Every other post you are including the imperative to go read the whole thing. chill.

I see Going and Reading the whole thing an option rather than an imperative. That said I hates me some white text on textured dark color background. Ugh!

Good- I have not understood the mealy-mouthed anti-boycott (spectator-wise) ramblings. Lets be clear: while there are absolutely brave and committed pro-gay groups in Russia, this does represent the popular will at the moment. As such, it is important that Russia and the Russian people not be rewarded with hard earned foreign money.

Personally, I like this idea better....

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/opinio…

Probably too late to move the event. What if every medal ceremony were a rainbow-themed version of this iconic moment in 1968?
http://i.infoplease.com/images/blackpowe…

@5: Didn't see yours before I posted, Catalina. But, yeah, like it says in your link.

As someone who works with/for an Olympic sport (summer) I know that the Games can't be moved at this date. That being said there are some great ideas out there and I hope people will act on many of them. My personal favorite is the call for NBC to send Rachel Maddow to report from Russia during the Games. Please read the following link and consider signing the petition:
http://thinkprogress.org/sports/2013/08/…

@1 and @3

I have mumbled a lot considering this Go Read The Whole Thing stuff. I don't understand where it comes from. I think it's, cause Savage does the same thing, a way to maintain authority. Like 3 says, it could be an option, even though it's an imperative sentence. So yeah, that's the best I've come up with. They lack a type of confidence in themselves and what they believe in and need to enforce that Go Read The Whole Thing bullyspeak.

I also like the "I am Spartacus" moment suggested by the NYT opinion piece (@5), and while initially I shared Takei's fear for the athletes, I now think they each should make their own decision on whether to attend, and how expressive they make their orientations known - same with the attendees. Yes, there might be some martyrs, but... justice has a price.

As a follow up, I also like the idea of sending the athletes only with no attendees - let them compete to empty stadiums, with only media there to broadcast, to maximize the economic impact.

@9 A way to maintain authority? LOL. It's just the default text they paste in when they post a link. There has to be some text for the anchor and posting the raw URL is an eyesore. Other less imperative examples include "Continue reading" or "What do you think?".

I think unless you're the kind of person who already has tickets to the J. Cole concert because the "Buy Tickets!" command couldn't be disobeyed, you're going to be okay.

@10 I don't fear for the athletes in olympic village. It isn't like Russia is going to arrest a swimmer for wearing rainbow speedos (although doing so at the winter games might raise some eyebrows).

However, travel before and after the games and the many spectators who are traveling to Russia to view the games may run into trouble in other places in Russia.

@11, the stadiums would not be empty. Putin would fill the seats from the jails if necessary.

@5, I like this idea best. Get everyone to do it, gay, straight, and in-between. And dammit, make 'em do it: any athlete who doesn't want to take part stays home. Provoke a confrontation if you have to; violence makes them look bad. Maybe pull our team out after the opening ceremony, if it's bad enough. The worse it is, the better it is -- the equivalent of the dogs and firehoses of Birmingham is the biggest mover of public opinion you can hope for. You won't change things in Russia, but you will further marginalize the anti-gay mafia in the West

@12 You're right.
I post so many things, and this was one of the stupidest, and you chose to rebuttal. I hope we can continue the dialogue on other comments I make that often get ignored. Thanks for your interest in my philosophy.

I signed the petition, but i agree it's too late to move the Games. Ms. Vel-DuRay's option is great, and will probably happen among the athletes or spectators or both.

It will be interesting to see how Russia avoids provoking a multitude of international incidents.

You know guys...Seattleblues warned us. This is ALL directly caused by marriage equality. It's the beginning of the apocalypse. Make a note of it.

How about keeping it in Russia, but asking Pussy Riot to perform at the opening ceremonies.

Or else First Strike. Definitely First Strike.

I wish I could be in New York and picket NBC HQ during the games.

That protest idea sounds dangerous to me. I can see the police standing by while gangs of homophobic thugs beat the shit out of any athlete or spectator with a rainbow flag, all the while being egged on by a frothing at the mouth Orthodox priest. The populace, particularly the Russian Orthodox, appear to be a couple of steps ahead of the government in engaging in homophobic violence, not that Putin and his pals are squeamish in that regard.

Every American going to Russia could wear a Rainbow/Pride Disney Mickey pin.

http://tinyurl.com/mhnk7fw

@20 Effective protest is inherently dangerous and requires possible sacrifice.

That why why easy gestures like boycotting vodka is nonsense and will do nothing precisely because it requires no sacrifice or risk what so ever and will have no meaningful economic impact and outside the in-group nobody will even know about it.

There is no time to move the Olympics. And to effectively boycott the Olympics at this point would also require a great deal of top-down political agreement. It's just not going to happen.

On the other hand, coordinating distribution of rainbow hankies at the Olympics etc would be logistically simple and get world wide attention.

@20, and the world will see it.

Even the right-wingers in the US will be on our side then. They won't have any other choice. Russia cannot afford to look like that on global TV when they are so desperate for foreign investment and markets. They talk tough but they cannot afford to be isolated from the world. Their economy would collapse (again).

