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Debbie Downer, Olympics version

I know I’m being a total Debbie Downer about the Olympics, but I had two thoughts to write about them. Basically, they are variations on the observation that the Olympics tend to glorify and elevate the State to a great extent. This could be due to the preeminent pathos of our times (all times?), but I think part of it is inherent to the Olympics themselves.

First, immense sums of taxes must be extracted from the host country’s citizenry in order to fund the construction and planning that goes into hosting the Olympics. Perhaps the country expects to turn a profit via increased Olympics-related commerce, but that’s a mighty debt to overcome, and either way I maintain that the expectation—indeed, the assurance—of a profit does not justify the initial theft that funded the endeavor. This is a similar debate to that which city councils and sports fans have about the funding of professional sports stadiums. There is no debate in my mind because the ends do not justify the means—theft with the promise of profit is evil.

(I also doubt that all the funds extracted from the Chinese by income taxation, sales taxes, inflation, and otherwise, which may or may not be transformed into a profit by the Chinese government, will be returned proportionally to the subjects from whom the money was taken. All those poor factory workers and farmers and middle-class workers will probably not be remunerated in full either directly or indirectly, like in increased sales, decreased operating costs, or lower taxes or regulatory costs because of all that profit the government made, etc. If you think that’s way off, then tell me.)

Second, what nationalism and jingoism comes along with Olympic cheering! “Someone from my country did something better than someone from your country!” Both individual and team Olympic games have a peculiar combination of individual competition and collectivist-nationalist bias.

Amazingly, though, athletic competition proves to be a healthy outlet for our collectivist urges. Somehow, it is more than entertainment and they are more than entertainers. They are the best who ever lived at their craft. You can’t even seem to watch a swimming qualifying heat this week without witnessing an all-time world record. The fact that I am more glad when an American sets a world record than when a Korean or Australian does doesn’t detract from the fact that these athletic competitions increase my sense of boundary-less camaraderie, respect, and goodwill. I feel the same thing when I compete in sports, and the Olympic athletes themselves feel it a thousand-fold more. We cheer for athletes who compete against other athletes for nothing more than a title within their own sporting organization, but our passion is actually healthy precisely because it isn’t a grave matter of life or death like politics and war. Otherwise, there is no way I could feel such guilt-free pride about the American swimming team’s victory in the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay over the arrogant, trash-talking French team. I’ve heard second-hand stories about Michael Phelps being an arrogant jerk in college, but that doesn’t change the fact that idolizing him as a national sports hero is quite harmless and normal.

So I hope I ended this post on an up, not a down, note, despite the title.

Posted in Sports, Statolatry