Canadian Olympic Lessons

[champagne1982]

Despite the gaff ups at the Opening Ceremonies last night, I was taken by
Shane Koyczan's "We Are More" recitation. However, he did sound like a Molson Canadian beer commercial narration. Still, there were some fine examples of Canadian culture performing at the event. And yes, I AM CANADIAN.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Charley and I watched it this afternoon. She even cried. It was a very beautiful ceremony.

 

[redgiantuk]

I was very impressed. It looked stunning.

I just hope London can live up to all these spectacular opening ceremonies after this and China

 

[Angeline]

It was beautiful and impressive. However I did think those dancing people in white (were they supposed to be snowflakes, pieces of ice?) rather looked like the sperm in Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask.

http://www.rose-kim.com/blogpics/everythingyoueverwantedtoknow.jpg

O Canada.

 

[greenmountaineer]

Despite the gaff ups at the Opening Ceremonies last night, I was taken by
Shane Koyczan's "We Are More" recitation. However, he did sound like a Molson Canadian beer commercial narration. Still, there were some fine examples of Canadian culture performing at the event. And yes, I AM CANADIAN.

I'm below the 45th parallel close to the Quebecois part of Canada. I think Montreal is one of the cleanest, most vibrant cities in North America. Vive Le Canada! As a longtime Winter Olypmics enthusiast, I can't imagine anything more exciting than a U.S./Canada finals in hockey.

 

[Palba_Noruda]

It was beautiful and impressive. However I did think those dancing people in white (were they supposed to be snowflakes, pieces of ice?) rather looked like the sperm in Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask.

http://www.rose-kim.com/blogpics/everythingyoueverwantedtoknow.jpg

O Canada.

LOL! Those dancers were crackin' us up, too. Fly dancers? Go-go dancers with turtle necks? And was that one pregnant or did she just really like beer?

And the women carrying in the country signs? O Canada, indeed.

Also, I thought the floor was neat.

 

[Angeline]

LOL! Those dancers were crackin' us up, too. Fly dancers? Go-go dancers with turtle necks? And was that one pregnant or did she just really like beer?

And the women carrying in the country signs? O Canada, indeed.

Also, I thought the floor was neat.

They sure had staying power though. They (and the native dancers) didn't stop moving for three hours or so that it took all the countries to parade. And I thought Gretsky was a great choice to light the torch. I was much more moved watching Mohammad Ali do the same in Atlanta, but I of course am American, not Canadian.

But overall I cannot get over how gorgeous Vancouver is.

 

[EroticOrogeny]

Not sure than Vancouver is the best site for winter games, not that cold, with rain as likely as snow. My friend at work is from there and says this year's weather is typical.

 

[champagne1982]

Don't forget Mohammud Ali (Cassius Clay) lived in Canada, too. He couldn't risk going home until they stopped the draft, no? (I think) ...

 

[UnderYourSpell]

We got glorious weather in that area in September when we visited high 80s

 

[champagne1982]

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b395/champagne1982/gold.jpg
Canadian Gold in the Men's Moguls. Wahoo!

 

[UnderYourSpell]

Admitting I had to go and google Men's Moguls but well done Canada!

 

[champagne1982]

We've medalled in two other events so far... Bronze in Women's Long Track Speed Skating 3000m for Kristina Groves and silver from our Women's Freestyle Skiing darling, Jenn Heil. All I can say is that if every athlete that performs at the Olympics can go home saying, "I did the best I could against the elite athletes of the world!" then that's good enough for me.

 

[CharleyH]

Despite the gaff ups at the Opening Ceremonies last night, I was taken by
Shane Koyczan's "We Are More" recitation. However, he did sound like a Molson Canadian beer commercial narration. Still, there were some fine examples of Canadian culture performing at the event. And yes, I AM CANADIAN.

