the olympic torch...

Again, I was at the gym were there are big televisions right in front of my face as I am doing the hamster-wheel cardio deal. I generally don't watch the news. Like, I don't go looking for the news. I do look at reddit.com a lot now, but am generally looking for funny cartoons or stories where little puppies do cute things with other little cute puppies. I avoid the hardcore news.
With the giant screen in front of my face and very little else to look at, at times it feels slightly Clockwork Orange-y, I do absorb some news. Not on purpose, though.
Recently, a lot of the news has been about the Olympic torch as it is run it's course and the protesting around it.
I am unclear on the protesting. Maybe, to be clearer, I should say I am unclear on the way the protesting is being presented, not the real protesting itself.
I kinda get why people would be protesting an Olympics held in China. I get that China has not been at the top of the "We Value Human Rights" list and how people might be upset that they, China, are being supported.
But, what I don't get, is the people rabidly throwing themselves at the runner with the torch, trying to extinguish the torch.
For one thing, the runner isn't China. The runner, is just a runner. Just trying to run. You are placing the runner in dangerous situations by launching yourself at him/her. You are, very clearly, disregarding the runner's human rights. This might be acceptable if the runner violated someone's human rights WITH the torch.
To my mind, what you are doing is the same as driving a battalion of Hummers to an Earth Day event.
You are ripe with irony.
Secondly, the torch, while a symbol of the Olympics, is not the Olympics and it has no magic powers. Say you were able to get the torch and extinguish it and, this time, keep it extinguished. Do you think China and the Olympic committee will say, "Rut-ro! No torchee mean no Orympics!"
Leave the torch people alone, will you?