Much has been made in the mainstream media (i.e., the large scale commercial media) about the "disgraceful" disruption of the opening of the 2010 Olympic torch relay by a motley collage of anarchist low life "professional protesters." Calls for jail sentences bounced around the pages of Canwest Global like so many ping pong balls gone wild.
Reporters were unable to refrain from seizing the anticipated rhetorical high ground to condemn how the same nihilist rabble crushed the dreams of a 17-year old torch bearer with cerebral palsy and cruelly disappointed small children happily waiting for their heroes to triumphantly run past. Not least, the potty-mouthed demonstrators used the f-bomb to shock Victorian grandmothers and toddlers alike...and heavens, even did so more than once!
Does this perfidy ever end? No, it appears not since the same Goths and Vandals were willing to kill police horses with the surreptitious placement of marbles on the streets, thus endangering both the beasts and their masters.
In the aftermath of Victoria, one provincial Liberal party MLA was moved enough by the potential mayhem to use the word "terrorist" to describe the perpetrators of the alleged outrage. Lions and tigers and bears (and anarchists), oh my!
Where, or where, to start dismantling this wheel barrow of horse manure?
We can begin with the marbles since this got a significant portion of the media scrutiny. Did it happen? Yes. Who did it? No one knows. But we do know this: It was the protesters on the scene who were picking the marbles up, some of whom may have been on the receiving end of a horse-borne riot squad charge, not one of the most pleasant experiences in the world. I saw one such charge up close and personal in Seattle 10 years ago and had to dodge down an alley with my nine year old son to keep from being run over. Not fun.
Next, yes, the f-word was said -- repeatedly -- but one has to assume the good burghers of Victoria, young and old alike, had heard it before. The kid with the disorder who couldn't run? He ran the next day in Nanaimo; hence, no permanent psychic scars.
Advertising
Finally, what on earth is a professional protester and how would one know one? Where does their illusory funding come from now that the Soviet Union is gone (or even before for that matter)? Can there really, truly be anyone out there who believes that there exist protesters who go from city to city just to demonstrate as some sort of lunatic day job? The idea is just outright dumb...and rapidly heading for dumber. (But there is a caveat to this, as I will show below).
Clearly some people will believe anything. After all, 64 per cent of those voting in the 2003 Vancouver Olympic plebiscite believed the late Jack Poole in his wildly imaginative assertion that hosting the 2010 Games would make money for the city and province. Scroll forward to last week's Price, Waterhouse, Coopers report on the economic impact of the 2010 Games to see just how badly informed that subpopulation of Vancouverites actually was.
As the above suggests, much of the media hype was not only juvenile, it also managed to miss the main point: The true disrupters were not those out on the streets in Victoria protesting the torch, rather those who brought the Circus' torch to town in the first place.
Think about it: The torch -- originally a Nazi symbol for the 1936 Olympic Games -- ran through much of downtown Victoria on a work day, closing streets left and right, interfering with people going to work or getting their kids to school, and blocking deliveries (and customers) for businesses. And all for what? So that the Olympic circus would have a happy send off as it made its way out of town to disrupt people across the country. I wonder if anyone has calculated the lost wages and productivity of a106 day relay of disruption.
Or how about this: During the period from mid January to the end of March 2010, that is between the beginning of the transportation/security street closures in Vancouver to the end of the Paralympics, all of the above -- and more -- will occur solely to enable those who want the unfettered "right to party" to celebrate the Games.
Vast areas of downtown Vancouver will be closed to any traffic at all; other routes will have "Olympic lanes" dedicated to the "Olympic family", athletes, and the omnipresent security forces. What we will get with our party is a two month-long fun zone of absolute gridlock for those just trying to go about their daily lives. Do you own a small business that can't afford a two month closure at all, let alone during a recession? Are you a salaried worker near a closed area and can't afford to take vacation and fly away to warmer climes? Do you need to get your children to school or the doctor?
