« Oh Boo Fucking Hoo | Main | An Observation »
April 10, 2008
Exactly How Is The Olympics Not Political?
Now that I've been rousted out of my comfy chair by the swift effects of the cocaine like high I get from a Drezner/McMegen bashing, I mine as well blog about this other piece of gum that's been sticking to my shoe for the past week or so before I return to my peaceful slumber.
Lately, there's been the enormous spectacle of the Olympic Torch bravely traveling the world as it makes its way to Bejing for this year's Olympic festivities. Apparently, Bejing's crackdown on Tibet hasn't gone over that well with pretty much everyone (except Dan Drezner and McMegan who are wondering what all the petty fussing is about). I mean, it's really just quite comical how Bejing thinks that they knock a few monks around before the torch shows up on their doorstep and no one will notice. Bizarre.
In any event, what I found truly odd was the way controversies of this type are always portrayed by the defenders of the Olympics. In a nutshell, the argument is simply that the Olympic Games are above politics and should - like Justice - blind to whatever is going on in that terribly dreary world of politics. Let the god like Athletes shine as they are meant to, without being dragged down to earth and the mud like the rest of us. After all, the Olympics are about Unity. Capiche?
But really, when haven't the Olympics been nothing but politics? I seem to recall that the modern revival of the Olympic games was when Hitler used them as Germany's coming out party. Then there's the gazillion times that national pride in the USSR was restored by the manly athletic prowess of their women's swim team - well, until the steroid scandals. And god only knows how apolitical the Olympics was when the Israeli athletes were gunned down by Arabs in the 70's. But I suppose that one can really look at these examples too numerous to count and come away with an even stronger conclusion that politics should be kept out of the Olympics.
However, is there any more political of a process than the selection of a host country and city? I mean, besides from the cash involved, there's this huge prestige thing. In China's case, it's obviously their version of a Debutante ball in which the blushing vixen is presented to the world in her coming out party. It's a big "We're here!" to the whole world, demonstrating that they are truly a player in todays world. How's that not 100% political?
And so it's with a smirk on my face that I watch the protestations of the Olympic defenders of purity. It's clear that the games were born in politics, sustained by politics and thrive in politics and fuel politics. To believe otherwise is somewhat akin to believing in the tooth fairy - a quaint tale to pass on to the children, but not something that anyone with an IQ over 90 believes.
Posted by Azael at April 10, 2008 8:30 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.hellblazer.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/3121
