Comparisons between Putin and the recent rash of anti-gay laws in Russia are being compared to Hitler and Nazi Party’s persecution of Jews. However, last night on MSNBC (I forget which show), Harvey Fierstein made the point that Putin, et. al. are not being compared to Hitler of 1943, they are being compared to Hitler in 1933, when the roots of the hatred and discrimination and the oncoming slaughter were being introduced into the pre-WWII Germany via the Nuremberg Laws.
As someone who very rarely drinks (and almost never Vodka, except perhaps a Martini at Halloween), my ability to boycott Russian products is hindered by the fact that I don’t normally use any Russian products and I have not intentionally watched a sporting event since seriously I can’t even remember when, so if I were to boycott the Winter Olympics, it would not change my TV viewing habits one bit.
However, both Stephen Fry and Georgia Takei are working with protesters to try to get the Winter Olympics moved somewhere else and as such, deny Putin and his mob the same legitimacy that was given to Hitler with the 1936 Olympics.
Since no amount of boycott on my part will change anything, I just wanted to get the word out about the effort. And to repeat, Putin, et. al. are not being compared to Hitler of 1943, they are being compared to Hitler in 1933 so Godwin’s Law does not apply.
…who will be the Jesse Owens of this Olympics.
is my guess, and some of them will be straight supporters. Just yesterday Swedish high jumper Emma Green-Tregaro painted her nails in rainbow colors to show support for Russian LGBTs. Story in English here, really great shot of her jumping with those colored nails here.
I hope that a number of US athletes (and athletes from around the world) carry rainbow flags during the opening ceremonies. And I hope many LGBTQIA athletes compete, win, and speak out. The best way to fight Russia’s obnoxious policy is to throw it in their face and demonstrate that acceptance and equality are superior.
The US with its western European (and scattered other) allies should also make clear that any enforcement of the anti-homosexual law against athletes or supporters will not be tolerated.
The boycotts of Russian products are a good idea to apply some pressure, but I worry about the calls for boycott of the Olympics. That would be a horrible ordeal to put the athletes through.
Also, Johnny Weir should be the main focus of Olympics coverage (instead of Shaun White or Lindsey Vonn or whoever), well, because he’s awesome, and also some other stuff.
It’s a parlor game, used by people who think it’s some kind of gotcha, and who are more interested in style than substance.
As various people are drawing comparisons between these Russian Laws and the Nuremberg Laws and between Putin and Hitler or the crackdown on LBGT folk to the treatment of Jews, even if they don’t say “Godwin’s Law by name”, the dismissal of the concern is the same. Hence the posting header.
By Any Other Name is an episode from Star Trek: TOS (The Original Series).
It’s from Romeo and Juliet, which predates Star Trek by a fair amount.
My followup comment is below, I will not repeat it here.
I suspect that Godwin’s Law will be getting quite a workout in the next few years what with Russia and other former Soviet Repubics engaging in a great gay panic, Greece’s Golden Dawn beating up foreign workers on the street and, reportedly, establishing internment camps, and Japan voting on rescinding the part of their Constitution which keeps the Self-Defense Forces in Japan and away from other countries.
The strains of totalitarian authoritarianism, some of which derive from Fascism, are rising to the surface around the world.
Kirth – Thank you for being pedantic, you are correct that “A Rose By Any Other Name” is from Romeo and Juliet. However, the Star Trek TOS Episode Name is “By Any Other Name”, without “A Rose”. I must assume the “A Rose” was being implied in the episode title. My attempt at being clever was to connect it back to George Takei, one of the people leading this effort. Also, the Reply feature is not working at this time, which is why this is not beneath Kirth’s comment, Just So You Know. Since being clever appears to be a crime these days, I apologize (but not sincerely).
The line, including “a rose” is spoken by Kirk during the episode.