2010 Olympics Business News for the Vancouver and Whistler regions of British Columbia. Plus, Alberta, the rest of Canada, Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, Montana & California

OlyBLOG Feature:



................................................................

An Open Letter to the Dalai Lama
Published March 31, 2009 


Well Hello Dalai - Part 2

. . . continuation from Part 1

I'm interested to know why The Sun is now so concerned about our community.

As Guest Editor please ask them, and kindly share the answer with Vancouver.

Local mainstream news media never championed homeless issues in a truly responsible timely manner until it became apparent our city and civic leaders would be embarrassed during the 2010 Olympics regarding the inhumane treatment of our mentally ill and addicted.

How do you gauge what is fair and timely? Well, I think for every three ads they accepted regarding anything Olympics related, especially land development, during 2010 frenzy, they should have also published editorial educating our region about homelessness. Media will argue they acted responsibly, but I would counter that if this is so, why are there so many insensitive and hateful comments about the homeless on news media's websites?

News media were more interested selling advertising space to condo developers during Olympic frenzy, which ironically created more hardship on the streets as a result of gentrification - a euphemism for displacement.

I'm sure you remember displacement ... it's what happened to 1.5 million Chinese in 2007/08 to make way for Beijing's Summer Olympics.

News media's lack of action is morally reprehensible.

The Vancouver Sun has already taken your name and connected it with the Olympics to convince their readers the Olympics promote peace.

As you well know, promoting peace is not high on the IOC agenda, and not even close to a level of being moral or ethical. As you are also painfully aware, news media conspired with the IOC to fool the world in 2008, and they are doing it again by aligning with you as a Guest Editor.

The Olympics, more realistically, ride the back of peace in an effort to sell tickets to a sporting event, but never in history has peace ever truly been a key element of their agenda. To say so only demonstrates ignorance and contempt for humanity. Gold medals do not equate to peace.

For clarity, I am Pro-Olympics - with a twist, which means I love the sporting aspect, but hate the politics and deception.

Yes I know, it's hard to believe anyone is capable of considering this issue rationally after being inundated with so much Olympic rhetoric, but one does not have to blindly follow the George W. Bush or Jacques Rogge mantra of "You are either with us or against us."

Much to the consternation of the IOC, there is a middle ground.

The Vancouver Sun, which is an Olympic supplier, and well paid by the IOC to tell the Olympic side of the Olympic story only made a serious issue of homelessness after they realized it would become an issue on a global scale during the 2010 Olympics.

Here are a couple of interesting facts you might not know.

Per capita, Vancouver is home to the most millionaires in all of Canada, AND ALSO HOME TO THE MOST MENTALLY ILL and ADDICTED PEOPLE LIVING ON THE STREET. Yikes. How did that happen? Corruption?

We also hold the dubious distinction of having the highest crime rate, and EVEN WORSE, WE TREAT CHILDREN IN BC MORE INHUMANLEY THAN ANYWHERE ELSE IN CANADA, AND MAYBE EVEN NORTH AMERICA.

More children live in poverty in BC than anywhere else in Canada.

Where was The Vancouver Sun when all this was festering?

Please ask them that question too.

If they tell you they tried, they didn't try hard enough.

The truth is simple. Tell it until people listen.

How do we know the truth? We clip the newspaper - religiously.


If you can’t trust local news media to make
these issues known, whom can you trust?

Conrad Black, a recent previous owner of The Vancouver Sun, and the man reputed to have set the tone regarding ethics and reporting at the newspaper is now in prison convicted of fraud. That's another truth.

In this era of blogs and twitter, you, the Dalai Lama do not need an enterprise like The Vancouver Sun to reach people.

Please think carefully about your role as The Sun's Guest Editor. Do it on your terms, and do everything in your power to ensure it is not simply a "token" exercise used to leverage your reputation.

To accept their offer unconditionally will only serve to fool the trusting. If you really want to reach out and connect with people I would be happy to introduce you to a network of truly ethical people here who have access through organizations and via the internet, including blogs and twitter, that will take you deeper into our community and more importantly allow an uncensored two way online conversation with people in British Columbia and North America.

I know a guy named Joe who works tirelessly for social change. He'll knock your socks off and shake the dust from your robe faster than The Sun can kill one more tree for pulp. You should also meet David, Jonathon, April, Am, Monica, Kris, Jenn, Robert, Wendy, and Rebecca, plus a dozen more people that ethically represent and nurture our community.

The main reason newspapers are going bankrupt is because they do not serve their customers – the community. They foolishly believe advertisers are their customers. Good luck with that. If you jump unaware into bed with them you risk sending a tacit message that you support fair weather ethics. Not even you can afford this type of reputation.

I know I'm preaching to the choir, but ...

Humanity isn't the last resort. It is the first step.

Canwest, parent company of The Vancouver Sun is teetering on bankruptcy, and has approached our federal government for a bailout. They need you more than you need them, but the reality is that our community needs you even more than The Sun needs you.

Before you assume the Guest Editor role at least consult with Dr. Suzuki. I would be happy to introduce you if you do not already know him.

Don't let The Sun turn you into a figurehead or puppet.

And most of all ... do not look the other way like news media did in China.

I wrote at length about the parallel between China's human rights crimes in Tibet during the Beijing 2008 Olympics respective of Vancouver's issues.

If you are interested in my observations and solutions please read ...

Human Rights Beijing 2008 & Vancouver 2010

peace ...

........................................................

The people responsible should be accountable.


........................................................

... click for part 1 of Well Hello Dalai Lama


Follow me on TWITTER

The video below was taped two days
before the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
It becomes even more relevant each passing day.




YOU CAN COMMENT BELOW

OlyBLOG.com was designed to explore solutions, so if you have suggestions to improve the Olympic process, please share.

Comments always carry more weight when you use your real name.

Questions encouraged and welcomed,
but we will remove posts if you do not ADD to the conversation or are argumentative, abusive, and also for copyright issues or defamation. We reserve the right to remove a post for any reason. NO SPAM.

If you include a link to your website in your post, please reciprocate and include a link to this page on the respective page of your site.


You can post COMMENTS
without logging in ...
Please stay on TOPIC.

Talk to us before you talk to them ...
LeverageOlympicMomentum.com - the book







»»CONTACT US««