And It’s 1-2-3 What Are We Cheering For

I both love and hate the Olympics.

I am an ardent sports fan. I watch Cornhole matches, so why wouldn’t I watch the greatest athletes in the world compete with each other? I do and I love it.

I hate the flag waving.

I mean, really, is my country any better than your country because my country has a guy who runs faster? Is that any reason to show pride in where you happen to live? And if the answer to that is, “no”, then what’s with the flags? What are the flag-wavers showing pride in? 

There is no cause for pride in your country because a fast runner lives where you do, any more than the opposite is true. Your country is no worse a place because someone from another country runs even faster. No country’s Olympic results are a reflection on that country – good or bad. A Ugandan runner won the gold medal in the men’s 10,000- meter. The U.S. finished third. Does that have the slightest impact on whether Ugandans should be proud of a place that the World Bank ranks as one of the worst countries on the planet? 

Another reason that medal count is no reason for pride is the relative size of the countries. You have to consider how many people each country has to draw from. Is it just happenstance that China with 1.4 billion people has the most gold medals?  Of course not. Nor is that medal count any reason to think that it makes China a better country.

And here’s the other problem – the bigger problem. The unwarranted pride generated by the Olympics buttresses unwarranted nationalism. In turn, that nationalism metastasizes into chauvinism. This then creates an environment ripe for demagogues who whip populations into chauvinist frenzies at the sight of the same waving flags we now see in Paris. 

Is this tautology strained? Watch a Trump rally. You hear the same chants of “U.S.A., U.S.A. that you hear when we win a volleyball game.

So, I’ll keep watching and being amazed by the athletes. I’ll also keep watching and being exasperated by the flags.