Peer Pressure Works!

So, the Olympic games finished up a few days ago. I dunno, my interest level in them pretty much could be described as ‘nonexistent’. And I think a lot of that has to do with my complete and total lack of regard for the governing body of the Games, the IOC (cue Imperial March).

This is an organization built on corruption, and the awarding of the Games to the highest bidder, not only in terms of ‘mysterious deposits’ ion to the personal bank accounts of IOC officials, but also in to Olympic spending, which has reached ridiculously epic proportions. For fuck’s sake, the previous head of the IOC, Juan Antonio Samaranch, actually INSISTED on being referred to as ‘Excellency’. I actually kinda have to give such an egotistical douche a bit of a tip of the cap for apparently being anointed with 25 pound testicles, especially since such an affliction most likely makes the acquisition of pants a bit of a laborious process. Oh, and HOW did he become head of the IOC? Well, his impeccable credentials included a long stint as Sports Minister under Generalissimo Franco of Spain. You know, the dictator whose attempted coup d’etat in the mid 30’s led to the Spanish Civil War. The guy who, during that war, was heavily backed by the Nazis (really, anytime your main backer is THE NAZIS, you’ve pretty much lost when it comes to people looking back. I don’t care who you are…

“Boy, he liberated his people from tyranny, helped feed and clothe the poor, and built a kitten sanctuary.”

“He also got funding from the Nazis.”

“Huh. Let’s dig his corpse up just to crap on it, then light it on fire.”

By the way, Franco did NONE of these things, in case you were wondering. Nope, his resume would include terrorist campaigns against the Spanish populace, designed to discredit the government, suppression of about…let’s go with 973,000…different groups, crushing of anyone speaking out against him…you know, pretty much the Dictator Special (with a side of fries). And there was Juan, soaking in the limelight…and also in the blood of anyone arrayed against him (under his watch, the sports federation wasn’t exactly friendly towards ‘underperforming’ athletes).

Now, we have Jacques Rogge. Obviously, he’s French, so there’s Strike One. He also seems to have built his career completely as a mewling, cocksucking supplicant to anyone with power…so, in other words, being French. Also, being an arrogant dick, while accomplishing nothing beyond being a pathetic yes man…again, being French (this stuff practically writes itself! Hmmm…I need some sort of a ‘rimshot’ sound’ plugin for this blog). Seriously, the guy doesn’t really seem to have ever DONE anything related to athletics. Well, perhaps he surrendered at some point (simply irresistible), but aside from that, no.

He’s also a pathetic, hypocritical, spineless little cunt. This is the guy who claimed, in giving the 2008 games to China, that somehow the Olympics would magically transform that country from a brutal dictatorship in to a regime that treated its’ people with dignity and respect. Apparently, the gleam from the 5 Rings would cause the Chinese leaders to see the light of their errors, and become warm, fuzzy, teddy bear-like people, issuing hugs and money instead of tanks and jackboots. However, when this SOMEHOW did NOT come to pass (shocking EVERYONE, I’m sure!), and people began complaining that the games never should have been awarded to a dictatorial regime in the first place, now out comes Jacques, whining that the Olympics should not be seen as a political event whatsoever, and is just about sports and competition, a claim that would actually have made perfect sense, minus his early babblings about the IOC apparently being some fucking agent of change in the world.

The truth is, while the IOC was parroting the ridiculous lie about the awarding the the Olympics to China being the start of a sweeping change in that country (This strikes me as Rogge apparently seeing himself as Mickey Mouse in Fantasia, deciding his magic will clean out the whole country! Unfortunately, Jacques apparently only watched the first half of that movie, before the floodings and the marching of the army of militant brooms appeared.), they NEEDED to give the games to a brutal government that doesn’t give 2 shits about anything but its’ power, and will crush any vocal complaint. Why? Money.

See, the other major issue I have with these stupid things is the cost to the host country. The idea that being awarded the Games is a prize is ludicrous, when one looks at the financial state many countries have put themselves in to ‘earn’ it, building venues that will fall apart afterwards, since they aren’t used once competition is over, improving transport grids beyond what that area’s population actually needs once the legions of athletes and fans have gone, and beefing up infrastructure to a level unsupportable by the regular permanent and tourism populations. So, Olympic committees lie through their goddamn teeth. Every bid is laughable lowballed. Hell, the funding requests by the Vancouver committee have ALREADY more than doubled beyond their initial price claims. And, see, in a free country, people are actually informed that massive increases of tax money, of THEIR money, are needed…and they can complain about it. So, free countries have started actually spending LESS on these asinine spectacles.

Not China, though. Their government can spend like drunken retards with a sack of cash, and they did. They spend insane quantities of currency on the spectacle, and anyone who did complain was rounded up at gunpoint, roughed up, and tossed in to a ‘Happy Camp’. And the IOC NEEDED that…they needed a country that would throw scads of moolah at the Games, that would truly make them AN EVENT again, so they signed China up as quick as their greedy little fucking fingers could locate a pen. Now, they got their spectacle, and they hope that maybe, just maybe, future Olympic committees can stoke some insane bullshit rhetoric about national pride to convince enough idiots in their own populaces that maybe they SHOULD drop an extra billion in to the bottomless pit of Olympic spending. After all, we can’t let those lousy yellow COMMIES beat us, can we? They’re pure evil! Surely our stout, democratic, white hearts cannot allow the world to see us as weak next to the menace of China! It’s not just defense contractors that NEED China to become a rival in a new cold war…the Olympic movement needs it just as badly. They need a return to the ‘good old days’, when the Soviet Bloc and the West would toss roll after roll of cash in to their athletic programs, and in to Olympic bids, and on Games spending, desperate to show that they were ‘better’ than the other side.

The thing that makes me sad? It actually might work. Enough people might ignore the insane hypocrisy of a group that chastises 21 year old Usain Bolt for having the GALL to CELEBRATE a world record while it ignores the fact that the host country has a proven track record of running a national doping program. Might ignore the fact that they drop the hammer on athletes caught doping who don’t have national Olympic movements powerful/wealthy enough to make those tests ‘go away’, while those WITH the money and power, or the athlete who is a star, escapes one positive test after another, until they’re washed up, or the evidence reaches such a level of scream that even the IOC and WADA (their little lapdog of a drug testing organization) can’t ignore the outcry any longer (A great example of this…1988, Ben Johnson is stripped of his Gold. The 2-3-4 runners all move up a rank. Dennis Mitchell, the new Bronze winner, tested positive that Games, it was ignored. It wasn’t until a LATER track event that was NOT in the Olympics that his doping record was exposed when he tested positive THERE. New Silver medalist Linford Christie, who ALWAYS had that ‘Body by Dynabol’ look about him, popped positive a few years later and was banned. Carl Lewis, the new Gold medalist, was nailed for testosterone abuse years later. There is so much evidence, and so many testimonials by others, that Christie and Lewis were dopers their entire careers that you really can’t dismiss it.). Might ignore the fact that they speak out of both sides of their mouths on every issue, whilst keeping those dollars flowing in. Might ignore the fact that they slam down on anyone who would DARE to speak up about China’s fomenting of the violence in Darfur, and their oppression of Tibet, while ignoring the words and actions of the host country as they brutally crack down on Tibetan monks and unarmed protestors in the lead up to the games themselves.

I’d love to be able to believe that people will see past the medals and the ‘glory’ and see the truth about this bullshit, but people have always been easily distracted by things that are shiny. Too bad.