Skippy trashes the Olympics

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024466958

Oh my.

Bill Ayers's mentoree must be taking a break from bomb-making experiments.

NYC_SKP (57,448 posts)    Sat Feb 8, 2014, 06:04 PM

**** the Olympics... **** the Committee and **** the Russian organization of this ****ed up event.

The Olympics has always pissed me off for it's commercial corporate bullshit, it doesn't really celebrate the common man or woman- one largely has to come from an entitled family or be in a favorable position to participate.
 
And it seems to get worse every year and here we have a year where we could stand on principal and boycott, we aren't. Too much money at stake.
 
This year just **** it all. Let it be a commercial failure and let them all learn a lesson. In fact, if the Olympics dies off altogether I don't think I'll miss them.
 
There's a better organization:

after which a promotion of the Special Olympics

earthside (4,921 posts)    Sat Feb 8, 2014, 06:26 PM

3. I'm with you.

Ever since the Reagan Olympics* and "USA! USA! USA!" I have refused to watch or be supportive.
 
Now I know that nationalism has always been a part of the Olympics, but I thought the 'ideal' was that athletes from all nations got together to compete to help lessen the divisions between nations.
 
And ... of course, the corporatism and commercialism has tainted the Olympics more and more and more with each passing event. Furthermore, the waste of money in moving theses games around -- especially the summer games -- borders on the immoral and unconscionable to me.
 
Indeed, even the obsession of some of the athletes and the athletes' families and the athletes' country makes me wonder how healthful and ethical is this extravaganza. The notion of twelve and thirteen year old gymnasts and/or ice skaters, etc. strikes me as weird.
 
Then there is the dictatorial nature of the governing body of the Olympics ...

I am boycotting and I would like to see some major reform in the Olympic institution -- but we know that is not going to happen -- there are too many hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars to be made by the elites on the backs of week-meaning athletes.

*the 1980 Olympics were held when whats-his-name was president, not Reagan; the guy before Reagan.

MannyGoldstein (25,054 posts)    Sat Feb 8, 2014, 07:44 PM

13. It's become quite a different thing than it was years ago

And not for the better.

aquart (68,201 posts)   Sat Feb 8, 2014, 07:53 PM

16. If you don't have one, you won't have the other.

And I actually find the way you dismissed the world's Olympic athletes in favor of a charity event offensive. Re both sets of athletes.

NYC_SKP (57,448 posts)    Sat Feb 8, 2014, 07:59 PM

18. That assertion needs a little proof. I believe that the two events are unrelated.

And as regards the athletes in the "official" corporate Olympics, fine people, every one of them.
 
I don't have to honor their skill or their sport if I don't care to.

I dismiss many musical artists and authors and I suppose I can do the same with athletes.
 
If they chose to, they could boycott the Olympics themselves and collaborate to create a more honorable series of events.
 
Participants in the Special Olympics are every bit the athletes as those in professional sports or the Olympics.
 
To see them participate and to support one another is it's own reward.

Ooops.

Who let this primitive in?

go west young man (3,402 posts)    Sat Feb 8, 2014, 08:07 PM

20. The schadenfreude has backfired.

The Sochi Olympics are being praised as a success the world over. Only the Western media are criticizing the games. Primarily the US and GB which isn't surprising. What people need to understand is that the gay issue in Russia really isn't what's driving the narrative here.

Do you think Britain, or America, or anywhere else, really cares about some vague law that's potentially troublesome (though in practise hasn't exactly caused a massive change) to gay people in Russia.

Get this into your heads people: Western governments don't care one iota about this issue.

We're locked in a very serious, very bitter, geopolitical struggle with Russia on a number of fronts. We're causing the downfall of a democratically elected government in Ukraine because they were getting too close to Russia. We very, very, nearly went to war with Russia's ally Syria. There were Russia Warships lining up to greet those of the western powers.

Russia and China are holding large-scale joint military operations.

The worst part is, the people of Britain, America, and other western nations are intentionally kept in the dark about the seriousness of the situation. Why? Because we'd be outraged by the prospect of a return to the Cold War, which we're edging closer to. Which is what our government really wants as terrorism will only get the MIC so far as a ruse.

