Rio Olympics

[onesteptwostep]

Welp, it started.


Here's a link to the wiki on all the nations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Summer_Olympics#Participating_National_Olympic_Committees
And here's the calendar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Summer_Olympics#Calendar

The US sent 554, Britain 366, Australia 421, China 421, Germany 425, South Africa 137, Philippines 13, Sweden 152, South Korea 205, North Korea 35, Japan 333, and the host country Brazil with 465.
The closing ceremony is on the 21st.

Spoiler

on a somber note.. https://i.redd.it/3frc54vg6mdx.jpg

 

[onesteptwostep]

Is no one watching? Hrm..

Well anyway Korea's doing somewhat okay so far, they're 7th in medal count. Japan's behind them at 8th. The most recent medalist for the Korean fencing (epee) individual pulled off an incredible comeback from a 6 point deficit. The kid's only 20 years old too

 

[The Gopher]

Oh yeah? That's amazing considering how silly of a weapon epee is.

Edit: sorry pulled back 6 points in epee? Do you have a link to the match?

Edit2: In the gold medal match? The other guy must be ashamed.

Edit3: ahh only 5 points that's slightly more livable.

 

[onesteptwostep]

Yeah some 41 year old Hungarian dude. I found a video but it isn't the full match- but it shows from the 10th point:

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyVf4CSfEXc

That 13th point was when the tide turned around for him. Fuck, I think I'm getting emotional just by watching it again.

 

[The Gopher]

Wow. Okay you can tell by the reaction of the Hungarian just how much he messed up. I'm not sure how to put this in normal terms. Basically there's a stupid rule in epee about double touches giving a point to both side so if that happened at any time in five points it would have been over.

 

[onesteptwostep]

Mmm yeah.

I'm guessing you're not watching too much on the Australian side? They, well, you, actually, seem to be doing okay. 4 gold.

 

[The Gopher]

I'm watching a heap, just in the back ground for hours. I've seen three minutes of fencing. Probably doesn't help that we don't have anyone there. Also we're always strong at the start with swimming/shooting but we drop off later in medal count.

 

[Perfectly Normal Beast]

everyone gape at the distracting spectacle! ejaculate in joy all over this hyperbolic media driven orgy of adulation for environmental destruction, pointless consumption, and competitive nationalism whilst snivelling along to your emotionally manipulative national anthem and feeling validated because someone who happened to be born on the same bit of artificially partitioned land-mass as you is the best at throwing a stick or whatever

be the best!!!
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

 

[The Gopher]

Can you expand on that?

 

[onesteptwostep]

Eh, looks like a bronto-OL-esque effigy with a sudden transition into 'may the best win'. Perfectly normal for a perfectly normal forum ;]

Oh, and Korea just won ANOTHER MEDAL FCKYAE 3RD PLACE WQE%@#!#%

 

[Sinny91]

Well, all I know as of the other day is that Britain were 10th, Russian were 6th, and the USA and China were up the top.

A dude broke his leg, and Britain got Bronze in Swimming.

The Olympics bore me mostly.

The only highlight thus far is some crazy Nija shit I saw from some oriental people.

They should deffo do it how Romans done it - I want to see blood, and some limbs torn apart. The Romans had the right idea.

 

[The Gopher]

Eh, looks like a bronto-OL-esque effigy with a sudden transition into 'may the best win'. Perfectly normal for a perfectly normal forum ;]

Well technically I only asked for the ability to expand on it.

[FONT=&quot]everyone gape at the distracting spectacle! ejaculate in joy all over this hyperbolic media driven orgy of adulation for environmental destruction, pointless consumption, and competitive nationalism whilst snivelling along to your emotionally manipulative national anthem and feeling validated because someone who happened to be born on the same bit of artificially partitioned land-mass as you is the best at throwing a stick or whatever

be the best!!! [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

I mean nothing you said is particularly wrong. However technically it's a lesser offender than most other things.