Lauren directed me to this post because you had commented on Shane's poem. Being so far from home, I've had to rely on blogs and online news from the CBC, NBC and of course, Sky News and TVI in this part of the world. I haven't enjoyed many of the responses by Canadians and Americans to his poem. (mainly I think that those who are negative are idiots, or at least ignorant in regards to Canadian history and culture.) I can forgive Americans for not knowing or understanding our history or culture, or even for not being able to define us apart from them, but I cannot forgive any Canadian who doesn't understand Shane's brilliant poem. I loved it especially because the opening ceremony couldn't possibly convey the wealth of diversity that makes up Canada. Shane summed it up with a sense of cultural knowledge, disdain, humour and ultimately pride. LOVED IT!

I don't like Molsen's, but I AM Canadian!

P.S. Yep I teared when k.d. sang Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah', and I teared at the the W.O. Mitchell reference and, ya know, I'm just a sappy ex-pat all together.

 

[champagne1982]

The Germans are certainly strong in week one, anyway. I hope we see some more metal medals in the next few days as we exploit our Canadian strengths.

Go Canada Go...

 

[UnderYourSpell]

GO Amy Williams whoo hoooooooo!

 

[lorencino]

Well, well, well. I'm happy for those of you who feel proud about one thing and another to do with these Winter Olympic Games that are being held in Vancouver right now. Besides the sport, there is an amazing amount of stuff going on with the Cultural Olympiad, the trains and buses have never been so crowded and Robson Street and Granville in the downtown is just a sea of faces as far as the eye can see from early morning until late at night with spontaneous outbursts of “Oh Canada” at unexpected moments throughout the day. Much of downtown Vancouver has become a huge playground in which the glory of Canada can be strongly experienced.

However, these games have cost over 6 billion dollars of taxpayer’s money at the same time that funding for education, medical and social services are being cut in the Province of British Columbia. Homelessness has increased dramatically since the games were first awarded to Vancouver in part as a direct result of the preparation for these games. Currently our provincial government earns more revenue from student fees in post secondary education than it earns from corporate taxes which allows some corporations to spend hugely on sponsoring various aspects of these games in order to enhance their brand recognition and to promote themselves as "good corporate citizens."

We may be partying now, but the provincial budget due in early March may be a very sobering reality to wake up to.

It is ironic that on the day that the Olympics began, the biggest offensive in years was launched in Afghanistan resulting in 20 civilian deaths, last time I checked. This is ironic because the Olympic Games was originally meant to be a time when the warring cities of Ancient Greece would observe a truce for the duration of the games. When the games were revived a little over a 100 years ago it was touted as being something to promote peace between nations. Now we step up the hostilities just as everyone's attention is focussed on the games. We have heard much about the tragic death of the Georgian luge athlete, Nodar Kumaritashvili, and that is as it should be. What have we heard, however, about those 20 human beings whose lived were cut short by Western bombardment in Afghanistan, whose names will not be known to us as the name of the luge athlete is, whose faces will never appear in our media to remind us that they too were human beings?

Yes, there is great joy and boisterous cheering displayed on my television every night (and all day too, for that matter), but the brutality in Afghanistan passes unnoticed as does the poverty and injustices suffered by the majority of our First Nations (for those of you in the US who are not aware of this, that's what we call the indigenous people of Canada).

 

[lorencino]

Given the bigger picture, you will excuse me for not really giving a shit about Canada losing to the US in the hockey game last night—There's enough other shit going down here to keep me disturbed.

 

[bflagsst]

Given the bigger picture, you will excuse me for not really giving a shit about Canada losing to the US in the hockey game last night—There's enough other shit going down here to keep me disturbed.

In the short-term, holding the Olympics in any city of any country is fiscally irrelevant. Most cities break even, many post a profit. The revenue generated is tremendous as is the money put in, but that's not really why cities fall all over themselves trying to get the Olympics.

The Olympics has always been part prestige and part tactical/political/economic. Peace is probably one of the most superficial faces of the Olympics from the Ancient Games until now. In Greece the most important aspect of the games was in forming new alliances, new trade. Mythology underpinned the games, having the greatest athlete brought prestige to your city in a very fundamental, almost spiritual way. Zeus himself wrestled Kronos at the first Olympic wrestling match. Poseidon participated in the first Isthmian game, he won the chariot race, I believe.