But why bother to tell us? Instead they can drum up outrage about an anti-gay law that look positively liberal compared to the laws of many countries with when we're very friendly. Or the plight of ***** Riot, who occupied the front-pages while scores of miners died in South Africa, and became an absolutely ubiquitous presence in our media. What, were we all absolutely outraged that it's illegal to run into a church and shout obscenities in Russia? Cause, y'know, it's illegal here too. ...

Look, I don't want to get into defending Putin. ***** Riot should never have been jailed, of course. The 'gay propaganda' law is ludicrous and should never have been created, of course. But these are hardly humanitarian outrages. They're, at worst, backwards.

The question must be asked, why are we constantly informed of these relatively trifling issues (in a global context) in Russia? Why is the public in the US and Britain suddenly so aware of Russia's attitude to gay people?

It's not because our leaders care, it's because they want us to be as hostile to the Russian state as they are.
 
Do consider also that in the Middle East, our allies actually kill people for being gay. Yet not a peep in the press about them. Ever. The Saudi Royal family never even gets a mention in the press. All these people who are boycotting Russia's chance for an Olympics after those poor people suffered 80 years of communism and the loss of 25 million people in WW2 I certainly hope you have stopped putting gasoline in your cars as those Saudis might be much more deserving of your faux backfiring boycott. Don't fall for the bullshit. And I write this as a bisexual man who has been to Russia 7 times. It's not the place the American media portrays it to be. Travel and see for yourselves instead of relying on crap propaganda. The irony in all this is astonishing.

NYC_SKP (57,448 posts)    Sat Feb 8, 2014, 08:19 PM

21. Are you saying our government meant to "drum up outrage about an anti-gay law..."???

I haven't heard much of a peep from our government and only a few peeps from any media outlets.
 
My disgust with the Olympics in general and the Sochi games in particular doesn't end with the country's laws toward the LGBT community.
 
I've become sicker and sicker with the whole thing with each passing series of games.
 
This year I'm done.

What is so ****ing great about Russia getting the Olympics?

It's all pomp and commercial exchange, investment and profit, then everyone leaves town...
 
Nobody in Russia is helped in a meaningful way, it's just more bread and circuses for the masses while the rich get richer.
 
**** that shit.

go west young man (3,403 posts)    Sat Feb 8, 2014, 09:44 PM

30. I'm saying the US media takes a Putin or a Saddam Hussein

or any choice of bad guys... and they build and build that image in the media until 10 years later every US citizen goes along with the propagated myth and eventually war is rationalized and condoned. And all along everyone was being used in order to fuel the profits of the war machine and some special interests. Back in 2006 was when the true demonization of Putin started in the US press...when he kissed a boy on the stomach. Since then we've had ***** Riot for a year.

Do you seriously think these stories aren't chosen by the press in the UK and the US to push. Do you seriously think what goes on in countries like Saudi Arabia or Qatar when it comes to homosexuals (where they have no rights at all, except to be killed) is less important than discrimination in Russia? What I'm saying is the government here uses everyone to their ends not much different than the old Soviet Union did. Homosexuality is a divisive hot button issue that our press pushed hard. Granted Putin created the law and it is unjust, but our own governments are pushing this meme in the media and exploiting (using) the gay issue to keep us all hating Russia and thereby provide the reasoning for building more weapons and making more money for the MIC and continuation of the Cold War.

We actually could of pulled Russia in close after the fall of the Soviet Union, but instead opted to try to get Yeltsin to sign over the oil fields. We chose to try to use them instead of help them. Putin saw through this and America has been pissed ever since. It's quite pathetic really, considering the fact that everyone is pretty much getting used and exploited and it's our government that's implementing and still doing it.

L0oniX (21,801 posts)    Sat Feb 8, 2014, 08:25 PM

22. trashing Olympics ...that is all.