I lurv me some George Takei, but I have to disagree with him here. It's a lovely idea, but no way is the IOC going to move the Olympics. A very public, very gay showing at the Olympics is probably a better response.

Just cancel the fucking Games. Would we allow the Games to proceed in the apartheid era of South Africa and say "let the athletes protest" while black fans were abused? And is it ethical for the athletes to compete when the stadiums might be stacked for propaganda purposes (with the resultant 'controversial' medal ceremonies edited in the propaganda zones)?

The IOC needs to grow some fucking balls and realize that their dream of the Games bringing international harmony means that they sometimes use their middle finger at human rights abusers. The black power salute worked in Mexico in 1968 because Mexico didn't care. Gay rights presentations at the Olympics will be censored. It is almost a certainty (as is the abuse of spectators). So there is no point for the athletes to make a token expression. They all need to pull out to force the IOC's hand. Let the IOC reschedule next year in a less fucked up place.

I'm not sure if there are more parallels w/ 1936 or 1980 going on here. regardless, we don't need to play. If we do play, we need to ensure that all protest actions have the full weight of the US behind them, and abuse of our citizens isn't tolerated.

This all as a lot of bluster around some bogus laws that were really intended to be used by Putin to extort & eliminate enemies. He could really care less about gay olympians, but if he makes it out to be a social menace, it makes it easier for him to railroad opponents with accusations as evidence. Think "Red Scare" in the US during the 30's & 50's, HUAC, McCarthy and the like. These laws are just another arrow in the quiver of dirty tricks Putin is using to maintain power. They have to keep up the noise that these are serious laws in order for them to be useful when they charge people under them.

There is nothing to be gained by arresting a French speed skater for manslutting around the Athlete's Village, but plenty to be gained by accusing the mayor of Sochi of doing the same.

Look. The Soviet Union had megatons of nuclear doom pointed at them and they didn't just roll over and become democratic capitalists over night. It took five decades for them to change. And only because they HAD TO. And that was all IN SPITE of pressure from the west.

And that pressure included a stupid and pointless 1980 olympic boycott (and the 1984 boycott of the US games in retaliation). Neither did a fucking thing. We've tried boycotting the Olympics.

We're not going to change Russian domestic policy by pulling out of the Olympics. The point is to demonstrate our principles with a meaningful gesture to influence our own policies. Not Russia's. Boycotting the olympics - or vodka - won't do that. Short of boycotting oil and natural gas imports non-russians won't accomplish a thing to influence Russian policy with boycotts.

And this has nothing to do with the IOC. You have athletes - including gay athletes - who have prepared for the Olympics their entire lives and this is their one shot. It's not your choice.

Let the athletes decide what they want to do.

To me, boycotting the olympics in Russia is the passive aggressive move. I understand the motive and people's intentions are clear and pure on this one.

But how is this being out and proud?

Would we prefer an alternate history in which we boycotted the 1936 Olympics, without Jesse Owens rubbing his gold medals in the Nazis' face?

On the other hand, he couldn't be closeted, as many, prolly most of the Olympic gay athletes are.

So maybe we're better off being safe, and staying home.

@18- Members of Pussy Riot are still in jail.

First Strike? The Worcester, MA based hardcore band?

@29:

"Would we prefer an alternate history in which we boycotted the 1936 Olympics, without Jesse Owens rubbing his gold medals in the Nazis' face?"

And what exactly did that do to change human rights in Nazi Germany? So please, tell me how logical it is for the athletes to protest while taking part in the Games. Does it allow us to feel smug in less repressive countries while not doing anything whatsoever to change the host country's policies? Is that the point? Fuck that. Cancelling the Olympics will have a thousand times more impact than an athlete shaking his fist which is then censored on Russian TV or used to further smear gay rights advocates in Russia.

@31, Russians have the internet too. Seeing their goons cracking heads as the opening ceremony devolves into a riot would be seen everywhere in Russia even if it was censored from their TV, and more importantly everywhere else in the world. Maybe you're too young to remember Bull Connor.

@32: What is your point. There are many videos of their goons cracking the heads of protestors. And it never changes things.

"Seeing their goons cracking heads as the opening ceremony devolves into a riot would be seen everywhere in Russia even if it was censored from their TV, and more importantly everywhere else in the world.

And yet again, I have to ask why you think it is more important that the rest of the world sees Russian oppression than the Russians themselves? Enough with these 'smug' victories. The US had a political system in the 50s and 60s where the conscience of common citizens could enact political change in response to government oppression. Russia does not. Bull Connor would never be held to account in modern Russia.

If anybody thinks the US not going to the Olympics in 1936 would have altered Nazism or changed the course of history one bit is too delusional for serious consideration. It's a stupid argument that relies on emotional sci-fi time-machine Godwin tail chasing over history or logic.

Get this through your head - you have no power to "cancel" the Olympics. And the IOC, that sustains itself from the Olympics, is never going to cancel the Olympics for you. Here and now is where you live. With other people most of which disagree with you. Not in magic unicorn candy island or in some mythical alternative 1936 where you get what you want by wishing hard.

It's not going to happen and all you achieve by stomping your feet and petulantly demanding something you have no power or allies to achieve is getting sore feet. But if you get off on sore feet, go right ahead and stomp.

