Unlikely agreement

I was just checking out the inwards links to Kiwiblog (I think all users can see these if they go to the dashboard on their user profile) and one was from Trevor Loudon on New Zeal quoting from the SST article on the gag on athletes to the Olympic Games.

What amused me was the comment on the post:

Apart from the apparent misuse of the word “satraps”, I couldn’t agree more.

Cheers
Sam Buchanan

I’m not sure I would ever see a day where Sam Buchanan (well known leftie anarchist) would agree with everything in a post on New Zeal.  This must be proof how wrong the NZOC action is!

The NZOC have a point that the gagging clause is not new, but the reality is the context has changed. I doubt many people felt a need to talk about human rights in Turin, Italy or Athens, Greece let alone Sydney, Australia. What may have once been a standard clause now looks repressive.

Now this is not to say that athletes should be encouraged to turn the Olympics into a political spectacle.   What the NZOC and the Government should do is just treat the athletes as adults.  Explain to them that they are there to compete and that if they do say anything political it may affect not just them but also their team mates, the country and the wider Olympics. But that as mature adults you trust them to do the right thing and act in a considered manner, and if an athlete is asked his or her view on Tibet, they should be able to give an answer.

There is a sensible middle line between turning the Olympics into the Oscars, and banning athletes from being able to express any views at all.