The Olympic games and ethics, values, purpose and sponsership

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What do you think/feel about the Olympic Games, and the 'Olympic Spirit'.

How do you feel about how and by whom the Olympic games are funded -sponsership?

Should only ethical companies be allowed to sponsor?

Do you think that the Olympic games bring people together in a cooperative spirit?

Do you think that the games can provide any kind of solution or productive action towards world peace and lessening poverty, and power imbalances?

What role do you think sports plays in world politics and culture, especaily in the context of national and international competition.

Is sport a tool we can utilse to improve the world and raise people out of poverty and ignorance?

How could the Olympic games be more relevant and meaningful?

Do you watch the Olympic Games?

Does it make you feel more proud, patriotic or nationalistic?
 
I like the games because of the traditional spirit of unity it seems to embody but I don't think that spirit is there today. I think the Olympic games had more meaning when countries were insulated and the games represented a bridging of borders previously not crossed or when there is limited understanding and interaction with other peoples and cultures. It got it's significance from bringing people together who were traditionally apart or separate. Today, because our world is so integrated, I don't think the games reflect the same feeling or signficance. But I can't help watching and looking forward to it and rooting for countries who are often ignored in everyday news or media get some attention for talent rather than hearing only about the politics or negatives. I also think it has the potential to encourage countries traditionally restrictive about who should represent them open their eyes to the possibilities when they see other countries' wins and successes. It can also teach cultural appreciation and tolerance.
 
Thanks, some good thoughts [MENTION=1669]Cedar[/MENTION]- Great to see you back too!
 
I only feel like answering one of the questions:

Anyone and any company should be alowed to sponsor the Olympics: sporting competition is a good thing, so even if a business be entirely corrupt, they should nevertheless be allowed to do at least this good thing.

However, there should be a distinction between sponsors that can promote their sponsorship and those that cannot, based on ethical principles.
 
I live near London.

The Olympics is a collosal waste of money.

I have absolutely no problem with low brow companies like McDonalds sponsoring the Olympics because most of the people who will be watching the Olympics won't be particularly high brow.
 
InvisibleJim said:
I live near London.

The Olympics is a collosal waste of money.

I have absolutely no problem with low brow companies like McDonalds sponsoring the Olympics because most of the people who will be watching the Olympics won't be particularly high brow.
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Doesn't that create a vicious cycle of sorts?

I think the likes of McDonalds and Coca-Cola have no business sponsoring the Olympics. The extent to which the brand image of the Olympics and all the sponsorship was taken made me lose interest completely. It completely nulls and voids any of the 'Olympic Spirit' rhetoric and makes the entire thing appear to be about money and geopolitical dick-swinging.

Of course that has been the case for ages. The Nazis didn't spend more than any nation had ever spent before on their games because of the 'Olympic Spirit'. It's propaganda for any nation that hosts it. I just liked to think my own country was above that now. Who are we trying to impress with that shit tower?

Not to say it isn't nice and people won't enjoy it. More power to them. It's just difficult not to be cynical when the positive aspects for ordinary people are the least important part of the games. It's an event for world-leaders and big business, not atheletes and certainly not the general public. It's just a bit of a shame it's so obviously hollow when it needn't be.
 
The Olympic Games are practically without redeeming features.

To quote Noam Chomsky, the point of organized sports (particular team spectator sports) is building up attitudes of irrational submission to authority, group cohesion behind leadership elements, and training in irrational jingoism. It panders to the basest of tribalistic human instincts.

The Olympics are a particularly strong example because they are explicitly about celebrating nationalism. Even in individual events the athletes are seen not as individuals but as representatives of their countries.


How are you defining "ethical companies." Personally I think wasting money on such things itself at least borders on unethical, particularly when the money does not belong to those who decide how to spend it. I'm not saying that we should outlaw advertising altogether, but it irritates me when my money is spent on something like this rather than on providing a quality product cheaper. I tend to think that more business decisions should be referred to the owners rather than directors or executives of companies. If the shareholders vote to sponsor something then fine. Of course, it would be better for them to give their own money rather than that which belongs in part to those who disagree.


The Olympics certainly brings some people together, but not to do anything worthwhile.


Encouraging nationalism and competition between groups defined by arbitrary political borders can only be bad for world peace. It may be a less harmful way of expressing jingoism than actual war, but it is wrong to think that one discourages the other. Many of the early proponents of the games used the hydraulic model of emotion to argue that sports allow a peaceful release of hostilities that would otherwise lead to war. Since then the hydraulic model has been thoroughly discredited by modern psychology. Expressing such things does not provide a release, but rather reinforcement.

