Olympinonsense

[Flosshilde]

80% of them became British in 2011.

cf the Mail's latest bit of knicker-twisting - the 'plastic Brits'. I don't know what their point is (the point they are trying to make, that is, although I don't know what the point of the Daily Mail is, either) but they are complaining that a proportion of the UK team is made up of people who have recently been awarded British citizenship. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/oly...tic-Brits.html

The Mail seems to have forgotten its role in getting Zola Budd fast-tracked to British citizenship in two weeks so that she could circumvent the boycott on South Africa & compete in the 1984 Olympics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zola_Bu...val_in_Britain

[Flosshilde]

You miss the point Lat, again. You asked why the winners cried and I explained that when I am with my family and I (or they) are a winner then I cry, so I know why.

You have not had the same experiences, but that is no excuse for your disrespectful comments. Accept that you haven't experienced the same, admit your envy.

No, I think it's you that has missed the point - Lat commented on the competitors crying when they won, & you responded with a comment about the relatives of competitors crying.

You have no idea if Lat has had the same experience - that is, seeing a relative winning something. I don't see how Lat's comments could be construed as disrespectful; if they are, yours are rather more so.

[mangerton]

You miss the point Lat, again. You asked why the winners cried and I explained that when I am with my family and I (or they) are a winner then I cry, so I know why.

You have not had the same experiences, but that is no excuse for your disrespectful comments. Accept that you haven't experienced the same, admit your envy.

The winners - the competitors - have all done well. No-one is denying that. But they have not done any better than previous medal winners or competitors. The difference is that they, and we, are being manipulated by the media, at the behest of the Camerons, Johnsons, and Coes, into a situation where tears and meaningless superlatives are now de rigueur. Everyone is now a hero. This did not happen in the past.

It will all end in a week's time. The double-dip recession will still be there. Syria and Afghanistan will still be there. We've had a royal wedding. We've had a jubilee. We've had the games. Where is Cameron going for his next circus to distract the plebs?

[Flosshilde]

Originally Posted by kernelbogey
It is impossible at the moment to have nothing to do with the Olympics. That's the point.

Eh no, my neighbour next door is enjoying an alternative to Olympics; as I said, for example, Sky Arts2: Gilbert & Sullivan; later Howard Goodall; later Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake

Well, if your life consists of sitting in a room with the curtains drawn watching television, that might be true. But if you lead a normal life it is impossible to avoid the Limpics. It's impossible to listen to the radio without them popping up - even on Radio 3. It's impossble to look at a newspaper, it's impossible to go into a shop, without seing a reference to them (in the case of newspapers the first half-dozen pages or so are full of Limpics); I can't even walk down my street without seeing banners about them .

[John Wright]

oh mangerton, another one who cannot understand the pride, the joy; admit your envy.

[John Wright]

and Lat, mange, please use your own miserable thread.

Andy has another medal, I want to celebrate freely!

[John Wright]

I haven't been watching Sky Arts Flosssy, I was only making a suggestion to the miseries on this thread.

I don't want to avoid the Olympics so for me life is easy. You lot just can't bear to see the rest of us enjoy ourselves; admit your envy.

[Flosshilde]

admit your envy.

Oh, I've got plenty of things to enjoy - I don't need a pumped-up Olympics

[John Wright]

Oh, I've got plenty of things to enjoy - I don't need a pumped-up Olympics

In that case you can ignore it it if you really try. Yes, you can see the posters etc but you can mentally ignore it. Like all the billboards normally around town (EDF, Coca Cola, Sky, BT) just ignore the Olympics.

[Flosshilde]

But why should I have to 'ignore' ghastly coloured banners on my street - why should they be there in the first place? & If one wants to read a newspaper, or listen to the news, it's impossible if it's plastered all over the front page, & pages 2,3,4,5,6, or the first couple of minutes of a news bulletin. I've no objection to the Olympics in principle, just the way in which they are pumped up on steroids.

[John Wright]

Flosssy, I didn't say you HAD to ignore the Olympics, you have a choice. You WANT to ignore the Olympics but you have chosen not to; that is your problem.

I've enjoyed the Olympics, but I haven't felt overwhelmed by the media, I just ignore most of it, just take in what I need, and in some cases (e.g. when they fail to say when an event starts) I go look for what I need.

Right now I'm NOT looking at anything about the Olympics but these miseries on this thread keep popping up at the top of the thread list.

Why is there no thread about Prom 30?

[french frank]

Why is there no thread about Prom 30?

There is, here.

[John Wright]

Thank you ff.

The miseries on this thread, and hijackers on the pro-thread, need to accept that their (lack of) life experiences are what is sad. I accept that politicians may use the Olympics as a tool, and corporates will use it it for business advantage, but the people who attend events and the majority of TV viewers are engaging in a very human experience; as I said on the other other pro-thread, I have experienced pride and joy of my family's sport and other talent accomplishments, I know the feeling, and to watch the Olympics is a human experience of sharing, it's a strong emotional moment to shed a tear with Jessica Ennis and her family, it's a very positive thing to share that pride.

[kernelbogey]

JW: You appear to think that because you have a particular emotional reaction to something that anyone who does not is somehow lacking - or 'sad' or 'miserable', as you keep saying. People differ in their reactions to experiences. Wagner will move some deeply while others are left cold or are repelled. Some people are moved by climbers reaching the tops of previously unclimbed peaks while others will consider it a foolish activity. There are those who do not consider shaving one second off the world 100m sprint record a topic worth celebrating. We are all different individuals with differing responses to the world around us.

Personally I'm beginning to find your persistent attempts to 'prove' that Lat and others are lacking in something tedious, not to say offensive to the spirit of these boards. No doubt others will feel differently about your posts.

[John Wright]

We are all different individuals with differing responses to the world around us.

Indeed, yet the miseries on this thread won't accept that the sports fans among us are not concerned with the politics of it all, we just want to experience the Olympics for what they ARE!

Personally I'm beginning to find your persistent attempts to 'prove' that Lat and others are lacking in something tedious, not to say offensive to the spirit of these boards. No doubt others will feel differently about your posts.

Indeed, I am finding my own persistence rather tedious too, and you are prolongng it further!