Have we finally extinguished the Olympic Torch?

Question:I don't mean the literal sense because we all know the torch realistically does not remain lit all through its journey around the world.

What I mean is what the torch represents? Correct me if I am wrong. I thought, when the Olympics became international, the intention was to allow a time where nations involved can put aside their differences and compete in games for pride of their nation and continued peace and prosperity. The promised peace has not come. Differences of views have become wider than ever creating a hostile environment. Instead, the Olympic torch has become nothing more than another political weapon. People create violence and hate in its path to further their own ambition. Peace, prosperity, cooperation and other ideals of the Olympics long forgotten. Maybe this is a reflection of the true face of this forsaken world hiding under an antiquated image of past peace. Maybe the Olympics should go away just like the ideals it once represented.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I don't mean the literal sense because we all know the torch realistically does not remain lit all through its journey around the world.

What I mean is what the torch represents? Correct me if I am wrong. I thought, when the Olympics became international, the intention was to allow a time where nations involved can put aside their differences and compete in games for pride of their nation and continued peace and prosperity. The promised peace has not come. Differences of views have become wider than ever creating a hostile environment. Instead, the Olympic torch has become nothing more than another political weapon. People create violence and hate in its path to further their own ambition. Peace, prosperity, cooperation and other ideals of the Olympics long forgotten. Maybe this is a reflection of the true face of this forsaken world hiding under an antiquated image of past peace. Maybe the Olympics should go away just like the ideals it once represented.

It is the peace-lovers, the freedom-fighters who, this time, are trying to extinquish the flame, because they cannot compromise on the principles of liberty which the Chinese deny.
"There can be no compromise on basic principles. There can be no compromise on moral issues. There can be no compromise on matters of knowledge, of truth, of rational conviction.""'Extremism,' or The Art of Smearing,"
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, 182

"Contrary to the fanatical belief of its advocates, compromise [on basic principles] does not satisfy, but dissatisfies everybody; it does not lead to general fulfillment, but to general frustration; those who try to be all things to all men [such as you are trying to be,] end up by not being anything to anyone. And more: the partial victory of an unjust claim, encourages the claimant to try further; the partial defeat of a just claim, discourages and paralyzes the victim." "The Cashing-In: The Student 'Rebellion," Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, 255.

"There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil. The man who is wrong still retains some respect for truth, if only by accepting the responsibility of choice. But the man in the middle [that is you] is the knave who blanks out the truth in order to pretend that no choice or values exist, who is willing to sit out the course of any battle, willing to cash in on the blood of the innocent or to crawl on his belly to the guilty, who dispenses justice by condemning both the robber and the robbed to jail, who solves conflicts by ordering the thinker and the fool to meet each other halfway. In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit. In that transfusion of blood which drains the good to feed the evil, the compromiser is the transmitting rubber tube …

When men reduce their virtues to the approximate, then evil acquires the force of an absolute, when loyalty to an unyielding purpose [such as your purpose "to allow a time where nations involved can put aside their differences"] is dropped by the virtuous, it's picked up by scoundrels—and you get the indecent spectacle of a cringing, bargaining, traitorous good and a self-righteously uncompromising evil." Galt's Speech, For the New Intellectual, 216; pb 173

I agree that the olympics shouldn't be political, I'm not sure why the media keeps framing the the Beijing Olympics in terms of China's problems. It was kind of started by Steven Spielberg who quit as a protest against China's dealings in Sudan.

That said, China's government drives me crazy. I think they believe the that they have the rest of the world fooled. When Spielberg quit, I heard a government official say "he doesn't understand our policy with doing business in Sudan". It's either you don't understand or you're trying to be political when you make a statement about China. I'm stick of their crap and the way they treat their own people like children.

I think it will be impossible to ignore the underlying political climate while the games are in Beijing, I just hope those in the news media will be sensitive to not politicize the games.

It depends. Even though there is no actual international peace, people like to see it as individuals who are from different countries and cultures. It's basically a gathering for the world to go to. It's entertainment for the mass. People like to see other's who are like them, natural at breathing, running, jumping, whatever. It's not going to solve the international peace issue. There are always going to be wars. They aren't going to throw out the Olympics just because there are wars going on. Even though there is prosperity and no peace doesn't mean that we have to say "Oh, it's not the International Olympics because the U.S. is fightin' with the Jihad." There are many wars going on around the world. It's called life. Life is one giant warfare, with MANY more battles than you will face with a gun. We still take the Olympics seriously because that is what you do, you compete to be the best, even if there is no "For world peace" in there doesn't mean that they can't compete.

the competition can NOT be eliminated!!// so the fire burns forever!!

stadium or no stadium.. medals or no medals!!