bantering

I think I like the 1 hr format better.

If the group of anti-Lochte is large (and honestly I have no idea how large it is), maybe they could EACH choose a contestant to non-stop text in favour of (not simply picking one contestant, but having an anti-Lochte person attached to every contestant). But I'm only making this suggestion based on the assumption that there is a group of anti-Lochte people large enough to form such coalition and actually interested enough in doing this. If there are only 2 or 3 anti-Lochte people willing to put in the effort, then, yeah, this wouldn't work. I don't know how many anti-Lochte people are committed to actually putting such an effort forward or simply enjoy making fun of him in the privacy of their homes. From what I can tell, most seem to prefer the latter. I'm not really sure if what I've suggested would work, but I think trying to get the contestant ousted by voting non-stop for other contestants (even if the end goal doesn't get accomplished) makes more sense than rushing (or, uh, walking across) the stage. Going on stage to stare at him (or just looking lost while bumping into him) and getting tackled by security -- well, that doesn't really get him off the show either, if that was their aim.

After watching the footage of the protesters on the results show, maybe it might have made more sense to interrupt Ryan Lochte before he danced. At least that might have rattled him and had an effect on the quality of his dancing. Instead, there was a possibility (although it didn't happen) that Laurie could have been rattled (if she was a less good dancer) since the protesters came close to actually interrupting her dance. In the end, maybe just rounding up a bunch of people to vote for one of the competitors and AGAINST Ryan Lochte would have made the most sense if getting him off the show is your objective. But maybe you have to some sense of logic to figure that out.

I don't have the expertise to know if Ryan Lochte was good, but he seemed to have more content foot-wise in his steps. Some of the other guys like Jake Austin and Vanilla Ice didn't seem to do as much with their feet. Jake Austin in particular is so boring even by "I have no idea who this celebrity is" standards. I'm kind of surprised at how dull Amber Rose seems to be as a dancer. I guess I was expecting her to be better.

The press is certainly good for Dancing with the Stars. More people will probably tune in. Basically, I agree with this columnist who has a line in his column that made me laugh: "Protesting a reality show because it cast a controversial figure is like freaking out because a passport office has long waits: that’s just the way the system works." https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2016/09/14/dancing-with-the-stars-protest-had-two-left-feet-menon.html Well, at least the protesters liked the LAPD well enough. So there's that.

Right now I see a lot of coverage on how Tom Bergeron and Carrie Ann Inaba felt during the "unnerving attack." I'm not saying that's what they intended as one of the protesters looked hilariously lost on the dance floor, but the fact that the word "attack" is used in headlines re-focuses attention towards people on Dancing with the Stars and how they felt, rather than the protesters' stand. I'm seeing more focus on how the security team at Dancing with the Stars handled the incident rather than on the protesters' cause (which is now mentioned less and less).

The media didn't cover the protest as being effective or that any end goals were accomplished either.

In general, yes. But in this case, it turned out that the protesters were protesting because their cousin was part of some fake Olympic ticket scam and they blamed Lochte for their cousin getting caught. So, in this particular case, the originating point of the protest, which was more about self-interest rather than any principled stand on America or Dancing with the Stars, does have influence over how people, both for and against Lochte, perceive whether the protest made sense or not. That's a point that also needs to be taken into consideration. This protest was undermined when it was revealed that the protesters have no moral high ground to stand on themselves.

I did admit that people dislike Lochte. I mentioned that in my post However, whether most of them in very large numbers care enough to actually go to the lengths of protesting is what I doubt. Even people in this thread who dislike him have admitted they don't care for the protesters' action and actually oppose it. It's now been revealed that the protesters were protesting on behalf of their relative being caught for a fake ID in Brazil and for some kind of ticket scam. Apparently they blame Lochte for putting a target on their relative's back. I doubt most anti-Lochte people sitting at home mocking him really want to be associated with these protesters' reasoning if that's indeed what prompted their individual anger. I doubt any collective anger on the part of anti-Lochte people stems from being worried that they'll have a target on their American backs because Lochte has made it easier for Brazilian police to find their fake IDs and inflated-price Olympic tickets.