RoverSuswade (102 posts)    Sat Feb 8, 2014, 08:30 PM

23. I'm sour on it this year for the first time.

Didn't watch the opening. Don't plan on watching any of it. It' s just over-hyped. I repel being conned into nationalistic feelings over Olympic competition between POLITICAL STATES.

NYC_SKP (57,448 posts)    Sat Feb 8, 2014, 08:33 PM

24. That's quite the other repulsive aspect of it, the sheer nationalism.

I suppose national identity is fine and all that, but the sense of competing to find out which race/er, I mean which populace is superior is kind of dated and disturbing.
 
And then there's the awful fashions that come out of it.

after which a couple of photographs of American Olympics garb

^^^says the guy who has a bathrobe with a fur collar on it.

[Freeper]

If you don't like the Olympics you have the option of not watching them.

[I_B_Perky]

If you don't like the Olympics you have the option of not watching them.

The Olympics are on?   

[thundley4]

The Olympics has always pissed me off for it's commercial corporate bullshit, it doesn't really celebrate the common man or woman- one largely has to come from an entitled family or be in a favorable position to participate.

Not true. The only favorable position necessary is to be highly skilled and dedicated to the exclusion of all else, (almost).  That so-called corporate bullshit is what allows people from modest backgrounds to be able to participate.

If the DUmmies watch the biographies of most of the contenders they would see that many of them come from average income families who sacrificed a lot to get their child where they are at.

[GOBUCKS]

The excitement of the Olympics is matched only by that of the World Series of Poker.

[Gina]

They should love our athletes winning gold.  Govt makes them pay huge taxes on it.

[98ZJUSMC]

Not true. The only favorable position necessary is to be highly skilled and dedicated to the exclusion of all else, (almost).  That so-called corporate bullshit is what allows people from modest backgrounds to be able to participate.

If the DUmmies watch the biographies of most of the contenders they would see that many of them come from average income families who sacrificed a lot to get their child where they are at.

Pffffttt...........inconvenient facts you, VRWC H8r!!!!11!!!!

 

[b-ONE-b]

The Olympics are presenting a delicious conundrum for the DUmmies.

One one hand you have the Gay activists who hate Putin, you have the Obama-lovers who hate Putin because he makes Obama look like the petulant child he is and on the other hand you have the self loathing US residents who have a soft spot for the former Communist superpower and love Putin for protecting Snowden and thumbing Obama and the NSA in the eye.

SO to all moles, keep up the pro-Sochi comments!! The greatest Olympics EVER!!!!

[delilahmused]

Perhaps they can compete in a new sport: who can commit the most spectacular suicide. All they do is bitch. Obviously they're freaking miserable. I'll bring the razor blades & beer.

Cindie

[JohnnyReb]

Perhaps they can compete in a new sport: who can commit the most spectacular suicide. All they do is bitch. Obviously they're freaking miserable. I'll bring the razor blades & beer.

Cindie

They should start practicing now so they will ready in 4 years.

[BlueStateSaint]

Perhaps they can compete in a new sport: who can commit the most spectacular suicide. All they do is bitch. Obviously they're freaking miserable. I'll bring the razor blades & beer.

Cindie

Can I be a judge?  I'd put the stereotypical 'East German judges' to shame.

[diesel driver]

They should start practicing now so they will ready in 4 years.

They still "owe" us for not honoring their promises during the "Bush Regime".

[seahorse513]

The original OP has a potty mouth, and is totally miserable.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Can I be a judge?  I'd put the stereotypical 'East German judges' to shame.

I want to be a judge for the women's curling event.

I miss the sight of a woman with a broom in her hand.

 

[JohnnyReb]

I want to be a judge for the women's curling event.

I miss the sight of a woman with a broom in her hand.

 

[franksolich]

The original OP has a potty mouth, and is totally miserable.

Skippy has an interesting background; he was born for happiness and fulfillment, but screwed up big time somewhere.

Born in 1957, he was raised on a bankrupt avocado (or whatever) farm in the rustic Salinas or San Joaquin Valley of California--I forget which--owned by his maternal grandfather.  His father had deserted his mother and his two children, an older sister and Skippy.  They were very poor, and it wasn't an easy life.

