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Chicago presses for housing, inclusion for 2016 Olympics

March 18th, 2009 · 8 Comments

I know that some people in this city like to imagine that Vancouver is the only city plagued with advocacy groups that demand social housing, inclusion, and other benefits from the Olympics. But as this story from Chicago makes it clear, other pesky groups elsewhere also push for the same as they see the Games heading their way.

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  • Vlad Rovsky

    WTF Bula!? “pesky groups” – Whose side are you on anyhow? It’s clearly the IOC and the giant sucking sound that comes with the olympic games that are pesky, if anything.

    I looked it up to be sure:

    pes·ky (psk)
    adj. pes·ki·er, pes·ki·est Informal
    Troublesome; annoying: a pesky mosquito.

    Please think twice before smearing those who are simply standing up for human rights in the face of those who will doing anything for a buck.

    What’s the cost so far in Vancouver? How many have to be displaced, dispossessed or die for the games? What cost is too much?

    Does your disposition maybe have something to do with the fact that you write for the Globe&Mail – an Official 2010 Olympic Games sponsor?

  • fbula

    Boy, irony really goes over like a lead balloon here, doesn’t it?

    Anyone else here think I was serious when I said “pesky”? If so, I’ll try to come up with a symbol to indicate when a sentence should not be read literally.

    Like the following one: Yes, I am totally in thrall to the corporate mandate and, in fact, have had direct orders only to write positive stuff about the Olympics. Go Quatchi! (Oops, think I’ve messed up on that one a few times already.)

  • Wagamuffin

    Frances, I was gonna say something about the use of irony, but you beat me too it.

    Come on people…you’re not ALL policy wonks and super/superior sincere types, are ya? How boring…

  • Paul

    HAHAHA!
    Love it Frances!

    Keep up the good work and let the grumps get huffy.

    This is your blog in your voice and you do it very well.

    Change nothing.

  • LP

    The problem with most of those “pesky” folk, is they lack any sense of humour, taking themselves and their causes far too seriously.

    Now watch the vehement rhetoric I get for taking their causes oh so lightly………

    Chill and have a laugh sometimes. Now wouldn’t that make the world a better place?

  • MB

    Yes, more irony is in order. Said groups can range from wags to witches, Waggamuffin.

  • Joseph Jones

    Well, I dig that rhetorical stuff, like synecdoche, tmesis, chiasmus … and irony. Maybe Vlad came down harsh. And maybe “pesky” failed as irony. For sure, fbula’s reactive expansion was effective sarcasm.

  • Gassy Jack’s Ghost

    Having launched a number of “lead balloons” in these comments over the months, I have noticed that the problem with irony is that it is only amusing when it is directed at the follies of the other side of the political debate. For example, Paul suggests he likes irony here, but when I used it against his tiresome and unfounded assertion that Mr. Rudberg’s decision to retire early was motivated by nothing but ideology, he got huffy and admonished me for not taking the issue seriously, then went on to suggest that I am a pinko. Apparently, when calling me “comrade”, he failed to see any irony in underscoring that his own comment was based purely on ideology, rather than any facts. Now THAT is amusing.