The Olympics and organized sports in general are a huge waste of resources. They may lift some out of poverty, but create more poverty in the process. They are a distraction that keeps people more ignorant of things that actually matter.
 
Honestly, my favorite part of the Olympics, (summer or winter) are when they are over.
Nothing against the athletes, or the intended spirit of the games, but like everything else it has all become so bloated and over commercialized over the years that it all turns me off. If I see any of it, it will be by accident as I search for something else to watch.
With all the media coverage, I feel like the games have been running for 3 months already.
 
magister343 said:
The Olympics are a particularly strong example because they are explicitly about celebrating nationalism. Even in individual events the athletes are seen not as individuals but as representatives of their countries.
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The Olympics are less nationalistic for us. For some reason in other national sporting events like Rugby League or the World Cup we participate as England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Yet for the Olympics we assemble Voltron style to form Team GB.
 
The Olympics are, in large part, massively unethical. I don't know if they originated with good intentions, but the were tauted as having such. Unfortunately, money's touched the Games as it has everything else, and greed has consumed a large part of the entire event. I apologize for sounding so cynical...

The podium standings are also impacted by finances. Athletes who are sponsored and are able to afford better training conditions may have a greater shot at rising to the top. From things like replacing equipment so athletes are less likely to get injured, to medical care for sustained injuries, to preventative care, to things like purchasing the brand of equipment that will be used at the Games as to get used to the feel of that particular equipment... all of this is enabled by money. Money doesn't have absolute control over performance, but it factors in.

The reason I get excited about the Olympics, though, in spite of their more shady, unethical, and problematic aspects is because in spite of all of that, they still represent an incredible level of excellence and dedication on the part of the athletes (and their support systems). Striving for that kind of excellence is something truly remarkable, and definitely something to take note of, imho. And to some people in the world who may not have the world at their fingertips, the Olympics still remain a way through which they witness the world coming together. Or so it seems. Perhaps that final point is more cheesy than anything. :P
 
My first thought when hearing about the Olympics is "Yay, two whole weeks of sport. Thank god for Netflix."

I don't think that the Olympics aids in any world peace or acceptance of other nations. If anything it can bring up old wounds and create new ones. It's the same with any major sporting event.
 
My first thought about the Olympics reflects on personal perfection. I like seeing a human being accomplish this. It gives me a certain felt excitement, but I look into it deeper. I see toned muscles, tuned minds, accelerated drive, willpower, dedication, and the likes.

There seems to be a specific moment during the Olympics when an individual person surprises the world with their excellence. They have reached for the stars and landed in a way nobody else ever landed. To see the joy and satisfaction in a world with so many problems and difficulties emboldens others and gives them hope even but for a moment. People excel and I like that. I may look at the trees instead of the forest, but the trees make the forest.
Everyone needs to enjoy the successes of others every now and then.
 
just me said:
My first thought about the Olympics reflects on personal perfection. I like seeing a human being accomplish this. It gives me a certain felt excitement, but I look into it deeper. I see toned muscles, tuned minds, accelerated drive, willpower, dedication, and the likes.

There seems to be a specific moment during the Olympics when an individual person surprises the world with their excellence. They have reached for the stars and landed in a way nobody else ever landed. To see the joy and satisfaction in a world with so many problems and difficulties emboldens others and gives them hope even but for a moment. People excel and I like that. I may look at the trees instead of the forest, but the trees make the forest.
Everyone needs to enjoy the successes of others every now and then.
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Agree, I think it's about celebrating the strive for excellence. And it's nice to see when teams or athletes exceed everyone's expectations and win a medal for their countries, especially from countries which most of the world tends to ignore or rarely acknowledge exist because they are not part of the major or more well known economic or political powers in the world.
 
Cedar said:
Agree, I think it's about celebrating the strive for excellence. And it's nice to see when teams or athletes exceed everyone's expectations and win a medal for their countries, especially from countries which most of the world tends to ignore or rarely acknowledge exist because they are not part of the major or more well known economic or political powers in the world.
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I see you like the underdog. Some of those underdogs are superman(woman).
 
Cornerstone said:
Doesn't that create a vicious cycle of sorts?

