A+, as usual, for Archivistower. I also despise the hypocrisy and steaming bullshit that are the Olympics, but have no problem at all with their existence or with other people enjoying them. What I do have a problem with, however, is this:
"we stick them into a competition and base our national worth on whether they do it faster than a bunch of other people."
The idea that these people somehow 'represent' me, and that I should 'support' them financially or otherwise is as ridiculous and frankly offensive as their esteemed and admired position in our society is just plain stupid.
And that goes for the hockey players too, even though I love watching the game as much as the next Canuck. So there.
PS - Did anyone catch the opening ceremonies? I did not, but saw a truly wonderful summary of them on The Daily Show. Even by the extraordinarily high standards set by past versions of this event, they were absolutely surreal. I'd previously thought it impossible to trump the uber-tacky, hyper-ludicrous closing ceremonies of the '84 LA games (complete with rubber-suited alien landing), but this actually pulled it off. There is no point in trying to describe the spectacle here, as no words could possibly do them justice - simply amazing. Stewart accurately described it as a carnival of the bizarre that even Fellini would find a bit much. Hats off to the Italians - incredibly, the bar has been raised! "Olympic Gold", indeed.
