I have been watching the Olympics lately. Usually I don't like to, but we were visiting the daughter's family and they get fewer channels than the wife and I get at home. However, there is something in the behavior and attitudes of many of the Olympic athletes that transcends national or, if one is really patriotic, tribal lines. That is respect. Many of the athletes show a deep respect for others regardless of whether they win or lose. And part of this respect for others rubs off on the crowd many of who whom could easily cheer for athletes from other nations.
In addition, I find that there are athletes from other nations for whom I could cheer and hope to win even if they defeated someone from the US. Joshua Buatsi is one such athlete. He is the light heavyweight boxer from Great Britain whose first concern in his first fight was the physical well-being of his first opponent whom he knocked down 3 times. Then there is the 41-year-old gymnast, Oksana Chusovitina, from Uzbekistan who made it to the finals in the women's vault. Though she did not do well in the finals, to compete in gymnastics at the Olympics at 41 is a marvel and a delight to watch. And of course, there is Usain Bolt whose quality of character is matched only by his speed. How could I root against him even though he was racing against Justin Gatlin from the US?
Unfortunately, this having respect for others practiced by these athletes is not often enough practiced here by politicians and voters for those from other parties and ideologies. We should note that a majority of voters for both Hillary and Trump are voting for their respective candidates not because they are big fans of either one, but because they don't want the other candidate to when. They have demonized the candidates from the other political party as well as the other political party itself and thus they cannot even bear to listen to each other. And we might consider whether this demonetization of the other that exists between the two political parties comes from the values of winning almost at all costs which have leaked into the values of our democracy from our economic system. And so just like some will measure their own nation's success or failure by comparing medal counts between the nations, so on election night, many will will be counting electoral votes and seats won for their party without having respect for those from the other political party who won. And without respect for each other, our Democracy dies because instead of elections serving as a vehicle for self-rule, they become the main instrument in conquering others and dividing the nation.
Of course, who could argue against the practice of voting against others rather than voting for someone who best represents you rather than against someone? Certainly those who are so partisan that they have demonized most, if not all, of those from the other major political party. And that includes those who are either voting against Hillary or Trump. But though I will vote for neither candidate, I can find points of agreement with each one. Certainly there are not enough of these points with either one which would move me to for either one, I still share points of agreement. And perhaps, a certain degree of respect for more of our candidates, some of whom will hold elected office, can begin by searching for those points of agreement. And perhaps from there, we can find enough reasons for voting for third-party candidates rather than always voting against the candidate from the other major political party. For this voting against approach is not only self-limiting, it has diminished the quality the candidates coming from either of our major political parties while making it tougher for us to face the truth about ourselves and our nation.
Showing posts with label Olympics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Olympics. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Monday, February 24, 2014
ONIM For Feb 24, 2014
Christian News
World News
Pick(s) Of The Litter
- Reports Of First Church In Saudi Arabia Are False, Says Coptic Orthodox Church -- Christian Today (UK)
- Equip Your Church To Be At The Heart Of Community -- Christian Today (UK)
- Fear For Religious Minorities In Sudan -- Christian Today (UK)
- Wheaton Student Protest 'Train Wreck Conversion' Speaker's Ex-Gay Conversion -- Christianity Today
- How The World's Top 10 Countries Search The Bible Differently -- Christianity Today
- Kenyan Pastors Protest Pay-To-Preach Laws -- Christianity Today
- Ukraine Names Interim President After Removing Yanukovich; Protesters Hail Victory -- The Christian Post
- 5 Reasons To Attend Church Regularly -- The Christian Post
- Global LGBT Recap: Culture War Claims More Victims -- Religion Dispatches
- "A Most Ungodly Way To View Religious Freedom" -- Religion Dispatches
- Science Denial Can't Be Cured By Education -- Religion Dispatches
World News
- Russia: Olympic Detention Of Peaceful Protesters -- Human Rights Watch
- Russian Oppositional Artists Nadya and Masha Are Arrested In Sochi -- CNN
- Americans Struggle With Science -- Phys.Org
- Stirring Debate On BDS, 'NYT' Allows Readers To Speak Out About Inequality -- Mondoweiss
- NYC Is Urged To Drop Assault Charges Against Cecily McMillan -- Green Shadow Cabinet
- Chevron Offers Coupons For Pizza Combo After Fracking Well Explodes -- The Raw Story
- Ukraine: 25 Killed, 241 Injured In Kiev Clashes -- Yahoo News
- UAW Loses in Election To Represent Tennessee VW Workers -- Democracy At Work
- Columbian Activist Says Canadian Companies Benefitting From Human Rights Abuses -- Ottawa Citizen
- Russian Oppositional Artists Whipped And Manhandled By Cossacks -- Washington Post
- Loan Complaints By Homeowners Rise Once More -- New York Times
- Frackgate: Ohio Regulators Planned To Subvert Eco-Groups, Promote Fracking In State Parks -- Truthout
- A Refuge For Russia's LGBT Youth Is Under Attack -- Human Rights First
- Panama: Tabasará River Communities Face Imminent Eviction -- Indigenous Peoples Issues & Resources
- US Conservatives Praise Russia's Anti-Gay Laws -- Yahoo News
- Kansas Restaurant Kicks Gay Man Out -- TopekasNews
Pick(s) Of The Litter
Monday, February 10, 2014
ONIM For Feb 10, 2014
Christian News
World News
Pick(s) Of The Litter
- Sacrifice And What We Are Willing To Do To Love Others -- Christian Today (UK)
- Cry For Help From Syrian Church Leaders -- Christian Today (UK)
- British Children No Longer Know Bible Stories -- Christian Today (UK)
- For God And Country: Christian Athletes To Watch In Sochi -- Christianity Today
- U.S. Abortions Fall To Lowest Rate Since Roe V. Wade -- Christianity Today
- Will The Faithful Inherit The Super Bowl? Sports Fans Split On Prosperity Gospel -- Christianity Today
- 7 Reasons Very Active Church Members Drop Out -- The Christian Post
- The Brilliant Way Jesus Calls His Disciples -- The Christian Post
- Analysis: 'Obamacare' Discourages Work And That Is A Bad Thing; Here Is Why-- The Christian Post
- True Or False: Less Religion Means Greater Diversity? --Religion Dispatches
- Vatican, 'Cool Pope' Blasts UN Link Between Sexual Abuse Scandal And Church Attitudes On Gays, Contraception, Abortion -- Religion Dispatches
- Religious Freedom In Peril -- Religion Dispatches
World News
- Russian Neo-Nazis Made These Horrifying Videos Of Anti-LGBT Attacks -- Yahoo News
- DeBlasio Won't Be In NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade -- Yahoo News
- The FBI Seized All Of TorMail's Data And Is Using It To Catch Hackers -- Gizmodo
- Congressman: Extending Safety Net For Long-Term Unemployed Is 'Immoral' -- Think Progress
- At Least 26 Children Or Teens Have Died In Florida Stand Your Ground Cases -- Think Progress
- ACE Documents Radiation Spikes Near Limerick Nuclear Plant -- Mercury Letters
- 47 Years A Slave: A New Perspective On The Occupation -- Haaretz
- Student Debt Profiteers Exposed -- Jobs With Justice
- NSA Spied On German Chancellor Over 10 Years Ago -- The Guardian
- Duke Energy Coal Ash Spill Pollutes River And Threatens Drinking Water -- EcoWatch
- Israel Destroying Emergency Shelters Of Home Demolition Victims, Says Red Cross -- The Electronic Intifada
- Human Rights Groups Criticize IOC Over Sochi Abuses -- Deutsche Welle
- Russian LGBT Activists Arrested On First Day Of Sochi Games -- Aljazeera
- Russian Oppositional Artists Criticize The Cost Of The Winter Olympics -- CBS News (Video Report)
Pick(s) Of The Litter
- Can Occupiers Struggle Alongside The Occupied? -- The Electronic Intifada
Monday, January 6, 2014
ONIM For Jan 6, 2014
Christian News
World News
Pick Of The Litter
- Giving Vulnerable Children A Home For Good -- Christian Today (UK)
- Europe's Young Christians Encouraged To Have Missional Lifestyle -- Christian Today (UK)
- Third Of Brits Will Struggle With Rent Or Mortgage Payments In 2014 -- Christian Today (UK)
- The Normal, Drama-Free, Totally Healthy Homeschool Movement -- Christianity Today
- Top Church Signs Of 2013 -- Christianity Today
- Obama Pushes Congress For Unemployment Benefits Extension -- The Christian Post
- Childlessness In The US Among Highest In The World, Report Says -- The Christian Post
- More Abortion Restrictions Passed In Last 3 Years Than In Past Decade -- The Christian Post
- Frank Schaeffer, Phil Robertson, And The Myth Of Christian Unity -- Religion Dispatches
- Duck Dynasty Patriarch, Hero Of Christian Right -- Religion Dispatches
World News
- Protests Grow In Britain To Tax Corporations, The Rich, To Fund Free Education -- Occupy.Com
- 26,000 Sign Petition Demanding Washington Post Disclose Bezos-Amazon's CIA Ties -- Occupy.Com
- State Media And Secret Police Prepare To Confront Green Threat Together -- Navoya Gazeta
- Russia: Olympic Construction Devastates Sochi Village -- Human Rights Watch
- Russia: "Foreign Agents" Law Hits Hundreds Of NGOs: Updated December 26, 2013 -- Human Rights Watch
- Saudi Arabia: Terrorism Law Targets Peaceful Speech -- Human Rights Watch
- Lynne Stewart Freed From Prison, Granted "Compassionate Release" -- Democracy Now
- Ten Years Later, US Has Left Iraq With Mass Displacement And Epidemic Of Birth Defects, Cancer -- Democracy Now
- Drone Use Soars In Latin America, Remains Widely Unregulated -- Upside Down World
- Central America: Mothers Of Disappeared Migrants Return To Mexico In Search Of Loved Ones -- Upside Down World
- Syrian Rebel Alliance Battles Al-Qaeda Linked Fighters -- Reuters
- Putin Eases Curbs On Protests In Sochi For Olympics -- Reuters
Pick Of The Litter
- None This Week
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
The Olympics Mirror The World's Priorities
The Olympic moment was inspiring. After the men's semifinal 400 meter race, the winner, Grenada's world champion, Kirani James, swapped numbers with South Africa's Oscar Pistorius, who ran with two protheses, to show respect for this particular competitor (see here). The moment itself deserved a gold medal, but that was not in the cards.