For all of you, tough beans, the Circus is coming to town and your only response is to party. Or maybe you can just sulk quietly at home; God forbid you should go out and protest.
So what's the difference between the disruptions caused by Olympic protesters and those caused by the Olympics? How about this: One kind of disruption is sanctioned -even welcomed - by the government, the other not; one is designed to contest the utter infringement on our collective rights, the other to celebrate an event that has tried to put those same rights in the garbage; one creates a few hours of messy street democracy; the other creates two months of lost revenues and missed opportunities.
The real disrupters, the ones who do get paid to travel around the globe messing with peoples' lives, are not those out on the streets trying to reclaim a small piece of the commons for the rest of us, but rather the masters of the Olympic circus itself.
If you want to put disrupters in jail, start with the real criminals.
Assuming that you are correct and the people who run, support and are involved in the creation of the Olympics are all crooks please tell me what is the alternative to this international sport? Please tell me how and where can the world meet in mutual respect and peace to promote the skill, vision and passion of athleticism? For the entire negative, real or not, issues, the bottom line is that there is nothing to replace the Olympics and to hold our world together. For those few weeks of sacrifice, putting up with street closures and traffic we get to show our beautiful city and province, our talent and our devotion to the Olympic ideals. And trust me, there are countless hours of devotion that must be given for the Olympics to occur. That is the priviledge and pride of participation. We become the focus of the planet and the world lifts its heart away from the daily grind, away from societal and global ills, away from war and pain. For a moment, we glance at the glory and the potential of the human heart, body and mind and we celebrate. I for one, no matter how many negative views there are towards the Olympics. thank the higher powers that we still have them and they are worth every penny that is spent on them, if money is to be made that is a bonus. The world needs the Olympics now and forever and it would indeed be bleak and depressing for humanity without them.
"the world lifts its heart away from the daily grind, away from societal and global ills, away from war and pain...worth every penny that is spent on them"
I very profoundly disagree, but I suspect that the faith in the healing powers of the Olympics that this writer displays is impervious to my cynicism....So enjoy, and we'll worry about the bills later....
I say if the guys and gals want to play sport together with the snow hills, lakes, pools and buildings out there and want to satellite the event I say go for it. However it is just one big shopping event where government can't get enough of preparing for the 3 week. Bridges, trains, buses, autos, limos, ambulances,planes, golf carts, all just sitting for the Olympics while the province goes without. New older looking transportation systems, sporting centers, convention centers, an Olympic Village, highways. And the security, and the pollution, all in excess all part and parcel of the big shopping event.
Hitler cooked up the Olympics as a propaganda machine and nothing has changed as lobbyists and land developers are left drolling at an event that would make them a killing in real estate and government contracts. Only problem the prices are getting so high and homelessness is increasing and the homeless stiff is being torched and stabbed and beaten and robbed and often left in their own drool as governments ensure their demise. Its a way of getting rid of the less fortunate, making sure the homeless stay down and out because it is so much easier to get rid of when gentrifying the area. Wouldn't you agree? Did I forget the Athletes who themselves are often found breaking all the rules to win the game or politicians telling the publics spending is under control when it is not, a place of honor, I think not. And of course last but not least I don't know about you but with all the people expected for the event and with the very real possibility of mutants that don't respond to vaccine in the air. Sounds like an event to die for. New mutants aren't responding to the H1N1 vaccine. Nope the Olympics just may have out lived itself, in this event anyways as although the mutants are said to be man made Nature has kicked in and who is in control.
An interesting look at the Olympics, though I feel you're missing the pointing, specifically regarding the Olympic torch. While it's true that the Nazis turned the torch into a relay, which is popular today, the lighting of the torch was around long before then.
Fire was originally used in the ancient games to honour Zeus during competitions. The lighting of the torch placed emphasis on the enlightenment of the sport, and represents courage and inspiration, which is how most people see the Olympic torch today.