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Olympic coverage this year SUCKS!
IainB:
@Renegade: I see what you mean. That is nauseating though. Sort of like you might image a Guardian "journalist's" w#t-dr#am.
Because boycotted, I don't read Olympics commentaries either, so had not seen that sort of drivel.
Renegade:
Well-l-l-l,
There's a lot of comment here about the politics/commercialism/restrictions of the Olympic event. Most of it reasoned. But there's been little comment about the participants, apart from a few comparisons like unto The Hunger Games.
I watch the Olympics. I enjoy the Olympics. There is no more beautiful sight to this old cripple than to watch some young body, male or female, surpass what we consider our physical limitations. Doesn't matter why they are there, what their reasons might be - they press the borders of human frailty by performing feats heretofore unimagined. Maybe they want the money from endorsements and merchandising, maybe they have ulterior motives for later activities, maybe it's just plain pride. These kids - for the most part they are kids - put a lot of blood, sweat, & tears into getting there. Maybe they're being exploited, but that does not reflect upon their art, their expertise, their ability.
I cannot imagine anything more beautiful than the floor exercises or the bar exercises. They demonstrate what the human engine can do, given practice and will and a dream. La misma with the diving and the track events. Say what you will about the venue, these participants are physical and mental ideals to be lived up to. (I say mental because, no matter their ability to speak or do mathematics, they had/have the mental ability to continue, to force their body into exertions that the body wanted to deny - if you don't like mental, call it force of will.) These folk have learned a discipline very few of us will ever know - or have ever known.
Why have they done what they have done? I neither know nor care their personal reasons. They are proof positive that the human body can be more than compulsive consumption, more than sex organs and opinions. And they give us dreams of grandeur that we'll likely never achieve, but at least know to be possible. They give us dreams.
So, I watch. Mayhap I cannot create art :(, but I can damned well appreciate when I see it :up:.
-barney (August 08, 2012, 09:50 PM)
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By no means does that Olympic committed diminish the achievements of the athletes, but I do feel sorry for the athletes. They work so hard, and they're exploited so badly. Then they have the pressures of making certain to never take any cough syrup for a cold/cough, be careful about eating any meat as it could be contaminated with some kind of steroid, etc. etc. Cripes! They practically need to be sequestered from reality.
It's almost as if they're busking on the street with a guitar and open case for handouts. They're certainly not compensated for their participation in a major commercial event. I find the way they are used rather disturbing.
@Renegade: I see what you mean. That is nauseating though. Sort of like you might image a Guardian "journalist's" w#t-dr#am.
Because boycotted, I don't read Olympics commentaries either, so had not seen that sort of drivel.
-IainB (August 08, 2012, 09:54 PM)
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I just saw that by accident while reading the news. It's kind of hard to avoid sometimes.
barney:
It's almost as if they're busking on the street with a guitar and open case for handouts. They're certainly not compensated for their participation in a major commercial event. I find the way they are used rather disturbing.
-Renegade (August 08, 2012, 10:11 PM)
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That viewpoint can be appreciated, but I was thinking more of their viewpoint. That's something that's been pretty much ignored here. "Be all that you can be," was a fairly popular saying [relatively] recently. If that is what they are trying to do, why should we belittle the venue - for better or worse, it's the only one they have.
As to Boycott's process, do we still drink Coke, one of the sponsors? Do we still eat at the sponsoring eateries? Drive the sponsoring vehicles? If so, it's not boycott, it's denial. A true boycott would mean having no truck with any Olympic sponsor, now or in the [assuming lack of change] future. That's simply not practical on several levels.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boycott
to engage in a concerted refusal to have dealings with (as a person, store, or organization) usually to express disapproval or to force acceptance of certain conditions
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/boycott
1. to combine in abstaining from, or preventing dealings with, as a means of intimidation or coercion: to boycott a store.
2. to abstain from buying or using: to boycott foreign products.
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/boycott.html
Collective, organized, economic and social pressure by public groups against unfair trade and employment practices, environmentally irresponsible corporations, and oppressive regimens. See also concerted refusal to deal.
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Boycott simply is not practicable on an individual level ... it requires group cooperation, crowd-sourcing, if you will.
Mind, I'm not at all comfortable with much of what goes on to organize/create/present Olympic events. The Olympics is, always has been, likely always will be, a political event, meant to show the superiority of some political entity. But I don't let that distaste detract from the real efforts of the participants. They may be pawns, but they're damned talented ones.
Renegade:
I actually stopped drinking Coke (or any sugary junk for that matter) and no longer eat at McDonalds. And I LOVE the taste of Big Macs... I'm am always soooooo tempted every time I'm near one... As for cars, I have no idea what any of the other sponsors for the Olympics are. Oh, Visa. :( Yeah... That's one that I can't really get around much. I much prefer to use cash, but my wife likes the paper-trail, and I love my wife more than I hate Visa. (That says a lot. ;) :-* )
As for their viewpoint, I really have no idea. I think it is almost impossible for any of them to speak out about any of the kinds of things above. What would happen? Well, after the crucifixion... I think things would go downhill just a little bit. :)
So I doubt that we can actually get what they really think. My bet would be on most being far too scared to say anything. I could be wrong. No idea. Just guessing.
Boycott simply is not practicable on an individual level ... it requires group cooperation, crowd-sourcing, if you will.
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Well, yes and no. I know where I spend my money, and if more people did the same, well, there you go. It starts with "me". I kind of see it something like this:
An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self sustained.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ghandi
-Ghandi
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But I don't let that distaste detract from the real efforts of the participants.
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I can understand the efforts of the participants, but the shadow hanging over them is too much for me. I just can't bring myself to watch any of the Olympics.
40hz:
What works in war also works in sports. A group of self-serving and monied older people get together with intent to exploit by appealing to the idealism and hopes of the innocent and dedicated young. It's just another variant of the old "dulce et decorum est..." scam.
At the end of the day, those running things are wealthier and more firmly entrenched than ever, while the young come home, draped with medals (or tucked in body bags) to be fêted and displayed as "shining examples of commitment and self-sacrifice" for the next generation which is scheduled to replace them.
"So it goes." :-\
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