Opinion Of The Day

I pulled this from the Letters to the Editors in the Montreal Gazette.

"The pro-Tibet, would-be Games-busters come across to me as either mindless, knee-jerk, immature reactionaries, sanctimonious zealot activists or unreconstructed, pathological anti-communists. I don't think any of them have ever taken a 101 course in Tibetan feudal, Taliban-style theocracy.

According to Human Rights Watch, less than a third of the world's countries have judiciaries that bring people to trial in a reasonable time.

Almost the same number of countries offer no protection for women and children (10-year-olds work in factories in Puerto Rico) and minorities.

Should the International Olympic Committee allow only countries with democratically elected governments and admirable judicial systems to participate at all in the Games?

If we allowed only governments that subscribe to the Jeremy Bentham ideal - doing the greatest good for the greatest number of people - all but a few dozen would be barred from participating in the Games.

On the plus side, though, Canadian athletes would probably win lots of medals."

B. Jewitt

I agree with the Bentham analogy. The letter does help to bring some perspective to the whole boycott the Olympic games movement. Protestors pick and choose what they want to be over-zealous about.

Although, I would submit that Canada's medal count would not rise. Most of the countries that would not permit are not exactly athletic success stories. Chances are Canada would still trail behind the usual suspects - including its brethren in the G8 and Australia.