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
1358 Views
Being on a country's Olympic team is a privilege, not a right
- 25/07/2012 11:00:24 PM
851 Views
So banning blacks would be cool if it was legal in that country?
- 25/07/2012 11:08:52 PM
995 Views
The IOC can ban nations from participating for that sort of stunt.
- 25/07/2012 11:33:23 PM
1016 Views
If Hitler could let Jesse Owens run...
- 25/07/2012 11:07:19 PM
1063 Views
Yes. Political power should not be used to enforce morals.
- 25/07/2012 11:53:19 PM
802 Views
The national Olympic Committees aren't the government.
- 26/07/2012 12:02:43 AM
784 Views
Even worse.
- 26/07/2012 12:08:05 AM
826 Views
Erm
- 26/07/2012 12:29:32 AM
867 Views
I fail to see how the whole team would be thrown out.
- 26/07/2012 12:41:16 AM
862 Views
Because the IOC throws them out if the national government interferes in the national committe. *NM*
- 26/07/2012 12:43:39 AM
460 Views
Africans != illegals
- 25/07/2012 11:19:32 PM
898 Views
Specious reasoning.
- 26/07/2012 12:07:08 AM
763 Views
Who are you to decide that?
- 26/07/2012 12:16:45 AM
929 Views
I'm not the one deciding.
- 26/07/2012 12:36:17 AM
764 Views
Essentially you're saying "there are lots of racists in Europe".
- 26/07/2012 08:28:26 AM
883 Views
That's an oversimplification.
- 29/07/2012 03:13:14 AM
833 Views
You stated it as a fact.
- 26/07/2012 07:49:58 PM
819 Views
Well, it is a fact that a north African could never become ethnically Greek.
- 29/07/2012 03:27:50 AM
913 Views
I think any organisation should have the right to choose who represents them
- 25/07/2012 11:20:36 PM
837 Views
Well, but that's not the end of it.
- 26/07/2012 12:12:09 AM
901 Views
It is for me
- 26/07/2012 12:26:25 AM
815 Views
So...conformity ahead? *NM*
- 26/07/2012 12:40:03 AM
396 Views
Athletes taking responsibility for their own actions, if that is what you mean.
- 26/07/2012 12:44:56 AM
962 Views
Is that all that happened?
- 25/07/2012 11:28:17 PM
783 Views
For me it is more than enough
- 26/07/2012 12:32:35 AM
750 Views
I thought the original ideals of the Olympics were to honor Zeus. *NM*
- 26/07/2012 12:38:32 AM
515 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
414 Views
Difficult question - if you ask me, the key point is a question of authority.
- 25/07/2012 11:40:39 PM
870 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
767 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
1197 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
465 Views
I oppose censorship even if it is not comng from the government
- 26/07/2012 10:16:30 PM
817 Views
How is it censorship?
- 27/07/2012 02:33:30 AM
910 Views
try looking up the word censorship and ask yourself would their actions supress speech
- 27/07/2012 02:59:11 AM
1041 Views
I know the definition thank you. How exactly was her communication suppressed?
- 27/07/2012 05:54:39 PM
936 Views
you are right public punishment of political expression could never been seen as suppression
- 27/07/2012 06:20:15 PM
1057 Views
Well
- 27/07/2012 07:20:27 PM
813 Views
Where did she ever imply she wanted them to be bitten? *NM*
- 27/07/2012 08:03:05 PM
475 Views
Hello earth.... "food from home".
- 27/07/2012 08:26:15 PM
789 Views
OK I repeat my question: Where did she she WANTED them to be bit?
- 30/07/2012 09:07:01 PM
1106 Views
Um, she referred to them as food?
- 27/07/2012 08:38:22 PM
846 Views
No what is silly is inferring that she hoped they would be bitten *NM*
- 30/07/2012 09:09:18 PM
530 Views
No what is silly is inferring that she hoped they would be bitten *NM*
- 30/07/2012 09:09:27 PM
439 Views
I'm with you on this - I don't think she wanted them to be bitten.
- 27/07/2012 09:02:05 PM
861 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
918 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
943 Views
Re: you are right public punishment of political expression could never been seen as suppression
- 27/07/2012 08:30:26 PM
801 Views
One problem.
- 27/07/2012 04:54:52 AM
816 Views
Exactly
- 27/07/2012 12:05:14 PM
824 Views
where do you people get these backasswards idea of what censorship is? PCmart?
- 27/07/2012 02:01:29 PM
880 Views
We can have this conversation w/o you being mean.
- 27/07/2012 02:57:02 PM
853 Views
I never claimed I was against repercussions and people here are denying it is censorship
- 27/07/2012 04:18:54 PM
931 Views
Re: I never claimed I was against repercussions and people here are denying it is censorship
- 27/07/2012 05:01:37 PM
841 Views
Re: I never claimed I was against repercussions and people here are denying it is censorship
- 27/07/2012 06:23:17 PM
763 Views
sorry I forgot the Olympic spirit was about banning athletes for dumb jokes they apologized for
- 27/07/2012 08:30:08 PM
752 Views
You're really not going to make sense of this if you keep mashing everything together.
- 27/07/2012 08:59:35 PM
780 Views
Re: You're really not going to make sense of this if you keep mashing everything together.
- 27/07/2012 09:18:08 PM
857 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
926 Views
Re: sorry I forgot the Olympic spirit was about banning athletes for dumb jokes they apologized for
- 27/07/2012 09:01:07 PM
781 Views
I know you said it but do you actually believe it?
- 27/07/2012 01:56:35 PM
796 Views
It's a good question, but yes, I do.
- 27/07/2012 02:42:28 PM
849 Views
Are going to ban everyone and everyone country who says something about anyone else?
- 27/07/2012 04:47:51 PM
760 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
817 Views
- 27/07/2012 02:14:13 PM
817 Views
Surely you don't think...
- 27/07/2012 02:57:47 PM
725 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
912 Views
And now the next incident... this time about an athlete's partner, not the athlete herself.
- 03/08/2012 09:47:27 PM
915 Views

