That you haven’t “gone over to the other side”. That you are not going to hold hands with Gordon Campbell and VANOC and green wash their purple prose. Saints preserve us, is nothing sacred? And it isn’t just the degradation of previously intact eco systems like Eagleridge Bluffs that is on my mind. David, the Olympic Games are olympic only in the amount of money corporations and the government will rake in out of citizens pockets.
The spirit that prompted the games in the first place has long vanished. It’s no longer a meeting of young, spirited athletes longing to strike gold for their countries. Some of the athletes don’t even compete for their own countries. And as winning has increasingly become the only game in town, and with it the goodies that come with the gold, many of the athletes have taken to doing what the organizers and promoters and corporations do to get the fat contracts…they cheat. Who can blame them?
And the thousands of prostitutes who will be descending upon our city with the blessings of Sam Sullivan and Libby Davis who favor legalizing bordellos to service the johns? How do the women of Vancouver and British Columbia feel about this accompanying Olympic money maker? After all, having thousands of prostitutes flood into the city is not the same as promoting the cute, fuzzy little tinker toys that are supposed to represent the Olympics. Or is it?
I get a creepy feeling seeing you sitting with VANOC lending your credibility to an environmentally and spiritually bankrupt corporate endeavor that the Olympic Games have become while increasing numbers of people are sleeping in the streets. All this destruction to make more money for ethically challenged people who already have more money than they should be allowed to have. I don’t get it, David. I truly don’t.
Betty, it's amazing to discover your blog today! We met some years ago, in prison ;-) the time you spent your birthday behind bars...i joined two of your support-team friends for a visit and you were kind enough to give me an interview. You were enthralled by the courage and power of the native women who had welcomed you to join their drum circle...you are one of my heroes and i thank you again for being you.
ReplyDeleteI am especially impressed by the lens of your arguments, and i am thrilled to finally read a well-wrought critique that reframes the great (surely ubiquitous) David Suzuki. That a one-time dynamic and progressive leader of the world environmental movement can sail so far off course is one thing (call it a conflict of interest), but that so many people still grant him guru status, that is another sad state altogether. I think it's well about time that we find ourselves new thinkers and advocates to inspire us. There are after all no shortage, one Betty K. included!
Sincerely,
Darren Alexander