Is there anyone else who has watched no part of the Olympics?
The Rainmaker has not seen a single instant of Olympic video. Of course even our concerted effort to avoid Olympic coverage has not been sufficient to escape some print coverage of the games.
The whole Olympic movement serves to perpetuate nationalist identity that is really obsolete as the world enters the 21st Century. Actually the more relavant measures of community are much more local and much more global. The "national" is really much less significant.
To appreciate The Rainmaker's point, read "The Untied States of America" by Juan Enriquez.
More about this over time. But to really appreciate the upcoming conversation read the book.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
You're kidding right?
Human beings are tribal by nature. We did not walk out of Africa one at a time. That being the case, we tend to band together in what bacame ever increasingly large tribes. Those tribes are now expressed as nations.
To take away the nationalistic pride we have is to simply say we are all "Earthlings"...which means something to who?
The fact that our tribes have come to embrace those from other tribes makes us a more homogenous species, and that is a good thing. But to distinguish ourselves and to feel comfortable about our identities, we still have to belong to a group...and the only groups large enough to house our homogenous populations are "nations".
Since the time when we fought over a slice of dinner, we have been territorial, both protecting in good times and invading when times were good elsewhere. This is the behavious that should end...and the Olympic Games give us a wonderful alternative to wars, human suffering and needless slaughter.
You might draw the connection that our planet is now one global economy, or you might introduce the concept of world currency and trade, but in truth, these things (and especially the territory involved) are too abstract for us to "belong to". We need something that we can define in our minds. I cannot define "Citizen of the World", and how that moniker impacts my travel, but diveristy or my language.
Until we are involved with regular visits from another world, "Earthling" will have no definition to us...but I suspect once this happens, we will invite them to compete in the Olympics.
Post a Comment