Age of the Geek

Russia Goes For The Gold

     The most surprising thing to happen at the Olympics this year will likely have nothing to do with athletics or medals.

     Many problems surrounding the Olympics are working to overshadow the events themselves. There’s the hilariously poor living conditions in Sochi’s Olympic Village, with toxic water, stray animals in the hotels, and unfinished roads. Then there’s the decision to host the Olympics in the one part of Russia that’s actually warm and questions about where all that money that obviously didn’t go to building facilities really went.

     But bigger than all of that is the protests against Russia’s increasingly authoritative laws. Most notably against gay rights.

      Last year Russia enacted a law that bans the distribution of “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” to minors. This incredibly vague law hides behind a shield of kids to make it effectively illegal to acknowledge that gay people exist in public.

     Reaction from the rest of the civilized world has been intense, with calls for boycotts of the games and condemnation from international rights groups. Google changed their homepage to a rainbow colored display featuring the equality section of the Olympic charter. Three Olympic sponsors have spoken out against Russia. And in a textbook case of passive-aggressiveness, President Obama selected three openly gay athletes to be in the Olympic delegation.

     But as blunt as those examples are, none of them compare to what happened during the opening ceremony.

     t.A.T.u., a Russian pop duo from 10 years ago made famous for being attractive young lesbians (though both girls are apparently straight off-stage), reunited to perform their hit song “Nas ne Dogonyat” (Not Gonna Get Us), accompanied by rainbow clad background dancers.

     Subtle, it was not.

     I have no idea what happened here. Surely the Olympic organizers could have found entertainers for the show that weren’t the physical embodiment of everything Russia’s controversial law is against. How does a country that enacted a law against “gay propaganda” under the guise of “protecting the children” then decide to remind the world that their last contribution to the international pop music scene was an act where two girls sung about their forbidden love for each other?

     The only Russian performers I’d think less likely to show up at the Olympics would be Pussy Riot, whose members were only recently released from prison after being arrested and convicted of “hooliganism” for performances that were critical of Vladimir Putin and the Orthodox Church.

     It’s assumed that Pussy Riot was released from prison in order to improve the government’s image for the Olympic games. It’s equally safe to assume reuniting t.A.T.u. for the Olympics was done with the same motivation in mind.

     I suppose it makes sense in the short term. If you can’t beat them, pretend to join them. What kind of protest could possibly top this? Nothing short of a gay pride parade in downtown Sochi (which is explicitly illegal) could be more explicit a condemnation. When it comes to undercutting Russia’s anti-gay laws, Russia just earned the gold medal.

     But seeing as the performance didn’t end with either a repeal of the law or the arrest of t.A.T.u and the organizers that put on the show, it only really goes to show that Russia’s laws are basically meaningless. The government decides if you’ve done right or wrong and figures out the legality later.

     What’s troubling is that I can’t tell if Russia is sending that message by accident or design.

     Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing.