Oh 'Lympics

[e_dog]

The Olympic Winter Games:

an orgy of commercial advertising and nationalistic propaganda,

a supergame to project the idea that white people are good at playing sports,

a Eurocentric/NorteAmericano-centric mix of games designed to exclude the global South from participation.

[knip]

winter was invented to exclude the south?


my daughter is training for the winter olympics in figure skating...the olympics aren't about the crass commercialism, etc... it is about the years and years and postive influences and lessons one learns with it as a goal

[mnaz]

The Olympic Winter Games: an orgy of commercial advertising and nationalistic propaganda

That often can be true, unfortunately.

a supergame to project the idea that white people are good at playing sports,

a Eurocentric/NorteAmericano-centric mix of games designed to exclude the global South from participation.

This part I don't understand as well. Some white people are good at certain sports. And are you telling me that no athletes from the southern hemisphere ever compete? Or perhaps they're barred from competing? I don't think that's right.

What gets me about the games is the hypocrisy of some of its more racist fans, who may use slurs against "minorities" in everyday life, only to revere and root for "minority" athletes in hopes of potential nationalistic glory.

[stilltrucking]

That is great knip.
I believe in the Olympics.
In ancient Greece all wars would stop during the Olympics. Seems like a good idea even if only for a couple weeks

[knip]

she's a peach...lookie see:

[e_dog]

why were the Winter Games added to supplement Summer Games, which more closely match the original olympics? perhaps 'cause it was felt a good way to promote ski industry, or because powerful nations like the europeans and americans felt they could succeed since they had plenty o snow and snow sports; and because somebody realized that white people were apt to lose in most summer games sports -- so they had to devise a platform for whitey to win -- hence, we arive at the hype about snowboarding.

what criteria decide whether a game gets in the Olympics? whatever the elites want or don't want.

knip, sure, it's about the athletes and their heath and their self-actualization. and i'm guessing that democratic elections are about ensuring the people are in charge, and pop music is all about the music, man. who's the figure skater on the US team who didn't even show up for the trials but was given a slot anyway?

[e_dog]

"I believe in the Olympics. In ancient Greece all wars would stop during the Olympics. Seems like a good idea even if only for a couple weeks" -- STILLTRUCKING

1936 [Summer] Olympics, Berlin, presided over by Adolf Hitler. this event should give pause to ones enthusiasm for the Olympics games. they are not an instrument of world peace but rather, a front for fascism. that was just the clearest instance, but all Olympics are fascist in spirit.

the symbolic essence of sport is warfare. a parade of nationalism as the semiconscious mobilization of the masses for group killing. the Greeks knew this. the native americans knew this. the communists knew this. the modern West knows this, but represses or denies it.

[mnaz]

Or.....

the games could be thought of as, well, just games.....

i don't see what the games necessarily have to do with fascism, though fascists may take an interest in them from time to time..... but what of it?

and e_dog, i fail to see what's so horribly wrong with the introduction of winter games to go with the summer games. could it really be some sort of devious plot? if so, who cares? i say enjoy the games, and don't read too much into it. the winter olympics will never match the prestige of the summer olympics anyway.

[stilltrucking]

I remember Munich. It was a dirty feeling. I don't think I will see the movie. Jesse Owens shore kicked Hitler's ass.

I don't much care either away about the Olympics. I just like the idea that thousands of kids like Knip's daughter have something that they want to do. Competiton , peaceful competition, we need more of that. I still wish Carter had not boycotted the games in 1980.

[mnaz]

the symbolic essence of sport is warfare.

true. people have also been known to say that the symbolic essence of sex is warfare. ok. symbolic warfare without mass-murder. that's the beauty of it.

[hester_prynne]

Olympics.
Two words

Bore Ing.

Heh