are dying, so why is it people waste their time protesting against a few jocks playing a few games?

These people are commonly known as, Funsuckers like a real life troll. They grief humanity and take away fun.

These people just know how much taxpayer money goes into the Olympics and think it could be better spent anywhere else. Seriously, 2 weeks. Big deal.

Well what do you mean by 'better spent'. Of course things like health care and whatnot are important, but would you like it if the government didn't fund any activities at all? Only heath care, firearms, and other important things, no fast food, no sports, that would suck.

I mean more long term things and for the money to be more spread out seeing as it centralised to one place, which I think sucks. Aside from that, seeing as it can cause city's to get into some pretty heavy debts.

 

[Plurralbles]

... Protesting against one thing nations are able to do toegether without shooting a bullet?

Fck those people.

 

[Xpwn3ntial]

I shall share with you some of the wisdom i have gained over the years of my life here.

People are batshit crazy.

Quoted for truth.

 

[De Ronneman]

I shall share with you some of the wisdom i have gained over the years of my life here.

People are batshit crazy.

Hear Hear!

And again: Hear Hear!

Why people nag at the Olympics? People nag at politics, games, religions, countries, neighbours, TV channels, moviemakers, singers, complete bands, guitarplayers, keyboard players, *insert your own instrument here because I have a life*players, people with big cars, people with small cars, people with cars period, people with bikes, people with fancypants lowrider bikes, people with bigger PENS, people with bigger DESKS, people who own an I-phone, people who own a BlackBerry, people who own a PS3(generally by peopel who own a Wii or an X360), people who own an X360(generally by peopel who own a Wii or a PS3), people who own a Wii(generally by peopel who own a PS3 or an X360), go on, go on...

People seem to just like nagging...

 

[enzilewulf]

People hate what they fear or are not good at...>sports. case and point.

 

[enzilewulf]

... Protesting against one thing nations are able to do toegether without shooting a bullet?

Fck those people.

This man speaks the truth. Thats how we won the cold war.

 

[Deleted]

Did you not read the rest of the thread? This isn't just a small amount of money, this is billions.

I mean more long term things and for the money to be more spread out seeing as it centralised to one place, which I think sucks. Aside from that, seeing as it can cause city's to get into some pretty heavy debts.

1) Fast food receives exactly $0 in federal funding (if not, Canada is fucking stupid, and there's no way around that)

2) Sports do not and should not typically receive federal funding.

The government should, and usually does, only be spending money on the military, police force/justice system, and social welfare programs (ie, welfare/unemployment, healthcare, etc).

I'm sorry guys, I don't know how government taxes work in America/Canada. I missed the point and thought that they believed the Olympics don't deserve to get funding when America is capable of funding everything and isn't "playing favourites".

 

[SpaceCop]

People hate what they fear or are not good at...>sports. case and point.

Seriously? I'm sorry to grab that quote in particular, but is this really what people think out there?

The olympics are being picketed by fat kids and the badly coordinated?

The protest has nothing to do with the economic strain put on the middle and lower classes, who are paying for this international dick-waving contest without seeing the benefits?

Nothing to do with the skyrocketing cost of living in a province where minimum wage hasn't gone up in a decade? While post-secondary education costs have doubled in the same length of time? During a worldwide economic slump? After it took Montreal 30 years to pay off their own olympics?

Nothing to do with the homeless being swept under the rug, the attempts to collar free speech, or the glut of stupefying nationalism? The lost funding for public health, social programs and arts councils? The public commemoration of aboriginal peoples who are roundly ignored by the government at every single other opportunity?

The protesters are just a bunch of malcontents who suck at bobsledding? Really? Thank god. I was worried for a second there. Go Canada.

 

[SturmDolch]

DO YOU ALL REALLY THINK THEY'RE PROTESTING BECAUSE OF TAX MONEY!?

Sorry, needed to grab your attention, since you're ALL WRONG. HERE is the real reason [http://www.no2010.com/]. "Stolen native land". You've got to be kidding me.

Here [http://www.no2010.com/node/18] is a list of why they are protesting. Public debt falls on number 8. The number one reason? Colonialism and "fascism". Look, these are the same stupid people that are pissed off because they flunked out of college. They realized they aren't going to make an impact in the world and are going to be stuck working in restaurants all their lives. So they take out their rage by taking up inane causes. Usually, these causes are about "Oh, that guy makes money! FUCK THAT GUY!" This is also why they only listen to bands no one gives two shits about and buy clothes from a guy that weaves it out of his beard hairs. They're just losers that want to be noticed.

This pisses me off so much. The Olympics is one of the times where the world can just come together and play sports without shooting each other in the head. Nations at war don't bring guns to the Olympics, they compete peacefully. So when these rotten little social outcasts attack the Olympics with violence, it gets to me.

Native land. This goes back two hundred years ago. Give it a break. Integrate already. My parents immigrated to Canada, I was born here, I'm damn well integrated. Times change. I don't get pissed off at the French because Napoleon invaded Switzerland in the 1800s. The First Nation performance at the opening was beautiful. Why can't you lay aside your bitter egotistical century old feud and instead celebrate together?

I love the winter Olympics. It's part of both of my cultures heritage. So I say fuck you to all the protestors, and grow up.

 

[SpaceCop]

This pisses me off so much. The Olympics is one of the times where the world can just come together and play sports without shooting each other in the head. Nations at war don't bring guns to the Olympics, they compete peacefully. So when these rotten little social outcasts attack the Olympics with violence, it gets to me.

Native land. This goes back two hundred years ago. Give it a break. Integrate already.

As opposed to the international sporting events where rampant head-shooting occurs, absolutely..

I doubt the atrocities committed against the First Nations can just be dismissed out of hand. Things like the residential school system--that aimed at wiping out culture, language and traditions, and was only abolished a generation ago--have done untold cultural damage that has never been properly addressed. Which is a serious dick move from a country that portrays itself as a politically correct cultural mosaic of understanding and acceptance..

Anyway, beardy leftisms aside, I would agree that the stolen native land issue is an inexpedient banner for such a swath of anti-olympians to rally behind. Protest and dissent, especially on the west coast, always seem to devolve into a vaguely socialist, vaguely environmental politically-charged mess, regardless of the actual events at hand.

But that doesn't change the fact that there are a lot of serious issues with the way the games have entrenched themselves in the province, a bevy of economic problems that will endure long after the games are done, and a lot of people who are frustrated with them for very valid reasons that go beyond Canada's past.

The spirit and idea of the games are fine, to be sure. Hell, anything that can be defended as "better than a war!" is alright by me. Enjoy them while they last; I really mean that. Watch 'em, cheer for 'em, let your hearts brim with national pride, all that good stuff.

But don't expect those of us that'll be paying for it for the next three decades to not be a little put out by the flood of bullshit that's happening because of the festivities.

 

[oppp7]

I could understand protesting China's human rights records, but what has Canada ever done? Been too cold? IT'S THE WINTER OLYMPICS WHY ARE YOU PROTESTING THAT IT'S COLD?!