However, despite his being educated in "only" a two-room two-teacher wooden-framed rural schoolhouse with a large bell in the steeple, Skippy took a whole lot of examinations, and was awarded a full-ride scholarship in one of the premier engineering colleges of America, in New York City.  He was one in about every two or three thousand applicants who take the examinations, to be given one.

So the guy's got brains.

But he's also got a significant weakness.

He lets other people make up his mind for him.

Somewhere along the line, Skippy got "radicalized;" he's obviously the most "far-left" of all the primitives, no matter how impossible it might seem.  He makes Kim Jung-on, Pol Pot, Robert Mugabe, Reinhard Heydrich, Madame Mao, Idi Amin, the Ayatollah Khomeini, Papa Doc Duvalier, Yassir Arafat, look moderate in comparison.

His hero, his idol, is the old fart William "25,000,000 Dead" Ayres.

All this, clothed in the genial appearance of a cherubic-looking middle-aged guy who buys his polyester apparel by mail-order from Blair's of Warren (Pennsylvania) or Haband of Oakland (New Jersey).

It was either a woman or an "international" student at engineering college, who kidnapped his free will, his ability to make up his own mind.

[JohnnyReb]

If they had an Olympic event for stupidity, DUmmies would sweep all positions, one through last place.

Uh.....I have a problem with how to score that event. Would the DUmbest DUmmie that was to be awarded the gold medal be at the top of the list or the bottom? In other words, would the biggest loser actually be the biggest winner or would the winner be.........awh hell, dealing with grading stupidity amongst DUmmies confuses me.

[GOBUCKS]

The Olympics has always pissed me off for it's commercial corporate bullshit

Sorry, but I have a problem mustering respect for the intellect of a DUmpmonkey who can't write a possessive pronoun.

He's just another dim dem spouting vile language.

[BlueStateSaint]

I want to be a judge for the women's curling event.

I miss the sight of a woman with a broom in her hand.

 

H5 for your good paw.

[Ptarmigan]

On the topic of 2014 Winter Olympics, I see the hare as a mascot, but no ptarmigan despite the fact that both are tundra animals. Proof bunnies keep ptarmigans unknown as a way to use ignorance as power to keep humans doomed.

[BlueStateSaint]

On the topic of 2014 Winter Olympics, I see the hare as a mascot, but no ptarmigan despite the fact that both are tundra animals. Proof bunnies keep ptarmigans unknown as a way to use ignorance as power to keep humans doomed.

Or, alternately, proof that bunnies are brave creatures . . .

 . . . and ptarmigans are a lot closer to 'chickens' than anybody lets on.

[Ptarmigan]

Or, alternately, proof that bunnies are brave creatures . . .

 . . . and ptarmigans are a lot closer to 'chickens' than anybody lets on.

Bunnies are craven cowards that they always are. Always plotting doom. Ptarmigans are the brave ones.

[BlueStateSaint]

Bunnies are craven cowards that they always are. Always plotting doom. Ptarmigans are the brave ones.

So, then . . . where are the ptarmigans?

[Ptarmigan]

So, then . . . where are the ptarmigans?

Ptarmigans are always warning humans with their calls. They are hiding because bunnies, gyrfalcons, and ermines are pursuing them.

[Tess Anderson]

Just for the record, Skippy didn't study engineering there:

http://metamorphosis.democraticunderground.com/1002598382

at CU:

Response to pnwmom (Original post)
Mon Apr 23, 2012, 02:57 AM

 NYC_SKP (57,467 posts)

6. I selected my major based 100% on what educational program I was most interested in, not by career.



I chose a five year program in architecture and put myself though school working and scholarships with only a $3,000 debt at the end.
 
I never wanted to be an architect. I'd pondered it but really, the more I understood that it was about clients and codes, the less I cared about the profession.
 
I cared because it is the intersection of art and science, and that decision has served me well.
 
Kids should go to school to learn about things that interest them.

If their spirit isn't fed, then what's the point of living?

he's said he worked laying tile while he was in college. He is the first "educator" I've ever heard of that hates the Olympics.