SPORTS and Reality: The Sydney Olympics
I am struck, however, by your repeated invocations of the problems
created by "young males." The repetition is becoming formulaic and it
appears to me that one is missing the point that men only get to be there
after being "younger." So there is energy to be channeled and this gets at
deeper issues of society, I would presume. I trust your conference will not
avoid the depth of these issues.
My response: on TV and in the press there have been many comments on the
declining public interest in the Olympics, so much so that advertisers are
wondering if it is worth while (money, money, money).
The WAIS conference will not avoid the issue of global violence. We might
have a session on it, organized by Stephen Read and Daryl DeBell. What do
they think?
Ronald Hilton - 9/22/00
Stephen Read says: "It is easy for me to share your deploring the Olympics.
Whether or not there was ever an "Olympic ideal" worth emulating, the
jingoism,
triumphalism, and commercialization of the current games is wearying. (And,
one might observe, this is probably a general reaction, judging by the wide
reports of low TV ratings).
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