I didn't say they were protesting an individual (though yes that's what they were doing). I am saying that their protest showcased their OWN individual anger, not the collective anger felt by a certain segment of society. Although an anti-Lochte (those who love to hate Lochte) movement exists on some level, I doubt most of them feel marginalized or disenfranchised by systemic policy failures. I suspect most of them just enjoy hating him or loving to hate him privately (most likely mocking him with friends while watching Dancing with the Stars) or on message boards.

I assumed Laurie was home-schooled (or whatever the celebrity/athlete equivalent is) and gets her school work sent to DWTS. Nowadays education seems pretty flexible (at least for people in her position)... Tom introduced her mother during the episode so it seems her parents are around somewhere -- maybe they're just more on the private side. I'm sure they're proud of their daughter like Phelps's mom or Lochte's mom or Aly Raisman's parents are of their kids, but maybe they're not into being interviewed. I probably wouldn't be.

Not sure if this is the right place to put this article, but I'm putting it here. Their reasons for protesting might be different than what we were originally told: http://www.tmz.com/2016/09/15/ryan-lochte-dwts-protesters-rio-olympics-arrest/

Yes, they called attention to their individual, rather than any sort of collective, anger. Because of that, there protest came off somewhat solipsistic and narcissistic in a way that other protests don't. If they don't care, that's fine -- but that narcissism does dilute their message. Edited to add: According to this article, they might have also inadvertently called attention to a relative who was part of some Olympic ticket scam : http://www.tmz.com/2016/09/15/ryan-lochte-dwts-protesters-rio-olympics-arrest/

I don't know if anybody would have talked about Ryan Lochte's foxtrot anyway. Compared to Laurie Hernandez, he wasn't that good. And I think people would have talked about what he did in Rio anyway. It's not like anybody could have forgotten what he did within a month. Although everyone is talking, the mainstream articles just kind of matter-factly state what the protesters did, but doesn't offer any opinions on whether Ryan Lochte should be on the show. All I see is play-by-play reporting of what happened on the stage. In fact, I see more reporting about that than what Lochte did himself.

No, not all protesters look stupid. The protesters trying to accomplish systemic change are often admired. There is no systemic or institutional change to be accomplished from this particular protest. Yes, we've spend four pages talking about Ryan Lochte -- thus giving him more attention and less attention to everyone else. Even Laurie Hernandez, who did the best job at dancing and his highly charismatic, is getting less attention. Mainstream media organizations were already talking about Ryan Lochte's actions in Rio way before these protesters showed up. That's part of the reason he's being sanctioned by the USOC in the first place -- they said he distracted from the achievements from Team USA. The media coverage in and of itself was annoying to the USOC, not just what might have been violated in their code of conduct handbook Who outside of North America isn't aware of what Ryan Lochte did? You'd have to be living under not rock to know. So what the protesters did isn't continuing to raise awareness. People were already aware. Lochte's story was the biggest story at the Olympics and thereafter. They have given him more attention to Loche though, which means that people might be reading the USA Today story which also points out flaws in the Rio police's account of events as well. If I were Brazilian, I might be upset with the protesters for calling attention to how the Rio police may have fabricated their stories as much as Lochte did.

Their reasoning is clear but is also stupid imo. I can understand a Brazilian protesting because some perception he may have drawn on or created about their country, but I don't think Ryan Loche is endangering Americans. Considering everything else going on in the media and politics, I'm pretty sure Ryan Lochte is the least of the problems for Americans right now. I realize he won't be swimming for 10 months. Even if they protested at a swimming pool, I'd still find their logic utterly stupid . And the swimming pool mention was more of a joke. I still think their reason for protesting and disrupting was dumb. tThis reason is clearly stated but doesn't necessarily make sense to me and makes the protesters look foolish, imo. A protest in theory is supposed to accomplish something. This protest accomplished nothing except to make almost everyone laugh at them and ask "Why would you be willing to get tackled by security for Ryan Lochte?" They may have also unwittingly created a ratings spike for Ryan Lochte's appearance on Dancing with the Stars in the coming weeks.

Not that I really understand the protesters' reasoning or think it is worth spending time in jail over Ryan Lochte, but protesting his appearance at a swimming meet might seem....less embarrassing... since that's his home territory? Although I guess you'd have to jump into the pool and be tackled by security in the water for anyone to notice the protest? I don't know what I'm trying to say. But protesting at a dance show where the Mirrorball is the centre of everyone's ambition makes the protest seem even more comical than it already is.