China is now less dangerous, has a much better reputation on the world scene since the '08 games. People that would have never considered visiting China before the games are flocking there now. Brazil is having the Summer Olympics in about six years, capital investment is flowing into the country already in anticipation of the boost it will give Brazil on the world economic scene.

In a mythological sense, Canada losing to the United States in hockey is sacrilege. Hockey is still a fairly important part of Canadian identity. It's almost equivalent to the New Orleans Saints playing the winner of the Canadian Football League and losing. It would be a serious blow to American cultural identity, American pride.

With that being said, I've no interest in anything that goes on at the Olympics. I go out of my way to not watch any of the programming. Since my discharge from the Army, I've gone out of my way to know as little as possible about the War too. Maybe those two things are related, I haven't really given it much thought.

 

[lorencino]

In the short-term, holding the Olympics in any city of any country is fiscally irrelevant. Most cities break even, many post a profit. The revenue generated is tremendous as is the money put in, but that's not really why cities fall all over themselves trying to get the Olympics.

Montreal took around 30 years to pay off the Olympic debt incurred for the 1976 Summer Games. Calgary seems to have had no problem with their Olympics but then they are the beneficiaries of oil wealth. British Columbia has no money to attend to the well-being of all its citizens as the gap between rich and poor grows steadily, but they found the money for the Olympics. Some businesses will undoubtedly profit from the games even as the proportion of children living in poverty keeps growing.

For me, cultural identity and patriotism have become little more than the machinations of the Empire of Illusion that Chris Hedges writes so effectively about. While we were once concerned about authoritarian rule ala 1984, we are now being pleasured into complacent apathy over the plight of humanity in an unsustainable reality.

 

[bflagsst]

Montreal took around 30 years to pay off the Olympic debt incurred for the 1976 Summer Games. Calgary seems to have had no problem with their Olympics but then they are the beneficiaries of oil wealth. British Columbia has no money to attend to the well-being of all its citizens as the gap between rich and poor grows steadily, but they found the money for the Olympics. Some businesses will undoubtedly profit from the games even as the proportion of children living in poverty keeps growing.

For me, cultural identity and patriotism have become little more than the machinations of the Empire of Illusion that Chris Hedges writes so effectively about. While we were once concerned about authoritarian rule ala 1984, we are now being pleasured into complacent apathy over the plight of humanity in an unsustainable reality.

Much of the spending is on useful public infrastructure too, highways, airports, public transit and all that, maybe even sewage upgrades. There are conflicting claims over who made money and who lost money, mostly because of who's calculating. But the majority of the cities I can account for since Moscow in 1980 claim to have made a profit. The city that hosts the Olympics right now is said to get a thirty percent increase in trade immediately. Vancouver's spending 1.8 billion bp from what I can tell. London plans on spending about 9 billion bp in 2012.

 

[Epmd607]

Canadians are probably super pissed they lost to the Evil Empire in hockey. I don't like professionals in the Olympics. I'm gonna practice curling and beat out the current American fatty team so I can be featured on CNBC all day in 2014. Men's figure skating is endlessly entertaining with the sound on or off.

 

[lorencino]

Much of the spending is on useful public infrastructure too, highways, airports, public transit and all that, maybe even sewage upgrades. There are conflicting claims over who made money and who lost money, mostly because of who's calculating. But the majority of the cities I can account for since Moscow in 1980 claim to have made a profit. The city that hosts the Olympics right now is said to get a thirty percent increase in trade immediately. Vancouver's spending 1.8 billion bp from what I can tell. London plans on spending about 9 billion bp in 2012.

The main spender is the province which is responsible for schools, medical and social services that are currently being cut and will continue to be cut for the foreseeable future.

