Elvis to Olympians: Take a stand

Sure, Elvis Stojko may seem to be telling the young ones to forego benefits that he enjoyed in the past but his opinion is still valid. He is not telling them to boycott but rather to take a stand. He wants them to be a little more aware of the context in which they are competing.

I say tough luck for the current athletes if they get offended. They may want to think they are separated from the politics — fine — the athletes benefit from state privilege and my taxes go to fund their activities without my choice, mind you. Therefore, their connection to politics is fair game. Without political power, they would not be there and the Olympics may not even exist. If every single Canadian voted to abstain from participating in the Olympics or to even fund the sports, well, sorry! they are out of luck. What the state giveth, the state can taketh away. They should be grateful that they are not competing 25 years ago.

If athletes compete in China, any of them who step on the podium should have the courage to make a real difference like these guys did. Maybe they could just stick their tongues out and take a bow:

TIBETAN SALUTE
In Tibet when one man greets another it goes beyond the mere shaking of hands. A Tibetan bows, extends both hands palms open and sticks out his tongue!

By the way, Matthew was right first.