For example it's a scheduled spectacle so unless people plan to fail and cover it up during the Olympics it's not as bad as other things. Speaking of that what have you not been distracted from seeing? Obviously since you aren't watching you've been doing something very productive with your time and haven't engaged with distracting entertainment in any form. *Looks at forum*

It shouldn't cause environmental destruction, not saying it doesn't. What are we pointlessly consuming? The rest of it only really applies to america or patriotic people which is fair enough but isn't a problem with the Olympics just people's reactions to it.

Besides being the best is still better than being nothing. Basically this is far 2 edgy 4 me and I need to sleep.

 

[Perfectly Normal Beast]

yeah, there are plenty of other uses for this rant. i find the olympics particularly annoying because they generate a more fervid hysteria in the media and among people who don't usually bore me with sports talk than your average local sports team game

what is the building of multiple vast stadia complexes every four years instead of just having a permanent venue if not pointless consumption of resources? around 4.5 million tickets have been sold so far for these games which will add up to a lot of travel miles and useless commemorative merchandise in landfill in 2017

not all forms of entertainment are vehicles for the enforcement of the concept of state, for example: intpf

 

[Pyropyro]

We got a silver medal! Yay!

that was 20 long years of not having one...

 

[The Gopher]

yeah, there are plenty of other uses for this rant. i find the olympics particularly annoying because they generate a more fervid hysteria in the media and among people who don't usually bore me with sports talk than your average local sports team game

what is the building of multiple vast stadia complexes every four years instead of just having a permanent venue if not pointless consumption of resources? around 4.5 million tickets have been sold so far for these games which will add up to a lot of travel miles and useless commemorative merchandise in landfill in 2017

not all forms of entertainment are vehicles for the enforcement of the concept of state, for example: intpf

So you don't like sports. I don't like most of them either that's cool but some people do, and some of those people are annoying extroverts.

It is true you could just stay in one spot. However you could also just continue to use the stadium that was built, like we do in Australia. It's only pointless if you stop using it. Which again shouldn't happen but does in some places. I will give you the commemorative merchandise though. However I doubt the people buying it would have made better choices if the Olympics wasn't on.

True, but that was referring to the distraction point which is irrelevant. I'm not saying you aren't right I'm saying you're way less right than you thought you were and likely only hate it particularly because you dislike sports and ignore the positives. A more productive way to fight would be to fight to have the Olympics done the right way instead of the way it's currently done, if you tell people you want what they love done better they'll listen compared to pointlessly being snarky on the internet. However that would require action so nothing will change and even if it did happen would probably result in a black market for merch.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

A more productive way to fight would be to fight to have the Olympics done the right way instead of the way it's currently done, if you tell people you want what they love done better they'll listen compared to pointlessly being snarky on the internet. However that would require action so nothing will change and even if it did happen would probably result in a black market for merch.

Are you trying to deny people their opportunity to be snarky on the internet when they feel like it?

I have nothing against the athletes whose personal goals include excellence in the physical realm and competing in the olympics. There are many things wrong with the way olympics are currently set up and how bureaucratic and money hungry the national olympic committees can be. For instance in my country there are 5 officials being paid for every sportsman and it's all state funded so even people who don't want to support it, have to.

Why would sportspeople be state funded at all?
It is their personal dream and their goals to compete, they should find their own sponsors or fund their own endeavours. Olympics should be a trial field for self-made people, not for artificially nursed champions who received all the care their parent nation could afford (or coerced them into in the case of more authoritarian regimes trying to show off) at the expense of others.

An athlete made this way is a specially bred person, no ordinary man can compete with them as they need to care about their sustenance and daily life, while the funded athlete receives a monthly stipend and can focus on excelling at a single particular thing. It is very artificial and distant from the classical humanistic ideals.

 

[The Gopher]

Are you trying to deny people their opportunity to be snarky on the internet when they feel like it?

Only if they're wrong.

I also agree, they abandoned the amateur regulations in 1990's which has caused these problems.

 

[Rook]

Gopher, you're missing the point -.-

Humanity is unsustainable and events such as the olympics and australian reality tvs shows are perfect examples of how depraved we have become ever since we mastered steam and inoculations.

Some sort of australian survivor celebrity show thingy occurred about 25 kilometers from me.

