This last week in Paris and London the Olympic torch has undergone harassment from those who don’t like Olympic host China’s treatment of Tibet. Protesters prepared for the torch’s arrival to its only North American stop by climbing the Golden Gate Bridge. Look, the Olympic Committee must be proud of the tradition of protesting during the Olympics. This is proof. They have to go to London and Paris, where protests happen daily, because they are the two capitals of Western Europe. But to make your only stop in North America the hippie capital of the world means you’re doing something on purpose. 

I love this sort of thing. Some sports people say ”why the Olympics. Why don’t these people care about Tibet in the off years?” I say this is their chance to protest, with the media actually paying attention. Maybe they won’t change anything…probably this is downplayed as much as possible in Communist China and their restricted internet. But, at least the international awareness (or at least dumb American awareness) will go up.

As for the people who think that the tradition of the Olympics is being compromised, I’ll even leave alone the history of protests and boycotts of the Olympics, I’ll simply point out that the passing of the torch as it is today was a tradition started by the Nazis in 1936. We wouldn’t want to damage Hitler’s legacy, after all.

As long as nobody gets hurt, I say protest on. Make as much noise as possible! Free Tibet, etc…