I HAD TOO MUCH TO DREAM LAST NIGHT (SCANDALOUS EDITION)

I am implicated in a corporate scandal of some kind. I don’t remember the details of the scandal itself, but basically I’m in a room full of telecoms executives when the ICAC shows up to arrest them, and because I’m there, I’m assumed to be in on whatever they're doing, or at least a “person of interest”. 

It’s like watching myself in an ICAC documentary. I do a perp walk with a half dozen execs, with the officers instructing me to hold my jacket over my head so the reporters can’t photograph my face. We walk down a steep flight of stairs down to the lobby of the five-star hotel in Hong Kong where this is taking place. I am booked and processed there in the lobby …

Scene shift: I am now in the lobby of a different hotel in a different area of Hong Kong. As I wonder why I’m in this hotel, I flashback to a scene in a room in the other hotel, where a beauty queen (in swimsuit and sash) knocks over a drink. She decides to change hotels, and in doing so somehow changes my future (via chaos theory, perhaps) so that I ended up in this hotel instead of the one where the executives got busted.

I end up in the very room where the beauty queen had been staying. I am shirtless and shoeless, and my wallet, keys and phone are missing. I realize that this is the room where the ICAC officers put me temporarily while they figure out what to do with me.

The cabinets are full of old newspapers, but when you slide the doors back and forth, you can find a secret fireplace. There is a fire burning inside, and the narrator of the ICAC documentary implies that there will be a fire in this room because the newspapers will catch fire, so I should get out now. I’m not sure if he’s being literal or implementing some kind of metaphor, but I decide not to take chances.

I look around for my stuff. In the foyer by the mini-bar, I find my shirt is there, pressed, folded and ready. My wallet, keys and phone are also there, and my shoes are by the door. I get dressed, get my stuff and leave the hotel.

An innocent man,

This is dF

YR OLYMPICS ARE POLITICAL

There has been talk about Russia’s “Don’t Say Gay” law being applied to athletes competing in the Winter Olympics in Sochi, which is pretty straightforward – sport a rainbow/AIDS pin, go to jail. 

Gay rights advocates are, of course, angry about this. But they’re also angry at the IOC for not being as angry about it as they are.

I understand this. But I have to say, I also understand the uncomfortable position the IOC is in. 

The IOC has always maintained a politically neutral stance to the Games, which are supposed to be the one arena the global community can stop arguing about politics for once and have some good old-fashioned sports competition. It’s not supposed to be a venue for making political statements. And the IOC by its very nature can’t afford to be taking sides.

The problem for the IOC is that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to stay politically neutral in a world where EVERYTHING is political, and more and more people refuse to compromise on their position to the point where yr pretty much expected to take a side, and refusing to do so is the same as opposing you. Yr either with us or against us, as someone once said.

Of course, the situation is a bit more complicated, because the problem isn’t really Russia’s opposition to gay marriage or gay rights. Look at any Olympic event since the Games started, and you’ll find they all took place in countries where gay marriage was still illegal, and where gay rights were at best patchy. The real problem is free speech – Russia has decided even openly expressing support for gay rights is a crime punishable by deportation.

The IOC has already expressed concern over this, and is pushing the Russian govt to at least exempt the Olympics from the law. Supposedly the govt has given them written assurances that the law won’t affect anyone attending or competing in the games, although apparently no one told Russia’s Sports Minister that.

Mind you, I’m not saying the Russia law is good, or that people shouldn’t oppose it, or shouldn't boycott the Games. I’m just saying it’s not really the job of the IOC to become an agitator for sociopolitical change, no matter how much you might want it to be. Apart from “quiet diplomacy”, there’s not much they can do about it at this stage.

As for boycotts, well, that’s fine, though I don’t think it will help much. The US and the USSR used to boycott each other’s Olympics all the time (well, twice, anyway), albeit with negligible results.

What I’d like to see – and what I hope happens – is athletes and attendees openly defying the law. I’d love to see every athlete wear an AIDs pin or wave a rainbow flag. Is Russia going to arrest and deport them all? Not likely. Even if only some athletes do it, I don’t think Russia will actually arrest any of them (except maybe the Russian ones). That’s what I’d prefer – mass gay rights support to the point of making the current Russian govt look isolated and out of touch.

It will also annoy and alarm certain American politicians and news commentators who will be forced to agree with Vlad Putin about something. Bonus!

Say it loud,

This is dF