I've been enjoying the Olympics thus far but I've had some thoughts about what we're seeing and not seeing.
My Olympic Observations:
1. A lot of athletes from around the world go to school in the U.S.
There have been countless times where they talked about a foreign
athlete from almost anywhere in the world and they say “he/she attends
the university of Iowa”. It makes me think wow, even though America has a
lot of problems, even though our higher education system is flawed
financially, we are still a world destination and a place where citizens
of the world want to be. Imagine if we fixed the brutal student loan
system and the government wasn’t trying to profit on young people who
are punished for the crime of trying to better themselves.
2.
From what we see on television Rio looks like heaven on earth but don’t
let the media fool you. There are so many people struggling in Rio and
in Brazil as they have brutal income inequality and corruption
throughout their government worse than we do. They also have a
notoriously brutal and corrupt police force which has killed more people
in the city of Rio alone than our police have killed in the entire USA
this year. This spotlight on Rio should serve as a warning to us. This
is where we are heading. We aren’t living in favelas yet, with starving
have-nots in slum villages “living”, if you can call it that, in the
shadows of glorious shopping centers for the haves but we’re getting
damn close.
2. I think we need a new national anthem. Don’t get
me wrong, the old one is okay. I always thought it was a great burn that
it was set to a popular high society British tune but I think its’ time
has passed. For one, we like the British now. They are our friends. It
seems pretty disrespectful that our national anthem is a dig at one of
our closest friends. For two, the language in that thing is so
antiquated. No one speaks that way anymore except when they are singing
the thing. Some may find that romantic, I just find it tired. It’s okay
to evolve. Third and most importantly, the entire song is about a great
battle in Baltimore harbor during the war of 1812. I understand that
it’s a source of national pride because we won that pivotal battle and
the war, but at what point does the song do more harm than good? That
battle happened over 200 years ago! I mean, America is thought of around
the world as an arrogant bully and our national anthem sings of rockets
and bombs, yee haw! I dunno, perhaps this type of thinking influences
our aggressive, violent culture. From childhood we are singing or
constantly hearing about how we fought and kicked England’s ass and how
wonderful it was. Maybe if our anthem was something more inclusive and
respectful, we’d be more inclusive and respectful. The things we
regularly say, or in this case sing, have more of an influence on us
than we think. We simply take it for granted but just maybe, if you have
a violent national anthem, you might be more likely to have violent
culture… just saying.
3. I hate any “sport” where someone is
riding a horse. I’m sorry, not sorry, I can’t do it. When equestrian
comes on I now always cringe and change the channel. The funniest part
to me is when the horse doesn’t quite make a jump or doesn’t perform as
desired and the commentators remark about how the person on the horse
didn’t make it. “Oh, Richard came up a little short there.” or “Angela
clipped the bar on that jump.” Respect the horse! I just can’t get over
how we humans see a large majestic creature and the first thing we think
is, hey let’s ride it! I dunno, maybe it’s just me.
4. My
favorite thing about the Olympics is the overall brilliance of the
humanity assembled. Countries that are friends, foes, something in
between assemble and compete peacefully, together for 2 weeks and united
on a global level. What else in this world can achieve that? The only
flaw in it is the competition element, but that notwithstanding, to see
all the countries come together and co-exist for even a short period of
time is a beautiful thing.
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