First, on your point about "private organizations", those "private" organizations represent an entire nation, so it's a bit different than having a church use arbitrary standards on who can worship in what is purely a private function.
Second, while I'm sure that some of the people opposed to immigration may be racists (including Voula Papachristou), the notion that nations are ethnic homelands (aside from the US, which pretty much wiped out its native inhabitants, Canada, which came close to doing the same thing, Australia, which came close to doing the same thing, etc.) is not necessarily a racist one. The reason the UN endorsed the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine after World War II was in part because it was felt that if the Jews had a nation that was "theirs", it would be harder to repeat the Holocaust. I could rephrase that notion the way my father-in-law puts it: "I might move to Israel. Everywhere else there will be people who say I'm just another dirty Jew."
As a result, an influx of immigrants with different traditions and ways of living can be seen as a threat to this cultural link, particularly for smaller ethnic groups. I don't think that everyone who is anti-immigrant is by definition racist. Conservative, perhaps reactionary by definition, but not ipso facto racist. I'm not going to presume to know what is in the hearts of every person who wants to limit immigration in European countries.
Second, while I'm sure that some of the people opposed to immigration may be racists (including Voula Papachristou), the notion that nations are ethnic homelands (aside from the US, which pretty much wiped out its native inhabitants, Canada, which came close to doing the same thing, Australia, which came close to doing the same thing, etc.) is not necessarily a racist one. The reason the UN endorsed the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine after World War II was in part because it was felt that if the Jews had a nation that was "theirs", it would be harder to repeat the Holocaust. I could rephrase that notion the way my father-in-law puts it: "I might move to Israel. Everywhere else there will be people who say I'm just another dirty Jew."
As a result, an influx of immigrants with different traditions and ways of living can be seen as a threat to this cultural link, particularly for smaller ethnic groups. I don't think that everyone who is anti-immigrant is by definition racist. Conservative, perhaps reactionary by definition, but not ipso facto racist. I'm not going to presume to know what is in the hearts of every person who wants to limit immigration in European countries.
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
Am I the only one who thinks Voula Papachristou should not have been kicked out of the Olympics?
25/07/2012 10:55:19 PM
- 1206 Views
Being on a country's Olympic team is a privilege, not a right
25/07/2012 11:00:24 PM
- 710 Views
So banning blacks would be cool if it was legal in that country?
25/07/2012 11:08:52 PM
- 865 Views
The IOC can ban nations from participating for that sort of stunt.
25/07/2012 11:33:23 PM
- 894 Views
If Hitler could let Jesse Owens run...
25/07/2012 11:07:19 PM
- 930 Views
Yes. Political power should not be used to enforce morals.
25/07/2012 11:53:19 PM
- 671 Views
The national Olympic Committees aren't the government.
26/07/2012 12:02:43 AM
- 654 Views
Even worse.
26/07/2012 12:08:05 AM
- 700 Views
Erm
26/07/2012 12:29:32 AM
- 730 Views
I fail to see how the whole team would be thrown out.
26/07/2012 12:41:16 AM
- 729 Views
Because the IOC throws them out if the national government interferes in the national committe. *NM*
26/07/2012 12:43:39 AM
- 402 Views
Africans != illegals
25/07/2012 11:19:32 PM
- 802 Views
Specious reasoning.
26/07/2012 12:07:08 AM
- 637 Views
Who are you to decide that?
26/07/2012 12:16:45 AM
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I'm not the one deciding.
26/07/2012 12:36:17 AM
- 639 Views
Essentially you're saying "there are lots of racists in Europe".
26/07/2012 08:28:26 AM
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That's an oversimplification.
29/07/2012 03:13:14 AM
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You stated it as a fact.
26/07/2012 07:49:58 PM
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Well, it is a fact that a north African could never become ethnically Greek.
29/07/2012 03:27:50 AM
- 779 Views
I think any organisation should have the right to choose who represents them
25/07/2012 11:20:36 PM
- 711 Views
Well, but that's not the end of it.
26/07/2012 12:12:09 AM
- 780 Views
It is for me
26/07/2012 12:26:25 AM
- 689 Views
So...conformity ahead? *NM*
26/07/2012 12:40:03 AM
- 345 Views
Athletes taking responsibility for their own actions, if that is what you mean.
26/07/2012 12:44:56 AM
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Is that all that happened?
