Anti - Olympic Protestors.

[BlindMessiah94]

I live in Vancouver.

I will start out by saying I think all athletes deserve an opportunity to fulfill their dream after years of sacrifice and work. In fact, anyone who chases after their passions deserves this opportunity. I think the olympics should be held to give the ATHLETES a chance.

But I completely agree with olympic protesters. The olympics are a gigantic waste of taxpayer money and a huge charade. I don't understand the people that get inspired by the torch relays, etc.

In BC, my taxpayer dollars are going toward a ton of crap for the olympics that I will NEVER reap the benefits of. A great example is that MLA's from across this great nation are being flown down to BC first class and put at 5 star hotels for 2 weeks and given ticket to watch the Olympics.

MY TAX DOLLARS.
I don't even have a ticket to a single event because I can't afford it.
How is that fair?

Sponsors and fundraisers and tax dollars - all held in order to raise money to host a 2 week party in our city. Meanwhile less than 10% of that money goes towards the athletes, most of whom have to pay their own way. Complete and utter shenanigans I call.

I believe.
That is the motto for the 2010 Olympic games in Vancouver.
Well I believe that the olympics should not change cities every year, that they should stay stationary so that all this money isn't wasted. As the OP said, there are much better issues to focus on out there - hunger, poverty etc. Do you really think that we should be spending BILLIONS of dollars on this 2 week party when the unemployment rate is the lowest ever, BC has the highest cost of living per capita in the country, and we are in an economic recession?


I say BOO URNS TO THE OLYMPICS.

GO PROTESTERS!

(not that they will ever accomplish anything)

/end rant

 

[Abedeus]

Screw them, our guy got the silver in ski-jumping. They're just jealous.

 

[Daffy F]

Animals are suffering, people are dying, so why is it people waste their time protesting against a few jocks playing a few games?

I think it is because some people are very flawed. They either simply want to mess with the establishment, or more likely, they desperately wish to feel as though they are contributing and making a difference to the world, and are choosing to do this through protest. However, they are also content with their lives. They don't wish to try and protest against something important (Climate change/Deforestation/other important issues) because protest and campaign into these subjects would probably involve a certain degree of personal sacrifice, which might disrupt their contented lifestyle.

 

[mesoforte]

Don't forget that a lot of groups were talking about protesting the Summer Olympics in China last time. :\

Politics is wrapped tightly around the Olympics. Its like attending a UN meeting with some sports happening in the background.

 

[Kaymish]

well the news here said the violent protesters who were setting fire to things and breaking non-flammable things for various reasons

 

[Premonition]

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

People are batshit crazy.

Someone make a holy book about this guy!

 

[The Diabolical Biz]

Probably something to do with fun-hating (or is that fur hating)

 

[thom_cat_]

Maybe it's because the Olympics cost tax money.

Do you know how much revenue the olympics gain? It brings tons of money to a city.

 

[Valksy]

Protesting the cost is something that I do understand. When London was announced as the "winner" of the 2012 games I found myself wondering what the hell we had won other than a bloody enormous bill (which is already something like 4 times the amount predicted in the bid..goodness..was someone just making shit up when they made the budget?).

Sebastian Coe can go fuck himself.

However, once the games are already under way it is too bloody late to protest. The infa-structure is already built, the facilities are already built. Protesting now just seems like douche-baggery.

 

[DayDark]

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.

I've always wondered why the hell the Olympics needs to go around and be set in different countries, it started in Greece, let it freakin stay in Greece, then they wont have to build a stadion for each Olympics either.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

Maybe it's because the Olympics cost tax money.

Do you know how much revenue the olympics gain? It brings tons of money to a city.

No, I don't and I bet neither do a lot of the protesters.

 

[ejb626]

What? the 2008 protests I understand because some beleive China to be a totaltarian country but Canada? This is demoncratic capitalist Canada we're talking about here, so it can't be the country,why are they protesting? I can't think of a single good reason.

EDIT: Oh, I read some of the posts its tax money, yeah I guess I sort of understand that.

