Protest Speech: Why It Is Not Respected
Friday, August 8th, 2008
With the Olympics comes a dilemma. On one side is international goodwill, the abeyance of political judgment, and something like a military cease-fire. This side of the dilemma is worthy of the most intriguing aspect of ancient warfare, when sides bent on the utter destruction of each other would wait sometimes for weeks while their mortal enemies performed burial rites or offered seasonal sacrifices.
On the other side is the pressure to use such an enormous stage to make political statements. Some of those statements are ethically compelling, such as opposing human rights violations in China this year. Governments contemplate (more…)