25/07/2012 11:28:17 PM
- 648 Views
For me it is more than enough
26/07/2012 12:32:35 AM
- 627 Views
I thought the original ideals of the Olympics were to honor Zeus. *NM*
26/07/2012 12:38:32 AM
- 462 Views
I view the long dead Greek Olympics as seperate, despite the shared name, from the modern Olympics *NM*
26/07/2012 12:42:18 AM
- 360 Views
Difficult question - if you ask me, the key point is a question of authority.
25/07/2012 11:40:39 PM
- 740 Views
Well it seems a bit of an over-reaction, and I doubt the purity of motives of those doing it, but...
26/07/2012 01:49:35 AM
- 636 Views
Re: Am I the only one who thinks Voula Papachristou should not have been kicked out of the Olympics?
26/07/2012 11:14:39 AM
- 1040 Views
I'm going to boycott by turning off the Olympics and watching Michelle Jenneke nonstop instead. *NM*
26/07/2012 09:02:59 PM
- 398 Views
I oppose censorship even if it is not comng from the government
26/07/2012 10:16:30 PM
- 683 Views
How is it censorship?
27/07/2012 02:33:30 AM
- 788 Views
try looking up the word censorship and ask yourself would their actions supress speech
27/07/2012 02:59:11 AM
- 909 Views
I know the definition thank you. How exactly was her communication suppressed?
27/07/2012 05:54:39 PM
- 805 Views
you are right public punishment of political expression could never been seen as suppression
27/07/2012 06:20:15 PM
- 923 Views
Well
27/07/2012 07:20:27 PM
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Where did she ever imply she wanted them to be bitten? *NM*
27/07/2012 08:03:05 PM
- 425 Views
Hello earth.... "food from home".
27/07/2012 08:26:15 PM
- 662 Views
OK I repeat my question: Where did she she WANTED them to be bit?
30/07/2012 09:07:01 PM
- 953 Views
Um, she referred to them as food?
27/07/2012 08:38:22 PM
- 707 Views
No what is silly is inferring that she hoped they would be bitten *NM*
30/07/2012 09:09:18 PM
- 462 Views
No what is silly is inferring that she hoped they would be bitten *NM*
30/07/2012 09:09:27 PM
- 380 Views
I'm with you on this - I don't think she wanted them to be bitten.
27/07/2012 09:02:05 PM
- 767 Views
Re: I'm with you on this - I don't think she wanted them to be bitten.
27/07/2012 09:32:56 PM
- 794 Views
Do you have to go to special schools to learn how to read that much into dumb jokes?
30/07/2012 09:57:21 PM
- 819 Views
Re: you are right public punishment of political expression could never been seen as suppression
27/07/2012 08:30:26 PM
- 662 Views
One problem.
27/07/2012 04:54:52 AM
- 684 Views
Exactly
27/07/2012 12:05:14 PM
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where do you people get these backasswards idea of what censorship is? PCmart?
27/07/2012 02:01:29 PM
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We can have this conversation w/o you being mean.
27/07/2012 02:57:02 PM
- 690 Views
I never claimed I was against repercussions and people here are denying it is censorship
27/07/2012 04:18:54 PM
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Re: I never claimed I was against repercussions and people here are denying it is censorship
27/07/2012 05:01:37 PM
- 698 Views
Re: I never claimed I was against repercussions and people here are denying it is censorship
27/07/2012 06:23:17 PM
- 635 Views
sorry I forgot the Olympic spirit was about banning athletes for dumb jokes they apologized for
27/07/2012 08:30:08 PM
- 617 Views
You're really not going to make sense of this if you keep mashing everything together.
27/07/2012 08:59:35 PM
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Re: You're really not going to make sense of this if you keep mashing everything together.
27/07/2012 09:18:08 PM
- 721 Views
I know who did the banning but the whole organization seems to infested with a certain flavor of PC
30/07/2012 10:11:26 PM
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Re: sorry I forgot the Olympic spirit was about banning athletes for dumb jokes they apologized for
27/07/2012 09:01:07 PM
- 632 Views
I know you said it but do you actually believe it?
27/07/2012 01:56:35 PM
- 668 Views
It's a good question, but yes, I do.
27/07/2012 02:42:28 PM
- 721 Views
Are going to ban everyone and everyone country who says something about anyone else?
27/07/2012 04:47:51 PM
- 624 Views
i have a feeling you are being influenced by that pic they run with all the articles about her?
27/07/2012 02:14:13 PM
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Surely you don't think...
27/07/2012 02:57:47 PM
- 599 Views
I can honestly say I would not care as much if she were a man and/or ugly
29/07/2012 03:29:47 AM
- 777 Views
And now the next incident... this time about an athlete's partner, not the athlete herself.
03/08/2012 09:47:27 PM
- 775 Views