@34: I'm the only one talking about cancelling them in this thread, but as I pointed out before, you are an asshole of such a level that I don't want you to ever talk to me. Fuck off and die. But don't post to me you piece of shit.

Wait? Was that because you were in the thread about Obama making a statement about the Zimmerman verdict and you just had to scream about how evil and terrible Obama was? What the hell is wrong with you?

You went into a thread about a black man talking about his experiences being a black man (and about a another black child who was murdered by a white man) and the first thing YOU think to post is scream-screed saying that Obama, a black man, should fuck off.

And then another lengthy scream screed derail about Obama's foreign policy - which had nothing to do with Trayvon Martin or race. And when people foolishly engaged in your derail and listed Obamas many legislative accomplishments - some many of us have worked hard for thirty years to achieve - you dismissed those as "propaganda."

So I called you on your bullshit.

You don't want to get lumped together with the racist trolls? Then stop using their tactics and acting like a racist troll.

You want people to talk to you like an adult then act like an adult. Adults don't get to complain about the tone of conversations when they start in a conversation hurling insults. And especially when you dismiss everybody who disagrees with with your rank insults.

Please. I beg you to ignore me. To never reply to me. However I will still take on your bullshit when I see it. You don't want that? Then stop being an posting bullshit and be the grown-up you think you deserve to be.

@36: You didn't call me on shit. You slandered me. This is your MO. So stop fucking replying to my posts. Choke on a walnut and die or something. I insulted your Dear Leader (who, btw, I caucused for, I gave campaign contributions, and I voted for twice) when he started turning into a tyrant. And like any zealot, the first thing you could think of was to go nuclear with the hyperbole by calling me a racist. This was beyond the line of any insult I have ever taken here at Slog. So yes, I don't want you to talk to me. You aren't worthy of my spit.

Slander? You had better look that word up.

Here is slander: Clearly you're a little insane.

But. At least be insane for the right reasons. The energy you're wasting with this hysterical hatred of me, while almost flattering, is totally misspent.

Again. Be slightly self aware, here.

You waltzed into a thread about RACE. And you're first comment was that Obama should fuck off. Nothing about race. Or what Obama said about race.

Now. Hmmmmm? Where have we seen those tactics of overt hate and topic changing before?

Then you went about a series of completely irrational attacks on anybody that disagreed with you and attempted to, no matter how gently, nudge back on the subject at hand - race. You derailed a thread about race to being about your hatred for Obama.

You had the temerity to to then complain noone would engage you on the topic you wanted to talk about.

You don't get to do what ever you want just because you feel so, so, hard about it.

BTW. I'm replying to you again! DUN DUN DUUUUUN!

The IOC already snorted all of the coke and fucked all of the hookers Russia gave them. They can't back out now.

@37, 38. Not slander. Probably not libel either, but definitely not slander.

@38: No, I pointed out that your Dear Leader was a hypocrite who likes hearing himself speak but won't do shit about it, just like with Newton. And when people countered with all the good works he has done, I pointed out how they were full of shit, like you. Then you jumped in and said the President was the best President that this country ever had. I said that was bullshit and that he was a war criminal. I compared Clinton's achievements favorably with his, which I was wrong on (since Clinton is a bastard and a criminal too, as was pointed out by less zealotry commenters, which I agree with), and then you called me a racist. Then I blacklisted you for taking the hyperbole nuclear and pulling the race card without justification.

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…

So fuck off. If you apologize I won't flame you, but I never want to talk to you again.

@41 Ooooooooohh, a flaming? You scary, scary man.

*sigh* I wish the Olympics would be moved, or that a boycott would do anything, but I've got to go with "symbolic gesture of solidarity" because anyone familiar with the IOC knows that they won't move it and that they don't have a single fuck to give about your stinking boycott. We tried the whole boycotting thing before. Maybe if the US and EVERY western European country threatened to boycott and hold a rival Olympics elsewhere, that might make a difference. But even if that idea was politically possible (which let's face it, it's so insanely difficult as to be nigh impossible), it's certainly not something that could be organized in 6 months.

If we're going to do anything, it's going to have to be the symbolic gesture, because functionally, there are no other options.

This thread turned into one of those old time Westerns where the patrons play cards at a round table and discuss something while two drunks fight in the background on a completely different issue, bustin' up tables and chairs and hitting each other over the head with whiskey bottles... wow.

@6 Yes. Kareem Abdul Jabbar boycotted the 1968 games, but what people remember is the image of Tommie Smith and John Carlos with their raised fists. I love the rainbow flag idea.

The IOC doesn't care about anything except the money, they're not going to do a thing. This one's up to someone elses - athletes, journalists, Russian allies, spectators.

As said before, it's too late to move the Olympics. The IOC is not going to cancel the Games; there's too much money involved. Boycotting is a terrible idea for lots of reasons.

I like the hanky idea. Athletes and fans don't have to wear them in the streets, but wearing or waving them in the arenas would be powerful. And they're unlikely to get beat up or arrested there--especially if everyone's waving them.

When is this blacklist going to actually take effect? Is it one of those slow burn type fuses?