Aug
9
2008
Why I don’t watch the Olympics
As a child, I was riveted to coverage of the Olympic games. I loved the competition and the sense of global unity. “Maybe we really are all one family on this planet,” I’d think.
Today, I know that’s bullshit, and that’s why I don’t watch the games. They’re an Olympic-sized letdown.
Since the opening ceremonies in Beijing, Georgia and Russia have gone to war, two Americans have been stabbed to death and the ejection of athletes accused of doping has begun.
At the risk of sounding like Agent Mulder, I’ll say that I want to believe in the global community, the goodness of humanity. I want a harmonious, global family. But I know that it will never, ever happen. People are basically bad.
I don’t need the Olympics to emphasize it.