Should Olympic athletes just 'shut up and perform'?

*speak out against their country's policies.

Should we expect athletes to simply compete on the Olympic stage?

Personally, I would prefer if athletes just went and competed and “just shut up” as you say. Same thing for actors, singers, etc... but it is their right to speak out even if we don’t think they should or if we don’t agree with them. As a sponsor, I wouldn’t want my athletes throwing their political opinions around since it could alienate 50% of a sponsor’s customers.

Run Wild wrote:

Personally, I would prefer if athletes just went and competed and “just shut up” as you say. Same thing for actors, singers, etc... but it is their right to speak out even if we don’t think they should or if we don’t agree with them. As a sponsor, I wouldn’t want my athletes throwing their political opinions around since it could alienate 50% of a sponsor’s customers.

We have the right to do a lot of things that we shouldn’t do.

But they're in the public eye and have influence. If an athlete wants to speak out against Trump, Pence, some US policy, law or lack of laws, it's their right. AND many of these athletes are college educated.

It is our civic duty to speak up and voice our opinion.

That's just my 2 cents.

athletes can say what they like. everyone's entitled to an opinion.

if you choose to let someones opinion on political, social, economic issues influence your own simply because they are good at sport then chances are you're an idiot.

Just because they are college educated does not mean they are fully aware of current events or actually informed regarding what going on in politics and world events Many of these athletes and celebrities just parrot what they hear/see on social media, main stream media or repeat the same old one sided rhetoric.

Yes, most people should stop talking about politics since most people don’t know squat about it. This covers pretty much every industry.

It's a great country where we can freely express ourselves, however uninformed those views might be.

Some of these athletes went to college. However, a college education today does not guarantee adequate analytical capabilities to argue policy points in a statistically, mathematically, and scientifically valid manner - gender studies, sociology, and a growing number of other majors leave graduates woefully unprepared to interact meaningfully with the abundance of information at their disposal.

So sure: speak out, but don't pretend to know everything and keep an open mind. As Ray Bradbury put it, "if you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you, and you'll never learn."

Run Wild wrote:

Just because they are college educated does not mean they are fully aware of current events or actually informed regarding what going on in politics and world events Many of these athletes and celebrities just parrot what they hear/see on social media, main stream media or repeat the same old one sided rhetoric.

Like 99% of Trumpers. Most have never left their state let alone country. Most don’t have experience with diverse groups of people.

At least athletes have wider experiences.

As we're moving closer and closer to a failed democracy, its only natural for individuals to feel uncomfortable listening to another's dissenting opinions.

No they should not shut up. They should use their platform to speak out on behalf of their beliefs and what they represent. Don't like it? Use this opportunity to reflect on why you don't like it. Challenge your own opinions.

When we think of people as entertainment we expect them to entertain us and not preach. When we think of them as fellow human beings who have inner lives and relationships with other people (which includes relationships with those who have power over them), then we give them the leeway to speak out. I prefer to think of everyone as the latter. People shouldn't be afraid to speak out against corruption, misuse of power, and oppression.

tartarm wrote:

Run Wild wrote:

Just because they are college educated does not mean they are fully aware of current events or actually informed regarding what going on in politics and world events Many of these athletes and celebrities just parrot what they hear/see on social media, main stream media or repeat the same old one sided rhetoric.

Like 99% of Trumpers. Most have never left their state let alone country. Most don’t have experience with diverse groups of people.

At least athletes have wider experiences.

Trump captured the vote of the uneducated white, who certainly do not have college degrees. Many do not even have high school degrees.