Russian figure skating news & updates in 2022

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Well, @rfisher and I are from the US. Our military has killed thousand of civilians in the Middle East with drone attacks. Maybe we shouldn’t be watching US skaters for entertainment either.
This is why I stay out of politics threads- but that's my country too. And I was out in the streets protesting during the ramp up and eventual invasion of Iraq. I've been thrown off curbs backwards by riot police by protesting against US action and policies. And I would have been FINE with other countries shutting down any major propaganda machine being used to justify promote the invasion. But these are not the same situation right this minute, so give me a break on the fake progressive stance here when there's no good excuse to support what your whataboutism is trying to support. Argue the merits of your entertainment desires trumping atrocities, don't hide behind the "this is bad too" to excuse them.
 
The owner of this site bans people from time to time. Sometimes several people at once. It's her right. Do you have a problem with her exercising her rights of freedom of speech and freedom of association? 🤨
Her forum, her rules.
 
Censorship by government and censorship by private companies are two totally different things. If you don't like what a private company is providing in its content, don't support that company. That's not censorship, it's the free market at work.
Legally, that is true. But that doesn't mean that stifling free speech is a good thing. It depends on where the line is drawn. I'm not sure where this conversation started, but I don't think YouTube, for example, should be censoring pro-Russian content. There is plenty of opportunity on YouTube for people to post opposing content or to rebut propaganda in the comments. I actually like to read or hear about opposing views. Know your enemy, as they say.
 
Legally, that is true. But that doesn't mean that stifling free speech is a good thing. It depends on where the line is drawn. I'm not sure where this conversation started, but I don't think YouTube, for example, should be censoring pro-Russian content. There is plenty of opportunity on YouTube for people to post opposing content or to rebut propaganda in the comments. I actually like to read or hear about opposing views. Know your enemy, as they say.

"Free speech" means that you are free to say whatever you want, but the government can't stop you from saying it. There is no requirement for privately owned companies to give anyone a platform to say whatever they want. If you don't like what YouTube is doing, don't watch it, and don't buy from companies that advertise on it.
 
I feel sad to see my favourite Russian skater Tuktamysheva having to set up her Telegram to leave Insta. And just generally watching the iron curtain come down.

She was a skater with global appeal who participated in the sport on global level - interacting with foreign skaters and fans, selling merchandise worldwide etc. Its just sad. She was never one of the propaganda athletes and I think she would have had a post competitive career doing shows all around the world. It’s just sad.

I’m also sort of holding my breath about what the Channel One Cup might have in store. I hope they keep it fluff and don’t make the skaters involve themselves in any war machine propaganda.
 
The owner of this site bans people from time to time. Sometimes several people at once. It's her right. Do you have a problem with her exercising her rights of freedom of speech and freedom of association? 🤨
Do you believe that she is applying her forum rules unevenly? Or that she is banning people for exercising their own freedom of speech? It takes an awful lot for people to be banned from FSU from what I have seen over the years.

At this point in time, anything that these companies are doing is window dressing to make it seem like they really give a rat's rear about shutting down propaganda about the "violent invasion in Ukraine". They're not blocking Chinese state-funded channels and those outlets are most certainly also presenting an alternative view (some might even call it a pro-Russian slant if not outright supporting the Russian propaganda narrative) of the invasion of Ukraine. We don't see these social media giants blocking the state-funded media outlets from any other country that has expressed anything less than full support for the EU/G7 actions thus far.

But, no, this isn't targeted censorship. I suppose it's okay as long as the government says "this country is being sanctioned". And, that right there is the crux of it... These companies aren't making any money off these Russian media outlets now, so it's okay to block them under the guise of violating Community Guidelines. Sure, it is. Lots of things violate their Community Guidelines and yet they rarely censor any of those outlets - because they're making money and THAT is their guiding principle. Which is fine, but at least be honest about it instead of wrapping this up in some stupid round of empty virtue-signaling. Or, actually mean what you say and block China and other countries that are engaging in human rights abuses while pushing sanitized propaganda out to not just their own citizens but the entire world.
 
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I’m also sort of holding my breath about what the Channel One Cup might have in store. I hope they keep it fluff and don’t make the skaters involve themselves in any war machine propaganda.
I’m also hoping the same. I was going to use the word force instead of demand.