A month back I climbed through the mountains with a group of people, on descent entering into the canyon where this farce was filmed. We saw the building from above at first, and then entered onto it's boardwalk. The fools built a wooden boardwalk, at least 500 metres long, from the tar road to the building.

The trees were cut down for one simple use: so that the film crew need not walk through the bush to reach the gigantic wooden building, which was built for the express purpose of filming australian famous people acting as if they were not 3 kilometers from a holiday resort with coca cola and popsicles.

They lived in relative luxury, and took kombis to frolic with a tame hippo 35 kilos away from their base, near a sizable tourist town. Yet on the screens they are in the wilds, and came upon a wild hippo while foraging or whatnot.

These famous people swam in a 'crocodile invested river', which required the installation of a giant iron cage just so that the poor saps did not risk the bite of a catfish or becoming crocodile shite.

I can't stress the conflict one feels after trekking through a pristine mountain wilderness just to come down to a farce such as this, all for the purposes of profit via the entertainment of the masses.

The olympics is exactly the same, which was PNB's point.

Sport is irrelevant here, it is the glorification of humans for the sake of profit and distraction that is at fault.

Kicking a soccer ball about for enjoyment and exercise is acceptable, but in what world does it make sense to construct a gigantic temple where once stood trees, filling the temple with primates and filming the whole spectacle so that the world can have something to do indoors?

depraved and disconnected, humanity is.

 

[The Gopher]

I'm not missing the point I'm not agreeing with the point in it's current form. That example you gave is horrible. (As in it's horrible it happened and it's horribly disconnected from how the Olympics should be done.) Building a wooden board walk that's probably not going to be used again or Olympic stadiums that won't be used again is incredibly wasteful and bad. I disagree with probably 100% of reality tv shows and how they waste resources. What I'm saying is... yes it is bad. However as long as you use the same stadium for everything else and for other events/general use then it's not half as bad as most other things.

The giant temple constructed in Brisbane for the commonwealth games has been used for multiple other major events and is used daily by the people there. Same with the Olympic center in Sydney. They are "permanent" venues used by the people here. If the Olympics were always held in one place they would still build these stadiums for the people to have something to do outdoors. Although the various activities would probably be more spread out.

I'm not saying you're wrong. (what I meant to say in the last post is for the wrong reasons) I'm saying compared to everything else the Olympics is the wrong target and most of the arguments fall flat if it's done properly. You were right. Humanity is the problem, not the Olympics.

You can make dramatic vague statements about anything and sound intellectual, if you don't do anything about it or make imprecise points nothing will change. Basically my problem is the same as yours, humanity is a problem, but you are humanity.

--------------------

Using the internet for enjoyment and entertainment is acceptable, but in what world does it make sense to construct a gigantic, costly national broadband network....

/enddramaticvaguestatement.

That said back when it was proposed all the networking professionals I knew said it was a bad idea for various reasons so maybe you are right.

tl;dr

Humans suck and waste resources on useless stuff. Out of the useless stuff they spend stuff on at least the Olympics has it's uses. If we fix humans we fix the way stuff is done. Gopher Corp has free phones going out to every household. Please use them. ROBOTS ACTIVATE KILL ALL HUMANS. Suddenly everything is good.

 

[Rook]

I

You can make dramatic vague statements about anything and sound intellectual, if you don't do anything about it or make imprecise points nothing will change. Basically my problem is the same as yours, humanity is a problem, but you are humanity.

--------------------

Oh I know I am human, but it's enjoyable to decry the rank unsustainability of my species >.<

I recently stated in the ' conserve or consume' or whatnot thread that I do no agree with this unsustainable development, but I depend on it for my survival and entertainment, which makes me a hypocrite.

You have to understand, I'm not trying to fix things, I'm merely watching as we consume a planet to satiate our meaningless frivolities, and then I die.

Regarding the stadiums, they are a product of the urban collectivist mindset. One small soccer field for every community, with two nets and nothing else, is far less wasteful than gigantic stadiums that feed on coal, water, steel and cement.

