On boycotting the Olympics

Aug 10, 2016 00:15

I’m boycotting the Olympics ( Read more... )

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Comments 11

sammason August 10 2016, 10:51:03 UTC
This piece is v interesting. I don't follow sports either, Paralympics or anything else. I don't welcome remarks that are occasionally made, that I should race wheelchairs or get hoisted into swimming pools.

But I loved the Paralympic ceremonies last time. This time I love the television trailer 'We are the superhumans!' I started a thread about Paralympics on friendly_crips hoping there'd be discussion there.

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nightengalesknd August 21 2016, 00:37:26 UTC
Yeah not every disabled person wants to or should do disabled sport, any more than every non-disabled person wanting to regular sport.

The whole Superhuman thing kind of rubs me the wrong way, though. It seems to play into the human interest rather than sport angle.

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gallian August 11 2016, 01:28:13 UTC
I am watching the olympics.

And was happy/surprised to see this commercial getting a fair amount of air time.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kE_qkEeCzI4/

I'm not watching at broadcast, so I don't know how much mainstream airtime it's getting but still.

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nightengalesknd August 21 2016, 00:02:34 UTC
It is a great commercial (and I've seen it on TV)

Meanwhile, there are a bunch of Paralympians who may not even be funded to make the games, and the Olympics is headline 1,2,3,4 and 5 on CNN. I guess the boycott will continue.

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gallian August 21 2016, 00:13:40 UTC
Yeah, I've gotten a bit of traction tweeting about the funding and budget cuts at the Paralympics. They can't sell tickets for even $3????

Unsurprisingly all my links about that have been from the BBC.

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songblaze August 11 2016, 05:44:44 UTC
On the subject of whether Olympics is a collective noun or not, it's not clear. Different authorities say different things. I prefer the argument that the Olympics is short for the Olympic Games, and thus it is not a collective noun. Most of the coverage I can recall seeing or hearing agrees with that, and CUNY's "English for journalists" agrees with me. However, as I said, there are other authorities that disagree, so I think you have an argument for whichever one is more comfortable to you ( ... )

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nightengalesknd August 21 2016, 00:39:22 UTC
I like the "short for Olympic Games" idea. I also just like playing with grammar. Pity that's not a sport. . .

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17catherines August 12 2016, 12:57:31 UTC
I like watching out for glimpses of tiny countries that don't have a lot of athletes or money or coverage. And I like making my scientists learn geography and barrack for tiny countries, too. But I take your point about the terrible coverage of the Paralympics. It reminds me in some ways of the issues we have with women's sports in Australia - they don't screen them because 'nobody watches them' - and nobody can watch them, because they don't screen them. Infuriating ( ... )

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nightengalesknd August 21 2016, 00:05:31 UTC
Yes I believe Australia (and I know Great Britain) cover the Paralympics a lot more than the US does. And it's exactly that catch-22. There's no demand because they don't create any demand.

I know the unofficial motto of Quad Rugby is more or less, what can we do, break our necks? So there may be some aspect of that with the ski jumper as well.

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therealocelot August 18 2016, 03:31:03 UTC
Hi,

I stumbled across you googling for "Nightingale of Samarkand" to show someone a random bit of my past, and was surprised to find someone still actively LJing. I hope you don't mind if I add you, and won't be offended if you don't add me back. I haven't posted much recently, but still read daily.

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nightengalesknd August 21 2016, 00:09:43 UTC
You are welcome here - I mostly post about disability and health care and often the interactions between the two. I miss the days of active LJ!

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