On a lighter note, I’m guessing the men are glad Trusova won’t be there for the jump contest.
 
Look, these companies have already been slapped hard for being instrumental in other large scale acts of violence so of course this is mostly about their bottom line. They didn't do it before because profits were still flowing but the lawsuits and public sentiment that shifted due to discovery in those lawsuits makes it hard for them to pretend that not censoring or moderating hateful and dangerous content is for the greater good. So it's not altruistic, it's because of employees threatening to quit, the spectre of additional lawsuits or regulation etc. But it's still the correct thing to do and they should have done this for Myanmar as well. Better late than never.
 
I feel sad to see my favourite Russian skater Tuktamysheva having to set up her Telegram to leave Insta. And just generally watching the iron curtain come down.

She was a skater with global appeal who participated in the sport on global level - interacting with foreign skaters and fans, selling merchandise worldwide etc. Its just sad. She was never one of the propaganda athletes and I think she would have had a post competitive career doing shows all around the world. It’s just sad.

I’m also sort of holding my breath about what the Channel One Cup might have in store. I hope they keep it fluff and don’t make the skaters involve themselves in any war machine propaganda.
I'm trying to track all my favorite Russians. Stepanova and Bukin were the first whom I followed to Telegram. I just added Tuktik via her QR code. I'm trying to find Sophia Samodurova but can't do it via her anglicized name and I copied and pasted her name in cyrillic and still can't find her. Does anyone know how to find people on telegram? Also if there is a translation function on that site. It's pretty bare bones but if it gets me off of Instagram and the creepy control of Facebook, then this ban was for the best.
 
"Free speech" means that you are free to say whatever you want, but the government can't stop you from saying it. There is no requirement for privately owned companies to give anyone a platform to say whatever they want. If you don't like what YouTube is doing, don't watch it, and don't buy from companies that advertise on it.
Free speech is a concept that is legally protected from government intervention. Non governmental entities can restrict free speech but free speech is still a concept. And just because a business can do something doesn’t mean it should (or has to). I am generally against censorship of all kinds.
 
that's not how propaganda or youtube's algorithms work. Do you think that it's fine that social media companies allowed their platforms to be used in the ramp up to genocide? Because that was due to the exact same free speech stance you think works so
I said it depends on where the line is drawn. I would not draw it at Russian figure skating.
 
Free speech is a concept that is legally protected from government intervention. Non governmental entities can restrict free speech but free speech is still a concept.
And private companies are free to not carry that speech if they choose to. Free speech is about the speech, not about being guaranteed a platform to amplify the speech.

And just because a business can do something doesn’t mean it should (or has to). I am generally against censorship of all kinds.

If you don't agree with what a business is doing, don't support that business.
 
Is she leaving TT for good? Did Eteri know all along that Valieva was positive? Is that really why Trusova was upset? Eteri willfully denied her a gold medal? Maybe Trusova wasn't such a sore loser as we thought? Now this is going to be a heartbreaker when the dust settles.
Per Trusova’s contract with Plushenko, she still owed them a show even though she went back to Eteri.
 
No, but it does get to dictate what it streams.
I think it’s like YouTube gets to decide what content you allow, but your internet service provider doesn’t/shouldn’t get to decide what a particular person chooses to access. So, if RT or whatever it is provides a non-geoblocked link on their own website, then her ISP shouldn’t decide whether or not she can watch.
 
Team Tutzberidze’s official Instagram account has announced April dates for their “Champions on Ice” tour in 6 cities (Minsk BLR, Moscow, Krasnoyarsk, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Tashkent UZB): https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca9zvSXtw-z/

Skaters listed at the bottom of the publicity photo: Shcherbakova, Trusova, Tarasova/Morozov, Zagitova, Medvedeva, Valieva, Davis/Smolkin
 
Because Telegram is so much more respecting of free speech than YT or Facebook :rolleyes:
But it is.

Them not being regulated obviously has downsides.

But due to that it's also the only app, Putin hasn't managed to censor yet, even though he has tried in the past. So Russians can use telegram, but probavly also still access channels from Selenskiy and Nawalny there for example.

FWIW, the German government uses telegram for official communication channels to communicate with citizens too, because whatsapp is considered too unsafe. I am in two official government channel for updates on Covid. So it's just wrong to say it's ONLY used by extremists.
 
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