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送交者: HLA 于 2008-04-09, 10:23:01:

The Olympic Torch and the protests come to town, and I don’t care
By Tim Kawakami
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 10:56 am in Olympics, Television.

There may be 1 or 2 other things in the world that I consider stupider than the international, months-long Olympic Torch procession or whatever it is… But right now, I can’t think of any. (If only Jim Nantz could do the torch play-by-play, that would top everything.)

I understand the IOC wants to pump its product–yes, people, that’s all the Olympics is. A product. 16 days of product for TV. A 16-day TV show, owned and shopped by NBC.

I don’t think the powerful people whose financial and professional lives are invested in making the Olympics a Great Global Thing like it when it’s acknowledged to be a product, but that doesn’t change the fact.

The Olympics are a commercial. They’re a corporate product. They’re not actually doing anything except trying to make money. And the Torch thing? Beyond meaningless.

Will there be a gold medal awarded tomorrow when The Torch winds its way through protests and the roads of San Francisco the Bay Area? No. Will there be a current Olympic athlete essential to the event? Don’t think so.

Does it matter if the Torch goes out–five or six times, as it did in Europe? No. (Now that would change everything–make it a rule, if the torch goes out, the Olympics are canceled or TV goes dark for a day or something. I’d watch that torch relay.)

Does it matter who carries the Torch? No. Would it change anything if there was no Torch relay? No. Is the Torch thing the concept that reaches back into the ages to the Greek Olympics of yore? No.

Is it anything except a commercial attempt in order to slake the ego/eagerness of an Olympics-crazed populace and try to make the IOC seem like a proto-United Nations (which it’s not)? No.

Would it mean any less if I flicked on a disposable lighter, screamed to the world that I was also carrying my own Olympic Torch, anointed myself a TKOC official, then ran around the Stanford track before collapsing in Fulfilled Exhaustion?

No, of course not.


Me with Bic/Anybody with stupid torch. Same thing, same significance. That’s probably why the IOC pooh-bahs are considering canceling this year’s trek–after the Bay Area, of course.

Hey, I’m not an Olympics hater, as a rule.

The athletes: Great. Love the athletes. However…

The people who consider themselves world diplomats/Great Thinkers because they wear blazers with “IOC” on them? Idiots. Fools. Pompous, corrupt hacks.

The people who fawn over those “IOC” hacks? I won’t even get into that…

The Olympics, during the 16 days, make you cry and cheer and wave the flag. It’s good product. I watch the product. Sometimes I even care about the product. But it’s only a product. It’s 16 days every 4 years.

I understand there are many (mostly rich) people who want to carry the torch, for whatever egotistic or altruistic reasons they have, none of which I will ever share, but that’s just me.

I care about the base things hoity-toity people don’t care about–Super Bowls, NCAA titles, NBA titles, World Series, the U.S. Open…

I don’t believe that the very existence of 5 multi-colored rings means that everything with the Olympics Logo on it is of world-wide grandeur. In fact, for me, it’s the opposite: The Olympics has to prove to me on a case-by-case basis that it’s important enough for me to care.

Olympic track-and-field? Yes, I care. Olympic tennis? No. Olympic soccer? So-so. Olympic boxing? I happen to care. Case by case.

Ah, but the torch is here. I understand that there will be protests, especially when the grand IOC arrogant pooh-bahs elect to place their product in China.

Of course there will be protests. The protests are news. Tibet is news. This, I understand. I will watch for significant developments.

But what I don’t get is why the Torch is here and why they think we have to care. They’re asking for protests, right? They know that.

It’s their advertisement and they’re playing to their own gullible audience. Whatever happens next is the IOC’s own fault and its problem.

I hope nobody gets hurt. I’ll laugh if the flame goes out–while nobody gets hurt. I’ll marvel at the taxpayer costs involved in this ego boost.

Other than that, who cares? I’m not boycotting the Olympics, since I’m not invited. I’m not boycotting the opening ceremonies, since.. well, as mentioned above.

I’m boycotting caring about the torch relay/ego fest, however. Boycotting that forever.

http://www.mercextra.com/blogs/kawakami/2008/04/08/the-olympic-torch-and-the-protests-come-to-town-and-i-dont-care/




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