But the great olympic moments of the past have been deeply connected to the cold war, and when that ended, the games degenerated into just another sporting event. Worse, they degenerated into a huge orgy of consumption and advertising, complete with idiot coverage that injects "drama" into every moment. Well, every moment about American athletes. Who can forget the "rivalry" between the American and Australian swim teams? Yawn.
But this year is different. Because of China's horrible human rights record, people around the world are protesting even the movement of the olympic torch. I don't recall the torch being news before. (Note, China responds to complaints about human rights from the US by pointing to Iraq and Guantanamo.) Some are angry about the protests, like this writer from the Dakotas:
"But the Olympics shouldn’t be about politics. The games should offer a chance to put all of those worries and troubles aside, if only for a few weeks every four years.Of course, citing the President ALWAYS helps strengthen an argument, but the underlying sentiment is simply ridiculous. The Olympics have always been about politics, and even importantly so. Without the Cold War, the "miracle on ice" was just another hockey game. Watching Paris erupt over the flame brought out conflicted feelings. One was a sense of complicity, that my government has become rather blase about repression of human rights and so connected to China's economy that we cannot really speak our minds and values. The other was a sense of interest for the first time--that the Olympics were once again going to make people (perhaps) more important than the Pepsi sponsorship.
President Bush feels the same way. A spokesman last week said “the president’s position about the Olympics has been that this is not a political event, but a chance for athletes to compete at the top of their class.”"
The President could not be more wrong (again). This is a perfect time and place to talk about politics.
5 comments:
China has always seemed like they could care less about their human rights record. I will admit that I kind of enjoy the protests and wish that more people cared about what China was doing instead of being afraid that we will offend them.
the president’s position about the Olympics has been that this is not a political event, but a chance for athletes to compete at the top of their class.
Huh?!?! It was certainly about politics when we boycotted the 1980 games. It was certainly about politics when the USSR boycotted the 1984 games. It was certainly about politics when Taiwan boycotted the 1976 games. It was certainly about politics when the IOC banned South Africa and Rhodesia in 1972 and 1976. It was certianly about politics when the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland boycotted the 1956 games.
Besides boycotts there were other politically motivated events. Berlin in 1936 and Mexico City in 1968 immediately come to mind. To suggest that a major international event doesn't have political overtones is just naive and stupid. I am sure he doesn't want to make the Chinese mad, but he should just be honest about that.
For me the Olympics are only relevant for the overlooked and largely noncommercial sports: track and field, archery, precision riflery, and many winter sports. Almost none of these are amateur sports any more, technically speaking, but their athletes aren't pulling in multimillion dollar endorsements either. These are the only contests worth watching. Olympic basketball with NBA pros? Give me a break.
There's something admirable about toiling in obscurity for that one moment in time.
(That would be a good song, wouldn't it?)
Bush sounds sillier than usual here. Every interaction between nations is about politics. There are sometimes other considerations, but self-interested negotiations are the bones, blood and breath of these encounters.
I'm reminded of Niebuhr's remark that sincere idealism births ruinous policy as often as does malice.
Bush is a moron. And am I remembering this wrong, but didn't Iraq compete in the last summer olympics in Soccer and Bush made a big deal out of that? Was that not politics?
Anglican, I agree about the sports. The obscure sports should be the ones we watch during this time only. I also think they screwed up when they started alternating one of the games every two years. SOF hates that and I think she is right. It used to be a big deal, and now, when the Olympics rolls around, it feels like "eh. again."
For my $.02 worth, I do remember the Olympics being a big deal and being very disappointed when politics entered the scene. I still don't see that politics SHOULD have anything to do with them although I'm very clear that they DO. I feel like that the participants, though, are the ones that get shafted. Political leaders play with boycott or no boycott while athletes train and hope for their one shot. I think it's pretty lame to use the olympics as political statement but go on with business as usual in areas that can really make a difference e.g. foreign policy, economic policy, etc.... China's human rights record hasn't suddenly come to light. It was there when they were chosen as the host city and something could have been done long before some poor guy or gal gets mobbed for just trying to participate in the torch relay. I'm glad we didn't boycott Munich. We wouldn't have Jesse Owens performances, among others, in our history books.
My armchair sociological take on the ho-hum attitude many Americans have about the games (can't speak for elsewhere) is that we have so many other options now. When I was a kid and we were all glued to the tube, there wasn't any thing else on the tube. The main networks carried the olympics and there wasn't any cable to flip to. In fact, there wasn't a remote to use to flip to the other channels (unless you count my little brother who was our family remote). Nowadays it can be hard to find which espn has what sport at what time and whether or not our package has that channel. Plus, Star Wars is on TBS again for the 5th time this week.
I know the olympics will always be a politically charged event, but I don't think that's a good thing.
Later
BB
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