penzilla

Yesterday, Pro-Tibet demonstrators, Reporters Without Boarders, disrupted the lighting of the Olympic torch in Athens. They were there to protest the Chinese government’s actions in Tibet. While some people were carried away from the podium, one woman doused herself in red paint, and fell down in the middle of the road. It reminds me of Mary Oliver’s poem about Tecumseh:

I would like to paint my body red
go out into the glittering snow to die.

And in other, similar news, many of the world’s top Marathon runners are boycotting the games altogether (including Haile Gebrselassie, world record holder), out of protest for the grave environmental problems in Beijing, or simple fear for their respiratory health.

Does anyone see a Clusterfu#& to the Olympics John Stewart graphic in the near future?

In 1963, David Halberstam, reporting for the New York Times, wrote about Thich Quang Duc, the Buddhist monk from the Linh-Mu Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam, who set himself on fire and burned to death out of protest for the Vietnam War:

I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think…. As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound…

While I sincerely hope there are no scenes like this during the summer games, I think that these Olympics will draw some much-needed attention to some major issues. My Dad recently wrote about some of the Public Relations implications and the potential problems with advertising and sponsorships. For example, NBC has paid $2.3 billion to broadcast the Athens, Turin, and Beijing Olympics, but China has declared they will ban live broadcasts from Tiananmen Square. No one is commenting. My Dad ponders:

Wonder what happens if someone has to clear a body or two from the track

before the start of the 4×4 relay?

It’s a troubling question that I think will become more prominent in the next few weeks and months.

Also, I stole the title of my blog today, Torches of Totalitarianism, from Bill Sledzik, Public Relations Professor at Kent State University.