The term "de-platform" was introduced when liberals wanted to censor certain right-wing media. Happily, that idiotic train of thought has been derailed. I can still watch NewsMax, and read Fox news, as long as the thought police are kept at bay.
Now, I would like to recycle the term "de-platform" into something more appropriate. The Olympics are supposed to transcend national politics. The event is supposed to be a coming-together of athletes from around the globe, for good, clean competition.
It is time for the Olympic committee to send a strong, clear message to all participants that bringing their national politics to this event is WRONG. It is time to de-platform these "protests" at the Olympics. These people who are "protesting" do NOT represent regular, law-abiding people like me. They should not be allowed to.
And another thing: Our national anthem is NOT disrespectful of anyone. Gwen Berry is quite wrong in her assertion that the anthem is somehow injurious to black people. Olympians need to get their heads back into the competition, not in national politics. Because if they don't, more and more folks will turn away in disgust. We will encourage those who provide financial support to the Olympics to withhold that support, until athletes get back into training, not "protesting". Many of us have already turned away from the Nike company, and the NFL, for allowing "protests" that are frankly disrespectful of our country. We can turn away from those who support Olympic "protests" that do not represent us in any way, shape, or form. We would rather not; we would rather support our athletes. However, we CANNOT, and will not support the Olympics being used as a "protest" platform. We can, and will, encourage sponsors to withhold support until this horrible situation has been rectified.
P.S. We sent this message to the Olympic committee. We'll see what we get back.
Why doesn't the committee enforce its own rules concerning "protests"? Why, instead, do they relax said rules, rather than uphold the idea that the Olympics are not an appropriate platform for national issues? We are most aware of the American "protests", which do not represent us, but what is to stop athletes from any country from bringing their national problems to the Olympics, and dumping them on the platform, creating distractions from the ideals the Olympics are supposed to embody?
