I realize this is a sign of aging, but some of the activities that have become Olympic "sports" are just ludicrous.
@dangillmor While I appreciate the personal efforts of the athletes, I consider the modern Olympics to be basically a political travesty.
@lauren @dangillmor
What bothers me most is the obsession to pitch and frame the Games as nations-against-nations, when so many of today's best athletes illustrate beautifully how one can be born in country A, grow-up in B, be trained in C while having the nationality of D. What country should be glorified when that athlete makes gold?
@fheinderyckx @dangillmor I am frankly saddened by the concept of young people spending innumerable hours and physical pain training for a singular event, whether they succeed in it or not.
@lauren @fheinderyckx @dangillmor Does that extend to e.g. Apollo astronauts?
@lauren @fheinderyckx @dangillmor
Let me then be more verbose: I myself can't imagine making it my life goal to do well at a ~single prespecified point in time, like Olympic athletes do, even ignoring the arbitrariness of the source of that limitation. However, there are life goals of that shape that aren't so artificial/arbitraily-set: the most obvious example having been "land on the Moon".
Are you pointing at this success-decided-in-a-moment property, or it in combination with arbitrariness?
@robryk @fheinderyckx @dangillmor If you really want to expand this out ... there are of course a variety of endeavors along the continuum. Sports (and I'll admit, I have never had any particular interest in sports) is an obvious one, with the Olympics being a focal point in this regard. In some countries, a single test in school will determine the rest of your life to a significant extent. Young musicians practice their art and craft endlessly though few will ever be able to make a profession at it.
This is not to say that these endeavors aren't valuable in their own rights, but my point is that putting your whole life in one basket is problematic to my way of thinking at least.
@robryk @fheinderyckx @dangillmor The context of the thread is the Olympics. Please stay in context. Thank you.