You don't even need vast tracts of land to park your petrol ponies and gas chariots on, just a sickle, a ball and two nets.
But humans want to congregate, they want the circus, the baying of a crowd, at whatever cost.

 

[The Gopher]

Ehh we can survive and be entertained while being sustainable. Does involve a lot more killing though.

Well you need a field for most sports in every community if you go that route. I agree on that point having huge seating area's is a waste but again removing them might cause more deaths if you think about it holistically. If you used the profits from tickets you could probably save the environment though. (Assuming you used the stadium often)

 

[onesteptwostep]

The Olympics depends on your perspective. If you're from a privileged view point it's possible to see it as something of a waste, but for developing countries it's something that they have pride in and want to host because it shows the world how far they've come. The '88 Olympics for Seoul pretty much propelled Korea into the modern spotlight and it was their 'cherry on top' so to speak after their miracle on the han. It's the same with Beijing, the Chinese had an incredible amount of pride hosting theirs after the 3 decades of continual economic development. The whole issue with Brazil is more due to their political upheavals.. if it weren't for that people wouldn't even be whining about it in the first place.

 

[Rook]

The Olympics depends on your perspective. If you're from a privileged view point it's possible to see it as something of a waste, but for developing countries it's something that they have pride in and want to host because it shows the world how far they've come. The '88 Olympics for Seoul pretty much propelled Korea into the modern spotlight and it was their 'cherry on top' so to speak after their miracle on the han. It's the same with Beijing, the Chinese had an incredible amount of pride hosting theirs after the 3 decades of continual economic development. The whole issue with Brazil is more due to their political upheavals.. if it weren't for that people wouldn't even be whining about it in the first place.

Honestly, I don't see a country such as China as developing country, it merely has a larger proportion of the dispriviliged when compared to other large economies.

Their government has funds to spare for frivolities like these(though ofc these funds are better applied to the betterment of welfare or their environmental impact). In true 'developing countries', such events are a net loss economically. The 2010 soccer tournament is a good example here, it had only a psychological and tourism effect, the economic effects are a net loss, unemployment is still high and the suffering of people rooted from a land that once sustained them continues as malls are built for the city or town going gorm.

It is exactly from a disprivileged point of view that the olympics and such is a waste, from the privileged viewpoint it is just another event with all the customary hooplah.

But if pride is more important than the lives of the suffering slaves of consumerism, by all means enjoy the spectacle.

I honestly don't see how national pride in having hosted a sporting event can put food in the stomach.

 

[Pyropyro]

 

[onesteptwostep]

Honestly, I don't see a country such as China as developing country, it merely has a larger proportion of the dispriviliged when compared to other large economies.

Their government has funds to spare for frivolities like these. In true 'developing countries', such events are a net loss economically. The 2010 soccer tournament is a good example here, it had only a psychological and tourism effect, the economic effects are a net loss, unemployment is still high and the suffering of people rooted from a land that once sustained them continues as malls are built for the city or town going gorm.

It is exactly from a disprivileged point of view that the olympics and such is a waste, from the privileged viewpoint it is just another event with all the customary hooplah.

But if pride is more important than the lives of the suffering slaves of consumerism, by all means enjoy the spectacle.

There's a lot of ways to dissect this, but one of the requirements for hosting an olympics is to have an economy that would be capable to host one in the first place. The view presented here is also just, ultimately, a projection of your own views on the host country. I would argue that if the olympics achieves its goal of unity within a country, then it's worth all the preparations. Handouts don't tend to work, it's the creation of jobs that aids the people in the long run.

Note, sometimes events like this doesn't achieve its goal of national unity, which is one objection I would have. An example of this could be something like the Asian Games, they get terrible ratings.

 

[Rook]

Hmmm by welfare I mean state of being, not handouts.

Ofc subjectivity reigns, for me personally the concept of national unity and pride is completely silly, much like supporting a sports team, wearing their colours, watching their matches and getting all emotional about the circumstances regarding their actions.

