The Chinese Olympics are coming up which is yet another great opportunity to talk about flow.
The Olympics are supposed to be where countries put aside their differences and compete in a forum of sportsmanship. For America, at least, there is also this belief that The Olympics will somehow show non-democratic countries the error of their ways.
But what are The Olympics?
One American Olympic hopeful, Jeremy Wariner, was profiled in an auto magazine. HIs first car was a $75,000 Mercedes (at age 21). His current cars, at age 24, are a $130K Mercedes S Class and a $70K SUV. And his parents didn't buy them for him. So is this Olympic hopeful really "going for the gold" simply for the sportsmanship? Doubtful, especially since his dream car according to the article is a $500k Mercedes SLR.
Okay, but these games are still about athletic skill, right? Well, yes and know. Yes, these athletes are the best in the world. But watch the swimming competition closely. You will see many athletes wearing a Speedo suit called a LZR, released in February. This suit literally increases an athlete's chances of winning due to its revolutionary design. In fact, since February lesser swimmers have won competitions simply because they wore this suit. Experts estimate it gives a 2% advantage or more, crucial in a sport determined by 1/10ths of seconds. Oh, and the suit costs $600.
What about converting the Chinese to democracy? Well, The US owes China over $400 billion in loans to support the Iraq war. The US also has a huge trade deficit with China. Virtually every American household has at least one Chinese-made product.
China's partially state-owned oil company, PetroChina, had a market value of $1 trillion (that's trillion with a "T") on its first day of trading last November - the largest valuation of any company in the history of any modern stockmarket. And Chinese authorities have placed severe restrictions on foreign media reporting of the Olympics. EVERY camera angle is scrutinized so that no protesters are shown to the world. To add icing on the cake, Amnesty International just reported China leads the world in executions with nearly 2,000 a year,something that The Olympics were "supposed to remedy".
This is hardly a country that has any reason to change its ways.
The point is, in relation to flow, to just be honest about what is going on. The Olympics are nothing more than yet another paid sports spectacle where everyone involved wants money and prestige (but money comes first). And that is made even more clear when technology can literally change the outcome, not an athlete's inherent ability.
If The Olympics were what it says it is there would be no such thing as sponsorships for athletes or for the games. All athletes would have to wear the same NON-logo sporting gear/uniforms. And it is purely delusional to think a few weeks of sporting games is going to topple any regime. As much as it was a humiliation for Adolf Hitler when African American Jesse Owens beat his "Aryan Supermen" athletes in 1936, Nazi Germany still became significantly more powerful after that.
Personally I have little problem with athletes getting sponsorships or technology improving the game. And while I don't support communism, I do know that two weeks of Olympic games aren't going to change it.
To pretend those things don't exist and The Olympics is just for sport is truly naive.
David Weber channeling The Rishis
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