I think the likes of McDonalds and Coca-Cola have no business sponsoring the Olympics. The extent to which the brand image of the Olympics and all the sponsorship was taken made me lose interest completely. It completely nulls and voids any of the 'Olympic Spirit' rhetoric and makes the entire thing appear to be about money and geopolitical dick-swinging.

Of course that has been the case for ages. The Nazis didn't spend more than any nation had ever spent before on their games because of the 'Olympic Spirit'. It's propaganda for any nation that hosts it. I just liked to think my own country was above that now. Who are we trying to impress with that shit tower?

Not to say it isn't nice and people won't enjoy it. More power to them. It's just difficult not to be cynical when the positive aspects for ordinary people are the least important part of the games. It's an event for world-leaders and big business, not atheletes and certainly not the general public. It's just a bit of a shame it's so obviously hollow when it needn't be.
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You are worried that McDonalds and Coke will tarnish the image of the Olympics? Geesh, how did you feel when they held them in China and the tibetians started protesting... well at least until the cameras went off. I saw footage of that time period of Chinese soldiers shooting unarmed pilgrims hiking up a mountain to the temple with rifles... but we're worried about McDonalds?
 
Billy said:
You are worried that McDonalds and Coke will tarnish the image of the Olympics? Geesh, how did you feel when they held them in China and the tibetians started protesting... well at least until the cameras went off. I saw footage of that time period of Chinese soldiers shooting unarmed pilgrims hiking up a mountain to the temple with rifles... but we're worried about McDonalds?
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I'm concerned about the Western World because this is the last bastion of anything that even remotely resembles freedom and the people are being made fatter, lazier and stupider and it's being marketed to them as 'happiness'.

Frank Zappa said:
"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”
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China is a Capitalist society without all the frills and our entire economy appears to be based on our fat, stupid citizens existing to buy the crap that their poor, downtrodden citizens produce. Both groups of people are victims but it's much easier to be in one group than the other. One is Nineteen Eighty Four; one is a Brave New World. We still have the illusion of freedom in the Western World and to a certain extent, if the population were capable of rational thought, we could exercise our right to democratic process. But with a level of consciousness that allows a newspaper with a picture of tits on the third page to decide elections - it is a poor excuse of a 'developed' nation. We have a lot that is good but we will lose it all eventually. So, yes, I am concerned about these Multi-billion American companies monopolising the Olympic Games in the UK and then having to see a sham of an opening ceremony talk about Britishness when it is nowhere to be seen. Britain has become a shill and it saddens me because it the way things are going - it will only get worse and we will lose everything good...and maybe even the stupid shit that allows us to be comfortable, too.

We can't do anything about China now. It's terrible and a shame but there is a bigger picture and the 'Free' world is what needs to change in order for anywhere else to.

That, or Israel and Palestine need to sort their shit out. If they did that, I think everyone might be able to. But I think it would be more realistic to sort things out here.
 
quote "I'm concerned about the Western World because this is the last bastion of anything that even remotely resembles freedom and the people are being made fatter, lazier and stupider and it's being marketed to them as 'happiness'." unquote

Now that I'm stupider I can be happy.
 
just me said:
Now that I'm stupider I can be happy.
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Que?

Ignorance is indeed bliss...to a point. I am aware I can do very little to alter reality and can make a grudging peace with it but to be unaware of the sitution would not make me happy. To ignore the issue or not become aware would make me feel more uncomfortable.

Or I wouldn't be aware that I wasn't aware so...derp.
 
Reading the posts on this thread make me think that most of you are slightly crazy.
 
I like them.

I've always hated athletes because they used to get all the glory in high school, but I can't really argue with the idea of being a good sport and following the rules and doing your best... and I don't know why anyone would complain about the Olympics being 'lowbrow'-- seriously??? It's not like they're watching a collection of fart jokes. It's something that everyone can relate to and understand... and it involves a lot of skill as well-- just because it's physical skill as opposed to intellectual skill, it doesn't mean you're wasting time by watching it.

I think they're a good reason for the people of Earth to come together and try to maintain a sense of sportsmanship, even if there is whining involved from time to time. In fact, I think that we should use the games to settle political differences, territorial disputes, etc... it would make a lot more sense than going to war. And then next year, we could do it all over again... the winner gets to keep whatever piece of land for a year or gets to trade with whoever, etc.

I try not to feel nationalistic when I watch them but I guess in some ways I do... but I still think that the planet would probably be worse off without them.
 
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