What if Olympic Athletes Just Represented Themselves, Not Their Nation?

[Truth2Tell]

What if Nationality was removed from the Olympic Games?

:shrug:

Would the games be ruined?

Why?

[JBoy]

1. It'll be countries or corporations. Take your pick.

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. "FedEx has the lead with 21 gold medals so far, and Excel is in second with 14"

It's possible the Winchester biathlon team will take a gold, and the Proctor and Gamble Ice Dancers are expected to take the silver after Suntory's.

[scentopine]

11. you got that right!

[Rabrrrrrr]

18. It'll be just like the way the corporations can sponsor our legislators now.

Why not let them have sports, too?

Might just as well.

[Barack_America]

13. Yep. Or only the independently wealthy could afford to compete.

Somebody has to pay for their training and travel.

[Ex Lurker]

29. that's why the modern olympics were limited to amateurs

to keep the common people out. Aristocrats could afford to indulge their athletic hobbies. Working stiffs had to make a living somehow.

[HeresyLives]

2. Well the original purpose in reviving the games

was to have nations compete against each other in sports, rather than war.

So the rivalry is considered a good thing, because it's peaceful and strives for excellence...off the battlefield.

[gatorboy]

4. Yeah, the Nationality aspect is sort of the point.

My only concern is richer countries have an obvious advantage (Better training, better facilities, etc.)

[HeresyLives]

7. There will always be problems to overcome,

but on the whole it's helped.

And it's amazing how many nations compete starting from ground zero.

These games have athletes from India, South Africa, Ghana and so on. Not winter countries.

Sometimes they only send a single athlete, but it's a start.

John Candy starred in a movie about the Jamaican bobsled team.

The Olympic village gets people from all nations together, and they get to be friends...it can only help.

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. Of course - the childish tribalistic phallo-obsessed war-metaphor of sports would be utterly lost.

It might lead to a world of peace and sensibility in which the military industrial complex goes bankrupt and flag makers find themselves sewing shit for weddings.

Can't be having that.

[paulsby]

6. lol. excellent parody

god i hope it was a parody.

:)

[Rabrrrrrr]

17. Parody, perhaps; but offered in seriousness.

Sports-fetishism is a superiorly important ethical issue in today's world; one which needs to be investigated fully, and then torn down.

[Cid_B]

28. I'm going to take a wild guess...

and say that Phys Ed was a rough time for you....

[Rabrrrrrr]

30. No, I actually did pretty well in phy. ed., but thanks for the blanket idiotic insult.

Way to fall back on the old "Oh, if you don't like something, it must just be because you suck at it" bullshit line of the ignorant who are incapable of formulating any kind of analysis or argument.

:eyes:

[Cid_B]

33. Relax there chuckles....

Your idea that "sport-fetishism" should be torn down like its some great world threat just struck me as amusing and deserving of a slightly derisive and / or snarky comment.

Secondly, if you think your original thought was particularly deep in analysis or argument I recommend you check it again. With all the issues in the world, the local pee-wee football league is not that high on the list.

edit: crappy army keyboard with a sticky T

[Rabrrrrrr]

40. local pee-wee league is not sports-fetishism, necessarily, is it?

Enjoying sports is not the same as sports-fetishism. Hence my use of the term "sports-fetishism" and not "enjoying sports" or just plain "sports" or some other variation thereof.

There's a healthy attitude toward sports, and then there's sports-fetishism. The US (and much of the world) is very heavy on the sports-fetishism side (especially among the poorly educated), which is dangerous. But not everyone who enjoys sports a fetishist.

Though I am imperfect at it, I do strive to use words precisely, so when I say "sports-fetishism" I actually mean "sports-fetishism".

[anonymous171]

20. Probability and possibility are two very different things. nt

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. Yes, they are. What either have to do with my post, you utterly failed to say.

:shrug:

[anonymous171]

22. "It might lead to a world of peace and sensibility"

It might also attract malicious aliens to Earth and bring about mankind's destruction. Possible, but not probable at all (just like your scenario.)

[Rabrrrrrr]

25. Hence my use of the word "might", and not "will" or "would ensure".

A lack of 100% certainty is implied in my sentence. Not sure why you feel the need to act like I don't know this.

[Truth2Tell]

36. might also attract malicious aliens to Earth

Can you prove that it already hasn't?

:shrug:

[LanternWaste]

39. What leads you to believe that...?

What leads you to believe that the absence of sports may lead to the absence of war and usher in an era of peace...?

[The_Casual_Observer]

8. Could it get any more boring than it already is by doing that?

Not sure.

[HeresyLives]

9. Why are you watching it then?

I watch the opening and closing ceremonies, I skip the 2 weeks inbetween.