1.8 billion for Vancouver is a considerable amount of money but it is great to have the new rail transport through the city. However, this still leaves a massive shortage of busses necessary to supply an adequate public transit service.

Increased trade for the city does not always come with the famous "trickle down" effect that Milton Freedman and his ilk championed for the past 30 years. Both here and in the US we seem to be seeing jobless recoveries and a growing gap between rich and poor with the tax burden constantly shifting from the rich towards the poor. Spending part of the 6Billion+ for the Olympics on providing better education would be good for the economy. Spending some of it on social and assisted housing would provide a boost to the local economy with all the multiplyer effect that that produces adding to the bonus, etc. We had the choice of an economy of compassion or an economy of spectacle and we chose spectacle. That doesn't leave me feeling proud of anything irrespective of who wins the hockey.

 

[champagne1982]

Canadians are probably super pissed they lost to the Evil Empire in hockey. I don't like professionals in the Olympics. I'm gonna practice curling and beat out the current American fatty team so I can be featured on CNBC all day in 2014. Men's figure skating is endlessly entertaining with the sound on or off.

Uh, yeah. I'm not upset that we lost to the better goalie. Ryan Williams was amazing!

I, too, feel that professionals really have no business in an Olympic Competition even though the prestige and interest they bring to the tournament is profound. Countries that lack the population/interest in the sport gain encouragement to develop nascent leagues at home, all in hopes of bringing their best game to the ice, be it against the Canadian or the U.S. national teams.

It's all good.

No battle is over until the anthem's sung and the flags are flown... So, don't count yer medals before they're etched...

 

[Palba_Noruda]

we are now being pleasured into complacent apathy .

Pleasure I believe is a complicated topic in some ways. It's a good thing, right? There is an idea out there that no one should have pleasure unless everyone has pleasure.

There is another strain of thinking that suggests pleasure is quite rare, and one should seize it when one has the opportunity.

For whatever reasons, I had a stretch of years there where I wasn't able to get much pleasure from activities that are generally considered pleasurable. I seem to have worked my out of that business and now am much more receptive to pleasure, which is nice. I don't have tons of pleasure just now, but if my plans for the future work out, I will be experience a serious increase in pleasure within a couple years. LOL. /twiddles his fingers maniacally/

The anti-corporate counter culture has always been attractive to me. I believe corporations are quite fearsome beasts. I do believe they exist as they do today due to extreme corruption and greed at the highest levels of government and law.

On the other hand, I look at a book like Empire of Illusion, and I can't help but wonder about the psychology of the author and book's fans. The desire to save the world, to reveal the truth, to seize power away from the powerful. To believe in a movement passionately. What is it about a person that drives her to embrace these ideas?

On the fourth or fifth hand, I find it fearsome and fascinating to consider how the powerful do in fact influence thoughts, feelings, and experience. I think a most comprehensive understanding of the topic would include a comparison of all the influences on thought, feeling and experience. It would be a large study because it would be a study of everything. In other words, while I believe that the people running the show on the earth are probably a bunch of greedy douche bags bent on fucking us all over hard and often, I think that it is a bit too simple to claim that the most direct line of influence in any individual's life, mine for instance, goes from presidents and CEOs straight to me.

What I wonder about is the educational system. If the money for the olympics were used for education instead, wouldn't it be money controlled by the morally bankrupt elites, money they use to brainwash the children? I do in fact believe much of education is a type of brainwashing. I'm very angry that I learned how to do logic at the expense of narrative or poetry. I did learn some music and theater, but all the other disciplines are so caught up in logic it just makes me want to vomit.

Might the educational system be implicated in acting as a distribution device for the ideas of the powerful?

Side note: This would make a very good thread, separate from this thread...

Oh, also, the idea of being pleasured into complacent apathy reminds me of the Sharon Olds prose poem called The Solution, a poem that postulates that The American Way is a giant line of people waiting to be fucked senseless.

Empire of Illusion Chris Hedges

If you want to start a thread about him, I would be most interested in hearing more of his ideas on pornography.