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and if Atlanta had spent the same it spent on the Olympics directly on social programs?I'll be a devil's advocate here and mention that the money spent on things like the Olympics does have ancillary benefits. For example, the 1996 Olympics helped revitalize my home of Atlanta, and the economic growth has helped both the rich and poor here.
and if Atlanta had spent the same it spent on the Olympics directly on social programs?
Could the Nobel prize not achieve the same thing
I'm serious dude! Its a ****ing orgy of money spent to idolise and revere a super select group of individuals who ultimately contribute nothing to society.
I don't give a rat's who wins the 100metre sprint... how many malaria prone children will that provide with quinine, know whaat I mean?
Great, so some guy can run fast. Do we need a multi million dollar event to treat him like he's bigger than Jesus?
I'm not saying the Olympics should exist, I'm saying its a silly thing to lavish so much money and respect onNo, not for as many people. More people watch the Olympics than follow and care about the Nobel prizes. Agreed?
I approve of both the Olympics and the Nobel prizes, and think that both should exist.
eudaimonia,
Mark
But hey, look on the bright side - at least your country didn't win, and consequently feel obliged to spend £12bn...
The problem with this, though, is that the money would never go to feeding the poor. Rather, the money would go to trying to improve economic conditions in China (which the Olympics may do in a roundabout way)...
When governments have surplus money they do not send it to Africa all the time, guys.
I'm serious dude! Its a ****ing orgy of money spent to idolise and revere a super select group of individuals who ultimately contribute nothing to society.
I don't give a rat's who wins the 100metre sprint... how many malaria prone children will that provide with quinine, know whaat I mean?
Great, so some guy can run fast. Do we need a multi million dollar event to treat him like he's bigger than Jesus?
The torch relay is the thing that really astonishes me... I mean, at the risk of going all Godwins here... you guys know it WAS invented by Hitler and Leni Riefenstahl for the 1936 Berlin games?It's true that professional athletes are treated with much more awe than they are worth.
But the Olympics athletes are rarely professionals. Many go on to normal careers after their athletic careers. Some have normal careers, or are normal students, much of the time.
The Olympics could certainly be scaled back. The opening and closing ceremonies could go back to being times to celebrate actual local artistic culture, not pop icons.
The Olympics could be a place of healthy compitition rather than healthy profit margins for advertisers and sponsors. The events could be over a longer period of time so that the community hosting them isn't so overwhelmed. The training could be scaled back so it was less about profitable sports paraphenilia and more about the athletic competition and good oldfashioned hard work.
The whole torch relay could be scrapped altogether, or it could be turned into an actual charity relay.
I think sports and art play an important role in a healthy society and they should not be scrapped. But they can both be done in more sustainable, grassroots ways.
It's true that professional athletes are treated with much more awe than they are worth.
But the Olympics athletes are rarely professionals. Many go on to normal careers after their athletic careers. Some have normal careers, or are normal students, much of the time.
The Olympics could certainly be scaled back. The opening and closing ceremonies could go back to being times to celebrate actual local artistic culture, not pop icons.
The Olympics could be a place of healthy compitition rather than healthy profit margins for advertisers and sponsors. The events could be over a longer period of time so that the community hosting them isn't so overwhelmed. The training could be scaled back so it was less about profitable sports paraphenilia and more about the athletic competition and good oldfashioned hard work.
The whole torch relay could be scrapped altogether, or it could be turned into an actual charity relay.
I think sports and art play an important role in a healthy society and they should not be scrapped. But they can both be done in more sustainable, grassroots ways.
The torch relay is the thing that really astonishes me... I mean, at the risk of going all Godwins here... you guys know it WAS invented by Hitler and Leni Riefenstahl for the 1936 Berlin games?
I've studied European history and, yah, that fact astonishes me. People complain about "eVILution" being to blame for Hitler (it wasn't) or Catholisism (it wasn't) or that we shouldn't give food stamps to the poor because that's a socialist thing and the Nazi's had socialism in their name (even though they were NOT socialist at all)
But when the Torch relay is brought up... the Hitler comments go silent. When restricting women's rights comes up... the Hitler comments go silent. When GLBT rights come up... the Hitler comments go silent. Yet Hitler repressed the rights of the German people by taking away basic rights to women and homosexuals (among millions of others).
Why is it that all the usual fundie ratbags are, as ever, banging on and on about how the relatively inoffensive actions of others are such terribly apostasy and abomination, like evolution and homosexuality, while a much bigger idolatry is occuring world wide?
You'll hear about conspiracies and homosexual agendas working in secret to promote evolution, when there is a blatant idolatrous movement right in front of everyone at the moment. Not a conspiracy, its internationally recognised and contributed to by the world's governments.
The Olympics, of course.
We have this event that is the very definition of idolatry... it takes people's worship away from God, it elevates athletes to demi-gods (I've even heard one promotion describe them as "the Gods of sport"), certainly promotes them a worship-worthy icons and even includes faux religious ceremonies and events. Seriously, tell me the torch lighting ceremony, relay, opening and closing ceremonies would not be labelled as idolatrous, or at the very least religious, if they were perfomred by any other group?
Now don't get me wrong, theres nothing wrong with sport, and healthy competition between individuals, but the Olympics elevates it to the level of idolatry. Its ridiculous. I pretty much consider sport to have lost the plot anytime anyone becomes a "professional athlete". Just what the heck do these people contribute? Nothing! And yet we support them utterly with massive pay, and revere them and dote on them, almost as if they were some form of priesthood. Surely sports are healthier when its friendly competition on weekends by volunteers with training after work, not with full time sports stars who spend literally inhuman amounts of time on training, to the exclusion of all else, including family and work. Thats just like a spiritual ascetic or hermit, right there!
Sorry to rant, it just bothers me the amount of money and reverence devoted to the Olympics when there are so many better things it could go on. The Olympics before 1936 were fine... countries putting together a few of their best amateur contenders in the spirit of friendly international rivalry. Does the current Olympics look anything like this? Indeed, I conted the ONLY possible positive to come out of the current Olympic hype is to highlight the plights of the oppressed in China... yet the media, Olympic organising agencies, and participating governments, seem bent to do their level best to reduce the heart felt, desperate protests of the oppressed and their advocates, to a tiny sidenote.
Would love to hear other people's thoughts.
As for myself, theres a 24/7 Simpsons marathon on for the duration of the games, thats what I'll be watching.
The cost of the 2012 Olympics in London is skyrocketing. The original estimate was £4bn - a ridiculous amount of money - but at the moment we're looking at a pricetag of over £12bn, and they tell us practically once a week that the cost has increased. That's a lot of money. And according to some critics, the cost of the land the stadium's being built on isn't being included in that figure.
Support for the arts in London has been drastically cut from £4.5m to £3.5m. That £1m has disappeared into a black hole. And that's not to mention the increase in council tax for Londoners, who are the very ones who will have to put up with the strain on infrastructure in their city. I can only imagine what could have been done for schools, hospitals, or even public transport for £12bn. Yes, part of the work being done for the Olympics will benefit Londoners in the longterm - but really only Londoners, beyond the economic benefits of tourism.
It makes me a bit cross.
It would have been nice if they hadn't spent £400,000 on a hideous logo that gives epileptic people seizures (no, really), for example (especially when the logo for the London Olympic bid was actually really nice).
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