Walking on stage during a television show seems like it would be a violation of the rules the show has set up before they let guests in though. I can't imagine any show (whether it's Dancing with the Stars or Friends) being permissive enough to let people walk in on the stage any time they want. I can't imagine Oprah being all "Hey yeah, sure you can walk up on my stage anytime you want." If they have rules for how you should dress when being in the audience, I'm pretty sure they have rules for making sure you stay in your seat.

I did kind of wonder what her husband things of all the gushing she does over Artem. She acts like Artem is the one giving her a new lease on life that she hasn't seen in all of her 60 years. Maybe that's why the emotionalism is getting on my nerves...yeah, I know I'm mean -- but I'm admitting it!

I suspect Ryan Lochte was mature at 12 or 14 or later at 22 and 24 (not necessarily intellectually bright or academically intelligent but mature in terms of conforming to the kind of rigid schedule expected of athletes at his level). Maybe the gruelling training and having to conform to a rigid schedule makes some of the athletes regress and get up to stupid things as a release. That's not a defence or an excuse, just more of an observation of how someone might land into this kind of trouble. Many of them seem to release themselves in terms of partying right after their events are over. A lot of highly skilled achievers usually wind up screwing up somewhere. Over the course of a whole lifetime, very few of them lead a life that's completely immaturity-free in some aspect of their lives that is outside of training. I don't think Lochte should have embellished his story, particularly on the international stage and I do think he violated certain rules that were written down in the US Olympic handbook (or at least that's how they're making it seem) and I do think he was really dumb for giving an interview while he was not completely sober, but I can also see anyone, either famous or not famous, especially in today's media age more easily see someone landing into the kind of trouble Lochte did than whatever it was Andy Dick was up to. I think Lochte's troubles are easier to fathom or make sense of, imo, than Andy Dick running around constantly exposing himself to people.

I can understand reservations about an older guy dancing with someone Laurie's age. But I don't think the dances between the men and the older women look problematic. I guess you can't do the showmance element with the younger guy and older women, which makes people squee less when the romantic element is removed, but the actual dances don't look odd (probably because I don't think romance in the first place, unless Kirstie Alley is involved). The younger women dancers are paired with older men, and I find that a little more jarring at times (maybe because I feel sorry for the girl paired with Rick Perry? I don't know how she fakes the enthusiasm. If she were dancing with the late Paul Newman, I'd probably think that was amazing). I suspect the reason most of the dancers are on the more youthful side (without being teenagers) is that they are in top physical condition right now to handle the schedule (they not only have to teach and perform, but also have to perform in the group dances that come later in the season). The only thing I find strange about Artem dancing with Marcia Brady is that Marcia acts like meeting Artem is the greatest thing to ever happen in her life....but after looking at her biography, I suppose his kindness to her is a great of fresh air to her.

I feel sorry for whoever got paired with Andy Dick. Have you seen his rap sheet? Gross.

He's the 2nd most decorated swimmer in Olympic history. Phelps, is of course, first. I believe Lochte is also the 2nd most decorated swimmer in terms of World championships. He has something like 27 world medals. (Phelps, is of course, first in terms of holding World medals). From a hypothetical point of view, one could wonder if he'd have more medals if Phelps weren't around. Phelps is a highly unusual type of record holder. I think Lochte did even beat Phelps in one race (maybe it was Olympic one?). He's very accomplished. But he's always overshadowed by Phelps. Well, that, and maybe his own persona. From a code of conduct perspective I understand why people would be frustrated with his behaviour in Rio. But when people act like he's some guy who accidentally landed in the Olympics swimming competition by fluke, I don't get it. When it comes to his swimming, he's not a slacker. Maybe Phelps, who is a once-in-a-millennium kind of athlete (some might say freak of nature), has made winning a gold medal look so easy that it appears as if some swimmers are less accomplished than they really are. In another era, Lochte would be considered one of the greats, I should think. On another note and to discuss the episode more directly, I thought Marilu Henner would be a better dancer. I didn't get the big whoop. Her dancing looked a little weird to me. Just me? That's okay.

Regardless of where I fall on the debate about Ryan Lochte, I think I'd be embarrassed to known as the Ryan Lochte protester.