Olympic torch through London et al

[Mr JP Fugley]

apparently Hitler invented the idea of the Olympic flame so it must be evil (since he was created by the devil). These noble protesters are indeed doing gods work, or are they Buddhists ?

No way, the Olympic flame has been going for like forever.

Like the Marathon and all the other really good Olympic stuff.

[Squeamous]

Sorry but I don't see what's so funny about attacking people carrying a symbol of the Olympic ideal. They're not attacking China, they're attacking the torch oblivious of what that torch is meant to represent. They had a chance to use what that torch represents to say something to China and stupidly they've thrown it away by behaving like thugs.

Instead they end up looking like people who don't get the ideals of the event, or who disagree with those ideals... and if I were Chinese I'd be pleased about that... because the discussion has to become about their behaviour instead about the behaviour of the state of China.

I don't think any part of this sorry tour de farce is funny and I never said I did.

Actually the discussion in all the newspapers this morning was about the behaviour of the police, not the protestors who in the end didn't hurt a soul.

[Biggles]

Sorry but I don't see what's so funny about attacking people carrying a symbol of the Olympic ideal. They're not attacking China, they're attacking the torch oblivious of what that torch is meant to represent. They had a chance to use what that torch represents to say something to China and stupidly they've thrown it away by behaving like thugs.

Instead they end up looking like people who don't get the ideals of the event, or who disagree with those ideals... and if I were Chinese I'd be pleased about that... because the discussion has to become about their behaviour instead about the behaviour of the state of China.

I don't think any part of this sorry tour de farce is funny and I never said I did.

Actually the discussion in all the newspapers this morning was the behaviour of the police, not the protestors who in the end didn't hurt a soul.

I beg to differ - I thought the plod leaping off his bike was class.

[Squeamous]

Well now you mention it .

[manicgeek]

I beg to differ - I thought the plod leaping off his bike was class.

Yeah I suspect the Chinese thought it was class as well, although they have different motives for thinking so...

[manicgeek]

I don't think any part of this sorry tour de farce is funny and I never said I did.

Actually the discussion in all the newspapers this morning was about the behaviour of the police, not the protestors who in the end didn't hurt a soul.

And who unfortunately, due to some thugs, have achieved absolutely nothing for the people of Tibet... no greater publicity or recognition of their plight... not even a spotlight turned onto the behaviour of the Chinese state...

I'm surprised that the protesters themselves aren't angry at the thugs, I would be.

[Alien5]

i don't think you understand protests then, the more you protest about things, the more people take notice, the more you can get things changed.

maybe you should look up the meaning of protesting in the dictionary, then decide if the protesters or the olympic torch carriers have had the worst publicity over the last two days.

[clocker]

i don't think you understand protests then, the more you protest about things, the more people take notice, the more you can get things changed.

Well, that's the theory anyway.

[manicgeek]

i don't think you understand protests then, the more you protest about things, the more people take notice, the more you can get things changed.

maybe you should look up the meaning of protesting in the dictionary, then decide if the protesters or the olympic torch carriers have had the worst publicity over the last two days.

Yeah right... so many more people now know about how badly China treats the people of Tibet don't they ? And they gained that knowledge from watching people and reading about people attack a western person carrying a torch that represents fairness to all competitors...

If you are seriously arguing that the only way to protest is to attack people then you obviously don't understand what the word protest means... it damned sure as hell doesn't mean assault <- You can look that one up if you like.

[Squeamous]

I don't think any part of this sorry tour de farce is funny and I never said I did.

Actually the discussion in all the newspapers this morning was about the behaviour of the police, not the protestors who in the end didn't hurt a soul.

And who unfortunately, due to some thugs, have achieved absolutely nothing for the people of Tibet... no greater publicity or recognition of their plight... not even a spotlight turned onto the behaviour of the Chinese state...

I'm surprised that the protesters themselves aren't angry at the thugs, I would be.

I didn't see any thugs. Evidently your definition is different to mine.

The English word thug, meaning a violent criminal, comes from the Hindi word thag (and originally from the Sanskrit word sthaga), meaning a thief or villain.

The word 'thug' implies a destructive ignorant/indiscriminate force, which the Olympics protestors certainly were not. I can only assume you're using this term to stimulate debate and rile people. Well, one out of two ain't bad.

I'm not sure how you can assume that the protests have done nothing for Tibet MG. As a scholar of history you should know that small events build into more cohesive protests and can effect change decades down the line. You have a very short-sighted approach to civil unrest.

As to the world's media spotlight and what it's on, it's on the protests against China, which is exactly what the protestors wanted.