Another gold medal merited moment came Sara Attar became Saudi Arabia's first female Olympic track competitor (see here). She dressed differently from the other runners because she wanted to dress appropriately as a Muslim. She ran the 800m race and finished 43 seconds behind the winner. But her efforts merit a gold medal that she will never see.
Why won't we see gold medals awarded for either of the above events? Perhaps it is because the Olympics also hold to the same values society does. Though the human moments of Olympics receive an honorable mention, the actual rewards come in the form of the Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals awarded to the top three competitors. And domination is rewarded not only in the awarding of medals but in the fact that only the Gold Medal winners have their national anthems played while the others must politely stand at attention.
And what is most remembered, especially in the countries that have the most, is the medal count. How many total medals has my country won and how many of them were Gold Medals are the questions that too many citizens from these countries ask. Sportsmanship and compassion are nice but they do not win medals. So such attributes are considered to be luxuries rather than treasures.
When we look at society, we see that most people look at their personal wealth in the same way that nations do at Olympic medals. Those with the most gain more recognition and a privileged place in society. Their higher status gives them the opportunity and means to dominate those below. And perhaps, some at the top will show themselves to be philanthropists. But such is a luxury that is unnecessary to keep one's place. Here, what is valued is what one financially accomplishes for oneself and this is measured as discretely as counting Olympic medals. Human attributes such as compassion and mercy, if not ignored, are never rewarded with society's highest award--money.
Also consider what society regards as progress. It is technology. As one minister put it, the Indians whom our forefathers met were from the Stone Age. And what is the technological enterprise other than to remove us as far as possible from nature, as a friend and fellow activist said to me.
The problem here is with our perception. To think that the Americans Indians were primitive because they lacked our technology is to miss the fact that these same people were ecologically brilliant. I remember a personal tour that the wife and I took led by a friend and biologist from a Christian university where our tour guide explained to us the many ways in which American Indians made the environment work for them as opposed to the European settlers who saw the environment as just one more obstacle to overcome in building their toy kingdoms. We should also note here that bad ecological decisions significantly contributed to the environmental disaster that Hurricane Katrina brought to New Orleans. So here we have a parallel where nature is to progress what human attributes like compassion and caring are to our economic system and the Olympics. Certainly lip service will be paid to environmental concern, mercy, peacemaking and such; but the bottom line is currency, medals and gadgets. Thus, we have learned to trade nature and humanity in for what is artificial.
Despite the negative vibes expressed above, I am not saying that we should eliminate the Olympics and all competition. We should note that many of the Olympic participants have a better glimpse of what is most important than the rest of the world. To the world, the Olympics is about winning, medal counts, and national pride. And certainly, the participants have no shortage of national pride. But these athletes can also interact with each other without boundaries. They can learn to appreciate and respect others as peers and people despite the competition and varying cultures and languages. But much of their bridge building will never be perceived, let alone appreciated, by the public.
But the international friendships initiated at the Olympics do not adequately focus the world's attention on best parts of being human. In fact, we have very few ways of recognizing these parts. This only reinforces the idea that traits like compassion and peacemaking are luxuries that rarely mean anything in the real world. And for as long as performance and productivity are elevated above caring for others and the ability to forgive, we are doomed to self-destruction.
There is another example where the Olympics models society. The closing ceremony contained a salute to the history of British popular music. For the most part, what was celebrated was the feel-good music produced by British rock groups. But the musical group doing the most important work of all groups was never mentioned. One reason might be because this group is a Russian punk rock group. Another reason just might be because of the name of this Russian group: Pussy Riot. And though I am neither a fan of any rock music nor of the group's name, this group deserves to stand on a podium by itself with a slew of Olympic Gold Medals for the courage they have exhibited in standing up to the authoritarian and oppressive Russian government and the collusion that exists between Russia's worst leaders and the Russian Orthodox Church. I guess that America is not the only country where the Church serves as an institution of indoctrination.
