G. D. Maxwell, Pique [1]:
Now, now, let’s not get too uppity here. We need to be understanding. We need to be unified. We need to be supportive. We need to be patient. We need to pretend everything’s hunky-dory. We need to be quiet.
Or else.
That seems to be the position taken by (the IOC)
[…]
And really, that’s the shame here. No one has or will come forth with a rational, 21st century explanation for excluding women ski jumpers from the 2010 Olympics. Jacques Rogge, head rogue at the IOC, “explained” the secret vote to continue banning women from the top level of the sport by saying, “We don’t want the medals to be diluted and watered down, that is the bottom line.”
The last time I checked the International Olympic Committee was a private organization and had no need to explain their internal decisions to anybody. I would be very happy if the IOC could manage their private business at zero cost to the world taxpayers.
If Maxwell is trying to make a lucid argument, it simply eludes me. Maxwell argument, such as it is, boils down to well this is the Twenty First Century and the ski dudes get Olympic medals for ski jumping, so the ski chicks deserve medals as well.
An analogous argument for us south of the border types, would be as the President, Barack Obama, can not talk without a teleprompter, the Secretary of State, Mrs. B.J. Clinton should be forced to use one as well.
How this issue extends beyond the eighty ski chicks who would be competing for medals eludes me. This not like force female circumcision which mutilates millions of women a year. This not abortion which kill women even before they are born. It is not like the Olympics even matter.
Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit [2].