Olympic Stupidity

The olympics are a time where all the countries of the world get together and compete in sport. Well, almost all countries. In 1984, Russia refused to compete in the LA summer olympics because it was on U.S. soil. In 1980, the U.S. refused to compete in the Moscow summer olympics because it was on Soviet soil. Of course, the U.S. could take the high ground because they had just upset the U.S.S.R. in hockey a few months earlier. And who can forget when the U.S.S.R. beat the U.S. in the 1972 Munich games in a very controversial basketball final. 1972 was also a very sad Olympics as 11 Israeli Athletes were murdered by PLO terrorists.

Have we come full circle? Apparently there is an Iranian judo champion that was favored to win the gold medal this year who pulled out of the competition because his first opponent was an Israeli. Who exactly does he think he's hurting? It's bad enough that all those previous olympics were marred because whole countries refused to compete, but now the precedent is set for political pish-posh to interfere with individual competitions.

I saw a commerical for an HBO special the other night that piqued my interest. I set my new Tivo-like invention to record it and watched it yesterday. It was called "Death In Gaza". It was billed as this expose into the lives of average citizens in Gaza which ended in the death of the cameraman, hence the name of the film. All they did was interview brainwashed children who were taught to hate Israelis as soon as they could talk. It was sad actually. The kids play "Jews and Arabs" the same way that we used to play "Cops and Robbers" and "Cowboys and "Indians", except they make explosives and blow up mock Israeli tanks. My roommate noted that while the scenes of street life were less than optimal, the Palestinians in Gaza still had it better than poor people in many other countries. All the kids shown wore new clothes, had new backpacks, etc. I was even wondering if some of the documentary was staged. The sixteen year old girl they interviewed first said that eight family members were killed by Israelis, then she said six a few minutes later, and when doing a memorial with another family member, only mentioned four. She was actually smiling as she was recounting when two of them were killed. Now granted, that could be because the Palestinians actually martyr anyone that dies in any way that could be misconstrued as cooperation in their jihad. Like the cameraman.

It was getting towards the end of the movie when three or four journalists put their cameras down and started walking towards a tank in pitch black cover of night with a white flag and a small pen flashlight to illuminate it dressed in body armor. Neither myself nor my roommate could believe how monumentally stupid they were for doing that. As if terrorists would not stoop to such levels? They've already proven their heartlessness by suicide bombing civilian targets. While it's unfortunate that an innocent person died, I can't say I feel too much pity for him. And to round it all off, against the wishes of the crew, the cameraman was "martyred" by the Palestinians. The only voice of reason in the entire film was the mother of one of the twelve year old boys that was pleading with her son to not get involved with the militants and hoped for a peaceful settlement of the standoff.