Currently, three members of Pussy Riot are on trial for a "punk prayer" protest performance they conducted in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior (see performance). The Russian prosecutors want them sentenced to three years in prison because they claim that these dissidents pose a "danger to society" because of how they offended Russian Orthodoxy (read here). Apparently, freedom never really came to Russia after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. And the most important human attributes exhibited by these musicians were never given their due during the closing ceremonies.
Another gold medal merited moment came Sara Attar became Saudi Arabia's first female Olympic track competitor (see here). She dressed differently from the other runners because she wanted to dress appropriately as a Muslim. She ran the 800m race and finished 43 seconds behind the winner. But her efforts merit a gold medal that she will never see.
Why won't we see gold medals awarded for either of the above events? Perhaps it is because the Olympics also hold to the same values society does. Though the human moments of Olympics receive an honorable mention, the actual rewards come in the form of the Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals awarded to the top three competitors. And domination is rewarded not only in the awarding of medals but in the fact that only the Gold Medal winners have their national anthems played while the others must politely stand at attention.
And what is most remembered, especially in the countries that have the most, is the medal count. How many total medals has my country won and how many of them were Gold Medals are the questions that too many citizens from these countries ask. Sportsmanship and compassion are nice but they do not win medals. So such attributes are considered to be luxuries rather than treasures.
When we look at society, we see that most people look at their personal wealth in the same way that nations do at Olympic medals. Those with the most gain more recognition and a privileged place in society. Their higher status gives them the opportunity and means to dominate those below. And perhaps, some at the top will show themselves to be philanthropists. But such is a luxury that is unnecessary to keep one's place. Here, what is valued is what one financially accomplishes for oneself and this is measured as discretely as counting Olympic medals. Human attributes such as compassion and mercy, if not ignored, are never rewarded with society's highest award--money.
Also consider what society regards as progress. It is technology. As one minister put it, the Indians whom our forefathers met were from the Stone Age. And what is the technological enterprise other than to remove us as far as possible from nature, as a friend and fellow activist said to me.
The problem here is with our perception. To think that the Americans Indians were primitive because they lacked our technology is to miss the fact that these same people were ecologically brilliant. I remember a personal tour that the wife and I took led by a friend and biologist from a Christian university where our tour guide explained to us the many ways in which American Indians made the environment work for them as opposed to the European settlers who saw the environment as just one more obstacle to overcome in building their toy kingdoms. We should also note here that bad ecological decisions significantly contributed to the environmental disaster that Hurricane Katrina brought to New Orleans. So here we have a parallel where nature is to progress what human attributes like compassion and caring are to our economic system and the Olympics. Certainly lip service will be paid to environmental concern, mercy, peacemaking and such; but the bottom line is currency, medals and gadgets. Thus, we have learned to trade nature and humanity in for what is artificial.
Despite the negative vibes expressed above, I am not saying that we should eliminate the Olympics and all competition. We should note that many of the Olympic participants have a better glimpse of what is most important than the rest of the world. To the world, the Olympics is about winning, medal counts, and national pride. And certainly, the participants have no shortage of national pride. But these athletes can also interact with each other without boundaries. They can learn to appreciate and respect others as peers and people despite the competition and varying cultures and languages. But much of their bridge building will never be perceived, let alone appreciated, by the public.
But the international friendships initiated at the Olympics do not adequately focus the world's attention on best parts of being human. In fact, we have very few ways of recognizing these parts. This only reinforces the idea that traits like compassion and peacemaking are luxuries that rarely mean anything in the real world. And for as long as performance and productivity are elevated above caring for others and the ability to forgive, we are doomed to self-destruction.
There is another example where the Olympics models society. The closing ceremony contained a salute to the history of British popular music. For the most part, what was celebrated was the feel-good music produced by British rock groups. But the musical group doing the most important work of all groups was never mentioned. One reason might be because this group is a Russian punk rock group. Another reason just might be because of the name of this Russian group: Pussy Riot. And though I am neither a fan of any rock music nor of the group's name, this group deserves to stand on a podium by itself with a slew of Olympic Gold Medals for the courage they have exhibited in standing up to the authoritarian and oppressive Russian government and the collusion that exists between Russia's worst leaders and the Russian Orthodox Church. I guess that America is not the only country where the Church serves as an institution of indoctrination.
Currently, three members of Pussy Riot are on trial for a "punk prayer" protest performance they conducted in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior (see performance). The Russian prosecutors want them sentenced to three years in prison because they claim that these dissidents pose a "danger to society" because of how they offended Russian Orthodoxy (read here). Apparently, freedom never really came to Russia after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. And the most important human attributes exhibited by these musicians were never given their due during the closing ceremonies.
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