Loyalty and pride attributed to arbitrarily drawn borders and pre-conceptions is similar to the adulation of the queen mother, the worship of jehovah or the belief that life has a pre-defined objective meaning.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

The Olympics depends on your perspective. If you're from a privileged view point it's possible to see it as something of a waste, but for developing countries it's something that they have pride in and want to host because it shows the world how far they've come. The '88 Olympics for Seoul pretty much propelled Korea into the modern spotlight and it was their 'cherry on top' so to speak after their miracle on the han. It's the same with Beijing, the Chinese had an incredible amount of pride hosting theirs after the 3 decades of continual economic development.

Way to be all apologetic about state-sponsored propaganda. Of course there are hundreds of more pressing matters that those money could be spent on, but hey, we can at least pretend every voiceless citizen was just as proud and satisfied with the results as the officials put on the spotlight had they instead received any local improvement or attention.

It's not like anything ever changed for the impoverished, previously it was all about emperor's big dreams, now it's the chairmen/ruling clique.

 

[onesteptwostep]

Way to be all apologetic about state-sponsored propaganda. Of course there are hundreds of more pressing matters that those money could be spent on, but hey, we can at least pretend every voiceless citizen was just as proud and satisfied with the results as the officials put on the spotlight had they instead received any local improvement or attention.

It's not like anything ever changed for the impoverished, previously it was all about emperor's big dreams, now it's the chairmen/ruling clique.

I feel like blarra would be one of those types who would refuse to celebrate a birthday.

 

[Architect]

I know somebody in this years games, won a gold, silver and bronze so far. Pretty cool, but it's beyond me as to why you'd want the work and expense of becoming an Olympian. It's really hard to to make any money at it and frankly the glory is usually known only to people interested in your specialty.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

I feel like blarra would be one of those types who would refuse to celebrate a birthday.

That's hugely unrelated to the topic. Celebration doesn't have to be wasteful or detrimental to others' well-being, celebrating birthdays is an established social convention that depends on one's choices and company, celebration/commemoration itself is an important part of state/personal identity formation. Anyways, ad hominem, non sequitur, etc.

On another note, there's nothing implicitly masochistic or incorrect in refusing to celebrate something, the decision may come due to a number of reasons.

I wouldn't turn down an offer to celebrate my birthday, on the other hand I wouldn't plan to celebrate it unless my friends happened to be in the vicinity at that time.

 

[Brontosaurie]

It's bullshit

 

[onesteptwostep]

That's hugely unrelated to the topic. Celebration doesn't have to be wasteful or detrimental to others' well-being, celebrating birthdays is an established social convention that depends on one's choices and company, celebration/commemoration itself is an important part of state/personal identity formation. Anyways, ad hominem, non sequitur, etc.

On another note, there's nothing implicitly masochistic or incorrect in refusing to celebrate something, the decision may come due to a number of reasons.

I wouldn't turn down an offer to celebrate my birthday, on the other hand I wouldn't plan to celebrate it unless my friends happened to be in the vicinity at that time.

You can easily find something wrong with a birthday to not celebrate it. You could have not have gotten those candles which emit toxic fumes or you could have not gotten those paper present wrappings which might have traces of plastic in them. You certainly don't have to waste your parents or own money to celebrate it, but to donate that money to charity.

You see?

 

[Kuu]

If you're from a privileged view point it's possible to see it as something of a waste, but for developing countries it's something that they have pride in and want to host because it shows the world how far they've come.

Onesteptwostep says the darndest things...

The whole concept that an entire "nation" can be somehow represented by a handful of people and should feel "pride" by proxy of their largely irrelevant achievements in contests of bizarre, unproductive activities is complete insanity.

We could show the world how far we've come by actual fixing the issues we have, instead of spending resources on pointless things like glorifying athleticism and hollow nationalism.

I know somebody in this years games, won a gold, silver and bronze so far. Pretty cool, but it's beyond me as to why you'd want the work and expense of becoming an Olympian. It's really hard to to make any money at it and frankly the glory is usually known only to people interested in your specialty.

It blows my mind too. All that work for something so... intrascendental. But they like it, I suppose.

 

[onesteptwostep]

Onesteptwostep says the darndest things...

