Greek Olympic athlete gets kicked off team for 'racist' joke... Comments/Opinions?

[X-Spectre]

Ok, so Voula Pappachristou, a triple jumper from Greece was banned for tweeting the following joke...

...Papachristou wrote: "With so many Africans in Greece, the West Nile mosquitoes will be getting home food!!!"...


The Hellenic (Greek) Olympic Committee threw her off their team and said this....
The Hellenic Olympic Committee said Wednesday that Papachristou is "placed outside the Olympic team for statements contrary to the values and ideas of the Olympic movement."


Now, IMO her 'joke' was in poor taste but I personally don't feel that it rises to the level of racism that required them to basically end her career. I think some sort of public reprimand and possibly a minor sanction of some type combined with a public apology by her (which she DID btw) would have been sufficient. Oh and she also seems to be a supporter of a far right political party in Greece who holds about 7% of the seats in their parliament... could her punishment have been politically motivated? Thoughts/Opinions?

Link to the full story.... http://news.yahoo.com/greece-expels-...ly.html?_esi=1

[eperv]

Greece is in great turmoil right now and in times like this immigrants get the blame. Jokes like this is not uncommon. However, I think the punishment is right on target. As an olympian you're representing your country, as such your behaviour should be in check.

[Flippy]

umm is that a joke am i missing some element in the translation from greek to english because there is nothing remotly funny about that quote humourwise i mean.

[X-Spectre]

umm is that a joke am i missing some element in the translation from greek to english because there is nothing remotly funny about that quote humourwise i mean.

Lol... right, I didn't say it was a FUNNY 'joke' and she had better have a backup career because comedy definitely isn't going to do it for her.

[Flippy]

Do hamburgerstands like Burger King or McDonalds even serve mosquitos. We must go to the bottom of this.

Seriously though the mediterranean countries on the european side has problem with refugees that go by boat to cross the ocean. But why she had to drag the poor mosquitos into it is beyond me.

[TheOne]

Do hamburgerstands like Burger King or McDonalds even serve mosquitos. We must go to the bottom of this.

Why shouldn't they? they serve almost anyone else. though their menus may not appeal to mosquitoes..

[Lirva_Engival]

technically the GOC were correct in banning her as matters of race and politics
are contrary to the ideals of the Olympic movement - this athlete erred
on both accounts....
imo Pappachristou was foolish to tweet these things so close to the Games
had she done so in the aftermath, i doubt anybody would have noticed or cared
(unless she had won a Gold medal,of course...but that's another story!)

[merlin!]

I have to agree with everyone thus far. It's in poor taste even for an everyday Joe, much less an Olympic athlete. Not to get too far off topic, but it seems like another poor judgement decision involving today's "media'.

[Alyson Hannigan's Tampon]

The joke is that the mosquitoes carrying West Nile are African in origin. It's probably "funnier" in Greek, but maybe not.

In any event, the comment isn't racist. I hate political correctness, and I hate that they'd send this person home, ruining their dreams, over something so trivial. This is politics at its worst. You can always say she should have known better, but she wasn't disparaging anyone, so I don't know what the crime is.

It just bugs me. Ha! See what I did there? Cuz of the mosquitoes?

[spiderswims]

It's good that she got banned

[X-Spectre]

technically the GOC were correct in banning her as matters of race and politics
are contrary to the ideals of the Olympic movement - this athlete erred
on both accounts....
imo Pappachristou was foolish to tweet these things so close to the Games
had she done so in the aftermath, i doubt anybody would have noticed or cared
(unless she had won a Gold medal,of course...but that's another story!)

Great comments from everybody so far...

LE, I don't think anyone would argue that she shouldn't have said what she did in a public forum such as twitter, it's in poor taste and imo IS borderline racist, my only question is regarding the severity of the punishment, should an athlete's career really be ended for a tactless joke? I mean it's not like she actually advocated violence or discrimination against 'Africans' with her comment, but then I suppose similar things have happened before like the incident with Jimmy 'the greek' Snyder here in the U.S. many years ago.

[gaphugs]

It's racist.. Not acceptable.. she deserved the ban.

Daly Thompson joked that an Olympic tattoo was done in Ireland because it was spelt wrong. That was described as racist which it wasn't, was a joke. What the Greek said was

[irish-sid]

" Now, IMO her 'joke' was in poor taste but I personally don't feel that it rises to the level of racism that required them to basically end her career"

So some racism is ok spec? It's why i can't take you seriously when you get high and mighty about stuff. You have skewed views.

[X-Spectre]

" Now, IMO her 'joke' was in poor taste but I personally don't feel that it rises to the level of racism that required them to basically end her career"

So some racism is ok spec? It's why i can't take you seriously when you get high and mighty about stuff. You have skewed views.

So the eternal rebel DOES 'give a fuck' about something... who knew it would be this particular issue. I clearly said I DON'T feel that it rises to the level of racism. At worst it could be considered continentalism, unless you are of the opinion that Africa is only populated by 1 ethnic type, now THAT idea would seem to be racist to me. I suppose maybe my view is a little more liberal than yours, after all we in the U.S. still have free speech thanks to the First Amendment of our Constitution, everybody still has the right to be any type of asshole with their words they want... but then maybe people in your country do that too now that I consider it.

[gaphugs]

So what would these flies be feeding on and what is the most synonymous image of starving people in Africa ?

And spec.. Why are you bringing that my country your country shit in to another thread ? You really are obsessed... that ain't loyalty..