Greek Athlete Kicked Off Olympic Team After Racist Tweets: Was It the Right Decision?

While I find her views on politics and race reprehensible I strongly believe in 3 things:
1. Transparency is good. I prefer having a David Duke openly saying things than some cloaked Klansman who acted like a normal neighbor by day, hiding his racism.
2. Governments abuse their power and I would prefer the people to make their judgement. Muhammed Ali was hounded by his government for making comments that it did not like. Seemed like abuse of power.
3. Seems misguided as she will now be more anti-government and hardened in her views. Probably unlikely that she would change anyway but the more people one meets, and the more diversity one is exposed to, the more likely acceptance will happen. Malcolm X was amazed by the racial diversity of Islam when he visited Mecca and his views on race changed.

Well said!

well, we are always gonna make stupid mistakes. but, you gotta try to control that... i didnt really see a video. if i were to see a video it might change my perspective, but when u get a chance like the olympics, ur gonna have people all OVER the world. moscow, paris, kenya, oklahoma, etc. so, that being said, u should have it wrapped in the back of ur brain that a racist comment was a risk.

meh, I don't see much racism in her comment but being under the spotlight the way she is, you'd think she'd be smarter and show a little professionalism.

You might think that, but you'd be wrong.

:P

The stupidity of people is amazing sometimes.

That sounds harmless and she apologized. What a shame. Greece might have looked good at least once this year.

In my eyes, yes because there are consequences for actions and she shouldn't have done it

What about rappers racist remarks? There are worse ones by rappers than what is alleged in the Media. The MSM is also not believable, there report falsehoods on a daily basis.

First, you have to learn how to word what you are saying better. And racist remarks in my eyes are wrong so.. just stop trying to explain to me please

You believe the media and you want to preach to me? Good grief.

I didnt read it. All I saw was the topic. That's it. Period.

So where is the evidence?

Its like talking to a wall..

I'm out. Bye

Bye wall.

Irrelevant. Rappers are not olympic athletes. Entertainers do not follow the same rules.

They should. Down withw the double standard.

Give me a freakin break!

You become a representative of your country. There are such responsibilities to be upheld, all mostly centered on ones actions

I agree. When you agree to represent your country in a national event like the Olympics, you agree to certain codes of conduct. If that conduct becomes a problem for the image of the country, you should be held accountable.

The other side of this argument is how much does a government get to control your actions? And, is this the same thing as censorship. I don't think so because where does the racist talk stop?

The Olympics are about inclusion not exclusion, and the representatives of each country serve as a role models... right Decision 100%...especially from the country that started it all

When you get to this level you are in the public eye and a role model.

This sort of action is needed to get the message across that society doesn't like these attitudes and isn't going to accept them.

Honestly the tweet sounds like what we Montanans say about all the Californians who move here. It's all in good fun guys, maybe it wasn't very politically correct, but it was just a joke.

Also what's racist about it? Here's a newsflash, there are white Africans.

Things are always "good fun" when you're not on the receiving end. Then it becomes a but less fun...

Ive been "mocked" for being a montanan and didn't take offense, my panties aren't in a bunch.

By whom and in what way were you mocked?

I notice you put mocked in quotes... is that because you feel that you actually weren't being mocked?

I was mocked by North Dakotans for being from Montana when I was working on the oil rigs there. Basically if they would introduce me to someone they'd joke about me being from Montana, or if I did something stupid it was because I was from Montana.

I do the same to North Dakotans and Californians all the time. I can't say specifically what the Greek athlete's intention was, I don't think it was racist or spiteful.

Do you honestly think that a white, high profile athlete making derogatory comments about black people is in the same category as two groups of Americans teasing each other about being American?

Last I checked "african" is a nationality, not a race. Even IF she meant blacks specifically, what she said is quite a stretch to be seen as racist OR derogatory.

Well if we're going to start playing with semantics I'd just ask how many African-Americans are not black?

The point I'm trying to make is that given her position she has to be more careful about what she says in a public forum. The very fact that this comment has caused so much debate shows that it must have a higher than normal level of controversy.

If you or I had tweeted the same comment nothing would have happened. Not because you or I saying it would make it acceptable but because we are not about to represent our country on the world stage and have everything we say and do picked over in the minutest detail.

The reason she was scrutinized for it is simply because of her political leanings. Nothing more, nothing less. She has some supposed connections with a party that is accused of being neo-nazis by the far left (which the party denies), who hasn't been accused of being a Nazi these days?

Whether she meant black people is hard to know, I tend to take people at their word if they say that it wasn't intended to be offensive. Even if she DID mean black people, its still a stretch to find it offensive. I guess we're just in a hyper-sensative society.

My word... we seem to be finding common ground!

We ARE in a hyper sensitive society and people who are in the public eye can't say they aren't aware of it. Is it fair that they can't say whatever they want whenever they want? Probably not, but then they do get all the rewards that go with their position.

I don't think getting bitten by a mosquito with the West nile virus is funny.

Maybe it's not funny, but that doesn't make it racist or spiteful.

It's mean and juvenile imho.

We'll just have to disagree on this one. It's really hard sometimes to understand people, especially when they are on twitter (people should just get off of twitter). How often have you misconstrued what someone was saying in a text? (I know I have, a LOT), when you don't have voice inflections and subtle nuances something can seem a whole lot worse than it was meant to be. Honestly I would just rather take someone at their word that it wasn't meant to be offensive than jump to conclusions based on a supposed connection to a supposed neo-nazi party (which denies any affiliation with nazis).

I was somewhat mixed on this. But the athletes are representatives of their countries.

Yep, and the whole world is watching... and they know it.

Dumb move, plain & simple.