The Olympic Bigotry

The Olympics in China began on 08/08/08 at 8pm. Will this special date and time bode well for China? It certainly helps that the Olympics are on their home-turf... with the home-crowd cheering them on, morale of the Chinese Olympians will be boosted thus influencing their performance. But the Olympics has become more than just a place for sport competition. It's now become a topic, reason, and excuse for people to express their bigotry.

A Question of Nationalism in the Face of Diversity
I must say that some of the "every-people" comments in the news by spectators, protestors, etc., seem rather ignorant. In countries that are built on immigration we have people from all nations and races that make up our Citizens. If you are a Chinese-Canadian, or Chinese-American, etc., can you not root for both China and Canada or America?? Sadly, I have seen, read, and heard many comments that criticize such citizens for being unpatriotic for supporting China.

Yes, the Chinese government is oppressive, but you can be proud of your heritage and home-land and still wish them well, in spite of politics. To tell someone to "go home" because they are torn between supporting Canada and China is racist and bigoted.

The Olympics is about bringing people together in friendly competition, despite one's politics, race and religion. It upsets me that their is still a group of people who cannot look past their own narrow vision of the world, and accept that people of many cultures and backgrounds make up this vast country that we call Canada. Don't tell someone to "go back home" because they root for two countries at the same time. You are not being honest with yourself if that is why you want them to "go home".

Such comments have been plastered on public forums or on comments section of various news sites. While these comments avoid using race as their disdain, they do use country-of-origin as their basis of complaint. "Go back home if you cannot support Canadian athletes". I have seen this one too many times on news-sites and blogs in the past week by people who call them patriots or nationalists. While these comments are not "everywhere", the few that I've seen have been persistent and offensive. These few comments have slowly built up over the past two weeks, as the Olympics were coming near, and since they have started.

Comments like these have NOT been reported as such when the Olympics were held in Athens, or on European soil. I have read enough comments and blogs to observe that their is very little prejudice against Greek-Canadian citizens or of other Euro-Canadian citizens (I am only using Greece as an example, since the Olympics were held in Athens prior to this one). Why should it be fine for Greek-Canadian citizens to support both Canadian and Greek Olympians, while it's terrible for Chinese-Canadian citizens to support both China and Canada? Why is it not okay to admire the athleticism of Chinese athletes, but okay to admire athletes of other descent? If politics were truly the sole reason for these comments, we would now be seeing a large number of people telling Russian-Canadians to "go home" because of the Russian government's recent actions.

I am only speaking about a small portion of the public, but it is disconcerning that the bigoted are usually the loudest. Their opinions will never change, but they need to realize that no matter how you phrase it, you are not hiding your own bigotry and ignorance. We can see through your comments. And I retort back to you... if you do not like Canada's immigration policty... if you do not like Canada's heritage and tradition as an ethnically diverse country, then perhaps you should find another place to call home... though, I would not wish any other country to accept you as you would only denigrate that soil which you would call home.