Oppressive nations that host Olympic games (Essay Sample)

OPPRESSIVE NATIONS THAT HOST THE OLYMPICS
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Introduction
All contemporary issues have their own roots from which they evolve. There exist numerous issues whose roots are easily recognizable through exhaustive research. The research methodology that can uncover the roots of a certain contemporary issue should be prospective in nature. The research methodology in this case should not trigger irate emotions from the audience. The key significance of identifying the roots of a contemporary issue is for the sake of illustrating memorable changes and events in history that led to the issue. This implies that, all contemporary issues that are of interest in the public domain have known roots.
It is intuitive to affirm that hosting Olympics is a contemporary issue that is currently debatable in the public domain. Controversy exists between the nations that host Olympics and their protagonists. Most of these protagonists argue that most nations that have so far hosted this commonwealth Olympic Games had their own interests at hand. These countries are known to promulgate their own personal interests by hosting the highly participated games in the world. The current contemporary issues on Olympic Games and their hosts are observable in most nations across the world. Recently, Senator Lindsey Graham surprised the Olympic world when he stated, “The United States should consider boycotting the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics if Russia grants the asylum request of "NSA leaker" Edward Snowden.”  According to the senator, it would be impious for the United States to embrace Russia by attending the Olympic Games. He insisted that he hates what Russia is doing to the world through her oppressive actions. He wondered why Russia could provide asylum to a person who committed treason to the United States. According to him, Russia was taking it to another level. This paper addresses the history of nations that are hosting or have hosted Olympics in the past. According to history, the contemporary issue about the oppression of the nations that host these games started a long time ago. The discussion will link every detail of the current promotion of oppression with the countries who have already hosted the games to promote their own political ideologies.
The Oppressive Nations
Oppression is a social crime that can lead to total war or cold war. Most nations that have ever hosted Olympics have the history of oppression at the time of hosting the games. Additionally, history repeats itself because there are cases relating to the promotion of oppression and hosting the games. Revelations declare that most nations have ill-motives that they are always ready to showcase to the whole world. According to Berg, “The Olympics offer totalitarian or otherwise oppressive governments an opportunity to repurpose the publicity accorded to sport for the benefit of the state and its ideology.”  In Berg’s statement, it is evident that Olympics have ceased to promote sports by bringing together different nations as participants. Contrarily, host nations have turned the main purpose of the games into promoting political ideologies and interests for their benefit. The games provide the best grounds for the host nations to advance their individualistic ideologies. The United States is uprising against the alleged opportunistic nature of the host nations. The debate surrounds the key factors that encourage a certain nation to bid as the host of Olympic Games. Graham’s sentiments are significant in this case to support this contemporary issue. It is evident that the Russian authorities responded to Graham’s allegations by stating that, when not using the army or navy to invade other nations, the United States issue political utterances that are meant to maim a certain nation. The verbal war between the United States and Russia regarding boycotting the 2014 Olympics is an indication of the oppressiveness of the host nations against the attending nations and the whole world.
The contemporary issue has steered verbal exchanges between the United States and Russia regarding Russia’s promotion of atrocities in the world. Russia is accused of going against the United States’ international diplomacy by promoting criminal offenses. According to the United States, Russia is promoting international crimes by protecting criminals who seek asylum in their country. The United States is bound to make diplomatic decisions to solve the controversial issue. According to Graham, boycotting the games would be a big blow to Russian president, Vladmir Putin. It is a threat that he cannot readily ignore because he knows the consequences are dire. Graham even compares the situation where Nazi Germany hosted the games in 1936 in Berlin. He argues that it would be impossible to participate in the games if the hands of the clock go back to that time when Adolf Hitler hosted the games. Hitler’s case is similar to what the United States is sensing with Russia. There are solutions to resolve the issue as the main option of avoiding a repeat of what happened in Germany when she hosted the 1936 Olympic Games.
Olympic Games give oppressive or totalitarian nations opportunities to utilize the highly publicized events as a platform of fostering their ideologies. According to Berg, the Olympic Games held in Russia in the past enabled the nation to set up a gigantic billboard indicating the nation’s superiority in communism. Additionally, Berg states that, “for the cities and corporate sponsors of the games, Olympism and its doctrine of universality are not much more than a philosophy of convenience; a pre-packaged ideology ready to be adopted when the Olympics come to town. Few outside the IOC share Coubertin’s views on the moral neutrality of political systems, or, indeed, the IOC’s view that politics has nothing to do with the Olympic ceremony. Instead, for the host nations, the games represent an easy opportunity to conduct domestic and international politics without the distraction of being accused of doing so.” The above statement is a clear indication that most of the nations that host Olympic Games do so to achieve political mileage ahead of their competitors. The oppressive nations develop the culture of bullying, just like Russia did by boasting to the whole world that she is the queen of communism. The message was displayed within the stadiums in which the games were taking place. The nation, indeed, received international accolades and the message was passively deciphered by the whole world. With regards to totalitarianism and its effects, the United States is keen not to cooperate with nations that promote such cultures. Political mileage should be established through the right means instead of relying on international approval. Generally, oppression amounts to an unforgivable international crime that an individual nation can use to suppress others.
Totalitarianism during Olympic Games was also evident when the games were hosted in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Hitler was the ruler of Germany at that time. He was known for his mischievous and totalitarian leadership styles. The Olympics were held in an environment that was politically charged at that time. Two years before the games, Nazi had risen to power and thus triggering fear among the other nations due to Nazi’s racist policies. Following the racist accusations, the participating nations settled a mass withdrawal from the games. To mitigate the mass boycott, the International Olympic Committee forced Germany to include Jewish athletes in the national team. Additionally, the committee wanted the government to assure the whole world that it would not use the event to promote Nazi Ideology. The committee wanted Adolf to commit himself by adhering to the stated rules and regulations. Unfortunately, he was defiant and thus ignored the rules. In the event, Germany included only one Jewish athlete in the team of athletes to represent her in the games. Hitler also declined to ignore the use of the event to promote Nazism. In the Reich Sports Field, a complex constructed to host the games, the government erected Nazi banners. To make matters worse, there was the presence of Nazi symbols. A close analysis of the above scenario clearly indicates that the contemporary issue on oppression has a long history.
In his text, Mandell argues that, “as the Germans prepared for the Berlin Olympics of 1936, National Socialist sports leaders and, indeed, much of the nation succumbed to an old German temptation. They sought-and found-parallels between German culture and that of the ancient Greeks. As athletes had been an integral part of classical Greek culture, the Nazis felt that athletics had to play a large role in the creative dynamism they were directing.”  according to the author, the athletes were meant to represent other political ideologies that could not be presented anywhere else. Significantly, Germany proved to be oppressive in nature under the leadership of the famous Nazi regime. The regime promoted racist ideologies that harmed a lot of people, especially Jews. Germany was not supposed to host the games because of its bad public reputation. Unfortunately, the country was allowed to host the games some years before Nazi came into power. Nazi was good at nurturing oppressive political ideologies through Hitler’s totalitarian governance. The games were important to the Germany than it was to the participants. There was a show of power in this case, with most nations taking their positions as regards to political and economic supremacy. The United States was the only antagonist of Germany’s political affairs during this period. History lists G...