Last weekend, two members of Australia’s Paralympic team were robbed at gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro. This is just ahead of the Summer Olympic Games which are running from August 5 to August 21. To respond to the history of violence of the city, it is estimated that the country will have close to 85,000 police officers and soldiers patrolling the streets. It is no secret that Rio can be a vicious city. Undoubtedly, each team plus the Olympic dignitaries will have their own security. In addition, we can imagine the hotels, popular restaurants and similar venues having their 
own guards “just in case.” Rio could well turn into an armed camp. With the Olympics in Rio my question is: Was that location an ethical choice?
Kitty Chiller, Australia’s Olympic team leader, said in a letter to mayor, Eduardo Paes:
“We’re demanding that the level of those (security) forces be reviewed, and also that they be mobilized earlier.” This is serious stuff.
The robbery was not the first of this Olympics. Last month members of Spain’s sailing team were robbed as well.
Speaking of Sailing
While re-introducing the controversy of Olympics in Rio, let us not forget the water in which the sail boats will navigate is polluted, and as the economy is faltering there will be severe budget cuts so that the Olympic venues will not be as ambitious as initially imagined, there are “pathetic ticket sales” for many reasons and last, but not least, the infamous Zika virus. It is a guarantee that some tourists will come away with the disease and several professional athletes have already pulled out. Just today, I heard on the radio that members of the U.S. Olympic Crew teams will be wearing gear said to repel water-borne bacteria and viruses!
The mayor of Rio was said to be horrified when the Australian team, following the robbery, was prohibited from exploring the equivalent of the suburban areas of the city, as though the cosmetic fixes of the Olympic venue Brazil has shellacked over the city will erase the years of violence, poverty and pollution.
The slums of Rio are “legendary,” if such a word may be used with any kind of pride. Perhaps the country of Brazil was seeking a massive cash infusion and revitalization to help lift the city out of its poverty. The Olympics in Rio will deliver neither cash nor revitalization.
It leads me to explore the ethical considerations of holding the Olympics in Rio, a questionable city, or indeed of any organization intent on charging ahead without regard to attendees, participants or even customers. We have all seen what happens when big governments, big planners and big visions get in the way of common sense and basic missions.
Though they may sound very far removed from the Rio Olympic venue, we can connect similar, “real life” ethical dots to everyday problems.
For example, the VA has had hidden waiting lists where thousands of veterans have languished, while it has been building a hospital in Colorado now incredibly late (only 60 percent finished) and about $1.5 billion in cost overruns! How about a company such as Volkswagen intentionally lying about its vehicle emissions testing to millions of customer’s world-wide in order to gain market share? How about pharmaceutical companies with visions of catapulting over its competition by increasing drug prices 1,200%
The ethical point in regard to Olympics in Rio is, in my opinion, that the Olympic committee went ahead and awarded the site even though critic’s years ago said there would be problems. The critics were right. Up to the current moment, experts are suggesting the games be delayed until the problems can be mitigated.
Last week, talking to someone very familiar with the VA hospital construction, I learned the VA architects insisted on a vision for extremely hard to build, expensive curved walls. With men and women dying for lack of treatment, was such construction essential?
There were indeed whistle-blowers in the VW hierarchy saying the bold new engine designs would not work. Their voices were deliberately drowned out. It finally took rational, compassionate people in the pharmaceutical organizations to protest against its executives fleecing people who had medical problems.
The site for the Olympics in Rio had been contentious since its inception.
The Olympics in Rio will go on; it will be assured one way or the other. What we don’t know, long term, is at what price to the people of Brazil?
Could the money have been better spent in improving the lives of the city’s poor? For now, turmoil, corruption and the economic miseries of Rio are out of control. The woes will be hidden and festering behind the glitz and glamor the networks will try to portray. When the hucksters all leave for home, Rio could very well be in worse shape than before. To me, that’s unethical in any language.
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