Friday, February 4, 2022

Olympics coverage: a gold medal in glossing over


     Something is happening soon. An occurrence, at a place, involving people. Interested? No? OK, maybe I didn’t give you enough information. It’s a sporting event, a big competition, far away. Better?
     All right, all right: the 2022 Winter Olympics. Skiing, ice skating, bobsledding and more. Opening ceremonies are Friday.
     It’s on television — NBC is carrying it, and I just heard a radio commercial that summarized the above without once mentioning what used to be a salient fact: the location.
     The Olympics are taking place in China. And while the host country used to be significant, now it’s a footnote. Why? Bad optics. The ruthless oppression of China’s Uyghur population. The crackdown on Hong Kong. They don’t quite mesh with the Olympian ideal of competition and fair play.
     There’s more. China’s mounting passion to subjugate the free and independent nation of Taiwan. Its vassal state of Tibet. And our two-year trade war.
     Quite a lot, really.
    But wait, as Ron Popeil said. There’s more. Don’t forget Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, who accused a high-ranking Community Party member of assault last November then was yanked from sight, popping up in a variety of staged shams whose ham-handedness was almost reassuring.
     The Birthplace of COVID.... 
     You get the picture.
     So “China” gets coughed into a fist, lest viewers who’d otherwise get excited about watching luge decide to pass. Myself, I might tune in, just for a glimpse of our totalitarian future, whether imposed from without or embraced from within. Seamless lies backed by faceless power. Something to look forward to.

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5 comments:

  1. I will watch the spectacle of the Opening Ceremonies. I love a parade. Especially a parade of nations. On the 20th, I will watch the Closing Ceremonies. When the Olympic flame is extinguished, I'll say: "Well, THAT'S finally over..."

    In between? Zero, zip, zilch, nil, nada. Same as every other Olympic year, for decades now. This one will be no different. For me, the Olympic Games have always been a lot of horse puckey, right down to all those horny young Olympians trying to promote international goodwill by attempting to engage in lubricious Olympic sex...on those cardboard beds.

    Amateurs? Yeah, right...the same way sex workers are. The Olympians aren't in it for the love of sport, or even for the accolades and the glory. They're professionals, and like everything else, professional athleticism is all about the moolah. And the endorsements, and all the rest of it.

    Winter sports? Meh. Pass. The best things about winter are not winter sports, but the things that help you forget it's winter. Like sleeping--the best winter sport of all. I'd rather do that then watch NBC's Olympic coverage. Maybe I can do both. I can turn on a curling match, and then nod off and cop some Zs. Works for me.

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    1. Hey, if I still drank I'd be glued to curling!

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  2. I won't watch one second of this garbage!
    I have no use for the overblown Opening & Closing Ceremonies.
    The same for the boring & tendentious Up Close & Personal slobbering over some of the athletes.
    I will instead catch up on the various movies I've got recorded on the DVR or go to the library & pickup a few DVDs to watch, some classic old comedies.

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  3. I plan instead to watch the latest episode of "The Indian Doctor" on Channel 11. A charming program set in a small town in Wales that has a plot line unexpectedly relevant to what is going on here.

    Tom

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    1. The Indian Doctor is infuriating me this season.
      I'm totally baffled as to why the people of Trefelin weren't vaccinated for smallpox in 1960, when this takes place.
      Plus their appalling stubbornness is insane.
      The show was shot in 2010-2013, so it is extremely timely as to the current anti-vax insanity.
      I was vaccinated just after being born in 1949 & I would assume many of the men there were drafted into the British Army by 1940 even though some would've been deferred due to being coal miners.
      The British Army would've vaccinated them upon entry.
      I also assume the British government would've wanted everyone vaccinated due to the possibility of germ warfare.

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