 

[fix-the-spade]

so why is it people waste their time protesting against a few jocks playing a few games?

Pretty simple, your country has just spent a large percentage of it's gross national produce on... a few jocks playing some games.

For exmple the bill for the security is landing at around £600million, I have no idea what that is in $CAD besides a lot. Governments spend tens of billions trying to outdo each other for a couple of weeks worth of sports.

Think of all the things that bother you or you think need improving just within Canada's borders and realise why people get upset about such a colossal waste of money.

 

[tetron]

I see a lot of hate for the Olympics and I'd just like to say something. Personally I don't care much for the Olympics and don't even bother to watch the games. But the Olympics is more than just a bunch of jocks coming together to be jocks. The Olympics is a symbol, a time when all the worlds people come together to compete in a time honored tradition. To be honest I feel the day when the Olympics are no more is the day humanity loses all hope for world peace. And some people may say world peace is just a fantasy and can never happen anyways. Well to those people I say you should rethink your view on the world, because statements like that are what keep peace from being a reality.

 

[-Orgasmatron-]

Maybe they got tickets to Beijing but took a wrong turn at Lithuania and ended up in Canada two years late?

This made me laugh pretty hard for some reason.

Everything I'd say on the matter has pretty much been said already.

 

[Mr.Squishy]

I kinda used to not like the olympics, 'cause they hogged all the screen-time ever when they were going, but now that I stopped watching TV (apart from scrubs and simpsons) I find I don't give a shit

 

[Baby Tea]

Maybe it's because the Olympics cost tax money.

Do you know how much revenue the olympics gain? It brings tons of money to a city.

Well that may be, but I can tell you that it doesn't bring hundreds of millions of dollars back to the city.
As other pointed out, Montreal just finished paying of their Olympic debt 2 years ago. That was from the 1976 games. Obviously, the money they got from tourist revenue wasn't as high as you might think it is.
A fortune payed out...a pittance, by comparison, returned.

I agree totally with the protesters.

I say scrap the Olympics completely, or pick two cities (One for winter games, one for summer games) and host them there all the time, and have every participating country help fund the construction of those places. That's it.
Otherwise, save the money and stick with the corporate sponsored 'World Cup' events.

 

[Wicky_42]

I see a lot of hate for the Olympics and I'd just like to say something. Personally I don't care much for the Olympics and don't even bother to watch the games. But the Olympics is more than just a bunch of jocks coming together to be jocks. The Olympics is a symbol, a time when all the worlds people come together to compete in a time honored tradition. To be honest I feel the day when the Olympics are no more is the day humanity loses all hope for world peace. And some people may say world peace is just a fantasy and can never happen anyways. Well to those people I say you should rethink your view on the world, because statements like that are what keep peace from being a reality.

I guess that if that symbol didn't require the big bucks to show off a nation's political penis then people wouldn't mind. There are plenty of symbols that don't require hundreds of millions, even billions of [insert national currency here] to work. There are plenty of old traditions that have lost their meaning in the modern world.

I don't disagree that in some ways the Olympics is about more than sports people doing their thing. Question is can we, in good conscience, spend that much on a sporting event celebrating the peak of human achievements whilst the homeless and the hungry roam the streets outside the Olympic compounds.

I agree totally with the protesters.

I say scrap the Olympics completely, or pick two cities (One for winter games, one for summer games) and host them there all the time, and have every participating country help fund the construction of those places. That's it.
Otherwise, save the money and stick with the corporate sponsored 'World Cup' events.

+1 in support of this motion

 

[mattman106]

Animals are suffering, people are dying, so why is it people waste their time protesting against a few jocks playing a few games?

I think it is because some people are very flawed. They either simply want to mess with the establishment, or more likely, they desperately wish to feel as though they are contributing and making a difference to the world, and are choosing to do this through protest. However, they are also content with their lives. They don't wish to try and protest against something important (Climate change/Deforestation/other important issues) because protest and campaign into these subjects would probably involve a certain degree of personal sacrifice, which might disrupt their contented lifestyle.

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'.

 

[Daffy F]

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?