Seriously, This Is As Bad As The Nazis.

[derspiess]

The problem is that it is an easy rhetorical way to cheapen/negate his remarks.

Sure, but the blame for that goes to Fry for using the analogy in the first place.  I like Fry but he overstepped slightly here.

[garbon]

Sounds like both a reasonable comparison (persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany maybe about 1934, got worse after that, and Russia right now seems to be comparable) and a reasonable petition to the politicians. Russia does indeed not seem fit to house what should be festival of humanities diversity, not of discrimination.

[mongers]

What are gay rights like and the life of a gay person worth in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab gulf ? 

Not heard of those places, they're where some of the oil and gas we use comes from.

Maybe if life isn't good for a gay person there, then people could organize a boycott of their energy resources. Like cutting back your car mileage by 5,10 or 20 percent ?

[garbon]

What are gay rights like and the life of a gay person worth in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab gulf ? 

Not heard of those places, they're where some of the oil and gas we us comes from.

Maybe if life isn't good for a gay person there, then people could organize a boycott of their energy resources. Like cutting back your car mileage by 5,10 or 20 percent ?

This is a strange post even for you.

[Viking]

Why is this time different?  Homosexuality itself was actually illegal in Soviet Union, and yet they hosted Olympics in 1980.

Because the world has become more civilized in the past 33 years.

[alfred russel]

Why is this time different?  Homosexuality itself was actually illegal in Soviet Union, and yet they hosted Olympics in 1980.

For that matter, also in Atlanta in 1996.

But I think there has been a significant change in public opinion on this topic the last 15 years. You now have many countries where openly gay athletes feel comfortable competing, and there are some ethical issues with forcing them to compete in a place that is intolerant.

[The Brain]

Surely gay people can boycott the Olympics.

[garbon]

What are gay rights like and the life of a gay person worth in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab gulf ? 

Not heard of those places, they're where some of the oil and gas we us comes from.

Maybe if life isn't good for a gay person there, then people could organize a boycott of their energy resources. Like cutting back your car mileage by 5,10 or 20 percent ?

This is a strange post even for you.

Since Grumblers not in the thread, I see we'll just have to make do with you:

I mean wtf to this sentence - "Not heard of those places, they're where some of the oil and gas we us comes from. "

[mongers]

What are gay rights like and the life of a gay person worth in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab gulf ? 

Not heard of those places, they're where some of the oil and gas we us comes from.

Maybe if life isn't good for a gay person there, then people could organize a boycott of their energy resources. Like cutting back your car mileage by 5,10 or 20 percent ?

This is a strange post even for you.

Since Grumblers not in the thread, I see we'll just have to make do with you:

I mean wtf to this sentence - "Not heard of those places, they're where some of the oil and gas we us comes from. "

My suggestion to you is, if you're genuinely concerned about gay rights in other countries, then as an act of brotherly solidarity, you don't use your car on one in twenty or ten of your daily commutes and instead take public transport. 

That way you're sending a clear message that you're economically boycotting these regimes and reducing yours and America's reliance on their exports.

[garbon]

Yes the old canard of saying that you have to support every cause otherwise it is hypocritical to support any.

At any rate, I accept your challenge. I take public transport as the general rule.

[Jacob]

Why is this time different?  Homosexuality itself was actually illegal in Soviet Union, and yet they hosted Olympics in 1980.

Because they've gone on record as saying that they'll enforce their newly enacted anti-homosexual propaganda laws on visitors and athletes at the games.

[Jacob]

Normally with mongers vs garbon I tend to back mongers, but this time I have to give it to garbon.

mongers, you're being silly.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I think this general trend is very interesting. In the old days, say a 100 years ago, Western cultural superiority led to racism against lesser countries. Over time we started to disapprove of all that and "cultural imperialism" became a dirty phrase.

But now it has come back in a new form where feminists and LGBT equality campaigners are in the vanguard of efforts to make some countries more civilised 

[The Brain]

Didn't the Olympics people themselves plan to ban wrestling from the summer games?

[Admiral Yi]

That's a poorly conceived boycott mongers.  The Gulf states would not know they were being boycotted.  If you somehow managed to get the whole world on board, it would impact non-Gulf producers as well.  Even more so, since the cheapest oil to pump is in the Gulf.

Besides, what kind of principled message are you sending by cutting consumption of a morally tainted product by 5%?