[The_Casual_Observer]

14. Haven't seen much, forced to see the hype about it on the web headlines.

[HeresyLives]

15. Well there's lots of that about everything.

Michael Jackson, Tiger Woods, Charlie Sheen...none of it interesting to me. The Olympics at least end. LOL

[Art_from_Ark]

16. The closing ceremony for the '92 games in Albertville was great

A Fellini-esque tribute to Dr. Seuss!

[scentopine]

10. Yes - I think

because many athletes receive state sponsorship, anyway - this just makes it official. Plus, team sports would be very different. I think it is exciting for any athlete to represent their country - and fun to watch other countries compete.

However, what bothers me is what I am reading about the $1 billion debt in Vancouver and ticket prices in hundreds of dollars such that only elite and wealthy can attend.

All that cash would be better channeled into the athletic programs or to reduce ticket prices.

And the growing spectacle of the opening ceremony and pro sports figures - it is getting downright silly. I'd like to see hockey played by players who aren't NHL prima donnas.

[Drunken Irishman]

12. What about team sports like hockey? Would they be sponsored by people instead of countries?

[Truth2Tell]

26. They'd play one on one.

:P

[anonymous171]

19. Then they would be like any other international athletic competition.

In other words, they would be fucking boring. (Positive) Nationalism is good.

[Truth2Tell]

27. What distinguishes positive from negative nationalism? nt

[anonymous171]

35. One is nice, the other is not.

Positive Nationalism: We are all X, let's make sure that we honor our country by being nice to other nations and each other. Positive nationalism promotes a sense of togetherness at home and mutual respect abroad.

Negative Nationalism: We are the best. All other nations are inferior and therefore have no right to exist. Negative Nationalism promotes imperialism, militarism, and a whole host of other bad things.

[Truth2Tell]

37. I would suggest that your definition

of "positive nationalism" is actually a definition of anti-nationalism.

Being nice to others and having respect for others in no way requires any sort of group identification.

"togetherness at home" to me means togetherness with all my fellow beings here on our shared home, Earth. It seems to me that sentiment is only diluted and/or negated by grouping ourselves into tribes, divided by imaginary lines on the ground and sorted by physical or genetic characteristics.

[anonymous171]

38. That's nice, but those who identify first as a citizen of Earth are a small minority.

I think part of the problem is the confusion that some people have in differentiating between the nation (the people who self-identify as being part of a certain group for whatever reason) and the state (government.) States are greedy, rigid evil fuckers who care only about sustaining their power. Nations, on the other hand, tend to be more generous and organic.

Remember that nationalism, (Economic Nationalism especially) is one of the key elements of positive nationalism and has helped leftist politicians (like Chavez and Evo Morales) gain power and push for popular reforms.I don't see many anti-nationalists marching against Chavez's nationalist rhetoric. In fact, usually they do the opposite (as long as the nationalists are leftist, of course.) Anti-nationalism is just a reaction to negative nationalism, nothing more.

[Truth2Tell]

41. I worry that the nationalist element and tone

of the entire Bolivarian (if that's a word) movement (which I whole-heartedly support) is not particularly healthy. I see how it's been used to push popular reforms. But I worry that it could sow the seeds of longer term problems.

[leftstreet]

23. They'd improve. 'Nation' is a made-up word anyway

You might find this interesting:

Host First Nations Bite the Olympic Hand

by Zoe Blunt / February 12th, 2010

VANCOUVER—It looked like the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Committee had everything sewn up tight: new venues built to order, ads from corporate sponsors, bylaws against ambush marketing, and smiling Indigenous people welcoming the world.

Now, the committee must be wondering whether it misjudged its First Nations “partners.”

Hard on the heels of Indigenous protests during the Olympic Torch Relay, the Four Host First Nations (FHFN) surprised the province and its international partners with an announcement in January. Chief Bill Williams, chair of the FHFN, declared they will use the power of international media to shame the province into honouring its commitments to economic development.

...

Hundreds of reserves across Canada are mired in abject poverty, and thousands make do without safe drinking water, housing, health care, employment and education. Conditions for Indigenous people have only deteriorated since Vancouver and Whistler won the Olympic bid, Hill said. “During this period, hundreds of Natives have been made homeless in Vancouver, subject to police violence and harassment; yet where were Mr. Williams, the Four Host First Nations and their Olympic toad Tewanee Joseph? Kissing the ass of corporations, government and Olympic officials,” he charged.

http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/02/host-first-nations-bite-the-olympic-hand/

[anonymous171]

24. Right. And as non-existent entities, Native nations have no right to political autonomy.

[NoGOPZone]

31. The Games themselves wouldn't be ruined

The TV ratings would be.

[Truth2Tell]

32. True. nt

[ThomWV]

34. You mean kind of like NASCAR? The Drivers represent themselves, and the cars mean little to nothing

Chevy, Ford, Buick, who cares?