I'm undecided

The Olympic torch has had a tough time lately. It's been snuffed out by organizers a few times due to protestors in the streets of Paris. They had some trouble with protests in London. And the Olympic torch relay is facing similar problems as it arrives in San Francisco.

The trouble stems from problems people have with China's human rights record. The biggest concern centers around Tibet, where an area and people's independence is a point of contention.

There are two positions butting heads on this and I'm not sure where I come down; unusual for me.

The Olympics as we know them were created in the 1880s by a Frenchman named Pierre de Coubertin. Sure they existed in ancient Greece in some form and were revived in the 1850s-1870s, but it was de Coubertin who developed the International Olympic Committee and launced the games as a permanent fixture on the world's stage.

Position 1, taken by China, the Olympic Committee and others is that the Olympics have as part of their founding mission a nonpolitical place in the world. They are to be a place where every nation can come together and compete, yes, but also share time together. It is a place where diplomacy can begin. The US ping pong team travelling to China under Nixon is the same thing.

Position 2, taken by the protestors is that murder and the mistreatment of human beings should never be ignored or cast aside. They feel that ignoring this and allowing China to hold the Games as if Tibetans or others are not being abused is letting China off the hook, whitewashing their record. In effect they feel it makes a mockery of the Olympic spirit.

So I don't know where I stand. I have studied politics, foreign relations and actually took full term classes focused on the Sociology of Sport and the History of Sport. Still, I'm torn.