Tour de Farce

Last post! On the deadline! Says a lot about my work habits I guess. I shall bury the English blog after today. Hopefully I won’t have to exhume the body next year. Enough morbid stuff for now. The topic I chose is something close to my heart, as I have actually thought about this before. This topic is doping. The article taken from MSNBC and is entitled “Tour winner denies doping, will provide DNA”. Here’s the URL
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20179848

The article discusses the cleanliness level of the Tour de France winner Alberto Contador. It is said that he was once caught without taking a bath and was suspected of being dirty. I guess Spanish people don’t really make an effort to look clean. On top of that, most Tour de France winners have been found to be dirty, with the exception of Lance Armstrong, who was extra clean due to his cancer treatment. Rather, I believe he was sick of drugs and hence decided to stay clean.

Well I am referring to doping in cycling. Where those who have use performance enhancement drugs are considered dirty and those who pass doping tests are considered clean. The winner of the latest Tour de France is only the winner due to the fact that the overall winner was ruled out due to one of countless scandals that have taken place in the Tour de France, which has been subject to satirical comments that it should be renamed Tour de Farce, and rightly so. The winner initially was only the runner up but in lieu of the disqualification he is the winner. Contador, however, is not scandal free himself. News broke last week that a doping expert Werne Franke has found incriminating evidence that proves Contador did not take a bath. That will be enough dirty jokes for now. The evidence shows that Contador had taken a testosterone booster and an asthma drug. However, Contador vehemently denies it and claims it is a misunderstanding and that he will take legal action against anyone who makes another defamatory comment and the compensation will go to the fight against doping. To top off his inspiring selfless vow, he gave a sob story as an appeal to pity. Something about going through a sad and disillusioning experience that transformed the vision of the sport he gave the best years of his life to.

I am not impressed. To give him credit, his speech was well prepared. He even punned on the word dose in the phrase “and a large dose of hope”. However, in my opinion, if he is innocent, he has no need for all that fuss. Even if he did drugs, I would not blame him. In a competition littered with doping cases, the peer pressure would be great. The physical toll on any cyclist taking part is really great, as the tour has many stages and a good overall performance would be required to even make it to the top ten. Furthermore, he is seemingly stricken with asthma, if the report is correct in saying that he took drugs for asthma. It would be hard to excel in a sport so physically demanding if he was weighed down by asthma. Personally, I had a struggle as well as to why we should not take drugs. This was due to the fact in primary 6, I could not make it to the sprint relay team which I was in for the past 2 years. While everyone’s puberty level was 5, mine was a mere 1. Excuse on my part? Maybe. Still it wasn’t fair. I felt the need to level the playing field. Yes, I can empathize with those doping dudes. However, is it worth it? I don’t think they gain anything but triumph for a few days till the doping results surface.

Bangladesh moves to quell unrest

This will be my second last graded post for the year. How saddening this news is. Well as a matter of fact, there are no non graded posts so this will effectively be my second last post of the year. Once again this post is on the day of the deadline. How exciting! Anyone has a cure for procrastination? Anyway, this article is entitled “Bangladesh moves to quell unrest” and is taken from BBC news. Here is the URL for the article. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6961543.stm

Starting from the top, the title which states, “Bangladesh moves to quell unrest” refers to the Bangladeshi authorities taking action against the people involved in the riots and protests that took place during the week. The title though a tad vague, can be excused as there is a subheading which explains more on the issue. The subheading states “The military-backed authorities in Bangladesh have detained five senior academics after anti-government rioting on campuses across the country.” This sets ample foundation for the article which discusses the main topic of the poor government handling of the protests which led to the riots occurring.
The demonstrations were held to oppose a ban that was put in place under the state of emergency declared by the country since January. The country was taken over by a military-backed government when the polls were cancelled due to the months of violence that preceded it. Initially the administration was met with approval and content by the people due to its promise to stamp out corruption by the year 2008. However, as a result of rising costs of living, dissent started to rise through the ranks of the people. The government’s rule over the people does not seem to be very successful so far as they even gone to the extent of controlling the press so as to seek public approval when they sent censors to make sure the press did not criticize their rule.

The protests turned ugly on Monday when the students in Dhaka were handled roughly by soldiers during a football match and before long, the riots began. This resulted in injuries to several hundred soldiers and rioters as well as a death of a civilian. The bloodshed only ceased when a curfew was put into place. The authorities then proceeded to detain five senior academics who are allegedly the cause of the protests against the continuing emergency rule, and also interrogating students who are suspected to be involved.

The rationale behind the authorities’ desperate measures is evident. The past two military rules were toppled after student demonstrations. This probably is the reason behind the authorities trying so hard to quell the dissent, before it overwhelms them.
Personally, the significance of this article lies in the people power, where the common people are fighting for the good of their country and for their rights. It reminds me of the concept of democracy when the people have a say and the people effectively rule the country. I believe that in every country, the people have the right to have a say and in Bangladesh, the people evidently have the power to topple the ineffective government. However, I pity them for the fact they are oppressed and need to use demonstrations to get their way. This highlights the people power as the government is afraid of the people due to their power. This can also link with the social advocacy project and it enforces my belief that individuals in society have the power to effect changes, but unlike the people of Bangladesh, I am more fortunate as I can do it in a more peaceful manner.