The whole concept that an entire "nation" can be somehow represented by a handful of people and should feel "pride" by proxy of their largely irrelevant achievements in contests of bizarre, unproductive activities is complete insanity.

We could show the world how far we've come by actual fixing the issues we have, instead of spending resources on pointless things like glorifying athleticism and hollow nationalism.

You could apply this to every sport out there.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

You can easily find something wrong with a birthday to not celebrate it. You could have not have gotten those candles which emit toxic fumes or you could have not gotten those paper present wrappings which might have traces of plastic in them. You certainly don't have to waste your parents or own money to celebrate it, but to donate that money to charity.

You see?

I don't get your point. I'm fairly confident you have no point to make and you're pushing this tangent to weaken my position by misrepresenting myself or making yourself feel affirmed in your views. End the rhetorics please.

 

[The Gopher]

You could apply this to every sport out there.

Every sport, esport, hobby, form of entertainment... Selective nihilism.

 

[onesteptwostep]

I don't get your point. I'm fairly confident you have no point to make and you're pushing this tangent to weaken my position by misrepresenting myself or making yourself feel affirmed in your views. End the rhetorics please.

I have another one then. Let's say there was a huge world war and the victors held a huge parade. That effort could have gone into the hospitals and for the reconstruction costs. Is it right or wrong for them to have held the parade? It's state sponsored propaganda, after all.

 

[Fukyo]

This is the first time in my life I'm watching sports and it's kind of freaky. I've gotten into basketball in particular, I was just watching the Serbia vs Croatia match and losing my mind. I hope we win at least a bronze medal.

It's a shame our female Taekwondo competitor didn't best Korea for a gold medal.

 

[Sinny91]

I have another one then. Let's say there was a huge world war and the victors held a huge parade. That effort could have gone into the hospitals and for the reconstruction costs. Is it right or wrong for them to have held the parade?

WRONG, from my moral standpoint because:

It's state sponsored propaganda, after all.

?? You do confuse me.

 

[onesteptwostep]

This is the first time in my life I'm watching sports and it's kind of freaky. I've gotten into basketball in particular, I was just watching the Serbia vs Croatia match and losing my mind. I hope we win at least a bronze medal.

It's a shame our female Taekwondo competitor didn't best Korea for a gold medal.

Weird, I thought you were Slovenian for some reason. ..

Haha too bad, Korea made the sport! (though we seem to suck at it now o_o)

 

[Sinny91]

There's a lot of ways to dissect this, but one of the requirements for hosting an olympics is to have an economy that would be capable to host one in the first place. The view presented here is also just, ultimately, a projection of your own views on the host country. I would argue that if the olympics achieves its goal of unity within a country, then it's worth all the preparations.

Unity? I've seen videos of the homeless Brazilians watching the Olympics from afar on their elevated hill sides.

Unity, suuuureee.

Handouts don't tend to work, it's the creation of jobs that aids the people in the long run.

You mean the rat races?

Kings, Queens, Churches and politicians sit with gold atop their heads, whilst they lecture us on our life styles.

Its fucking SICK, is what it is.

 

[Sinny91]

The Olympics depends on your perspective. If you're from a privileged view point it's possible to see it as something of a waste, but for developing countries it's something that they have pride in and want to host because it shows the world how far they've come....

... In submitting to the globalist agenda.

 

[onesteptwostep]

Sinny always on a perpetual journey to find the boogeymen. Or perhaps a boogeywomen? We shall never know..

 

[Analyzer]

Looks like those US swimmers BS'd the robbery story. Typical of USonains(Americans) to go to some other country and think they are superior enough to get away with what they want.

 

[Nofriends]

Am I the only one who does not care at all about the Olympics?
I think if they are going to make it exciting put in challenges, for the swimming you release a shark and they have to outrace it or die, for the sprinting, the people finishing last have to be displaced in an arena where they fight to the death, we give them a bow and an arrow and see how fast they can outmaneuver their opponent while shooting it.

for those who go come last on high jump u leave some spikes underneath for them to fall on and die

u import some scummy prisoners and have them fight the archers in an arena

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

Deep insights into rio success.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFjYkrq5JU4