Originally published at: 83% of Japanese oppose forthcoming summer Olympics | Boing Boing
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I object to the insinuation that the government is “handling” the pandemic.
-Signed, somebody who is going to have to wait until next spring to get vaccinated because Suga’s government can’t handle the rollout.
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More than 11,000 have died, in a country of 126m
Speaking hypothetically, if there were a country with roughly three times Japan’s population, that would scale out to 33,000 deaths in this hypothetical country…
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Despite the memorable experiences I had from attending two Olympic games when I was young, I’ve increasingly soured on the events as I got older.
It’s clear that the whole administrative and business apparatus of the event is corrupt, exploitative, and has been tainted with fascist and racist and ultra-nationalist sentiment from the beginning.
The relentless push to hold the Tokyo games in the midst of a global pandemic is another episode in this shameful. It makes no sense to push forward, except that the TV broadcast dollars and sweetheart construction and concession deals and the bribes must flow.
I feel sorry for the athletes who were training up for their moment of glory. They deserve better than the bad luck of Covid, but they also deserve better than the IOC, the various national committees, and the horror-show sporting bodies that all treat them as cash cows.
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… and leaves devastated local economies in its wake, the biggest impacts of which are felt by the most vulnerable citizens.
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This is way off topic, but that font is fabulous. It makes it look almost like a mid-century municipal sign and gives it an air of authenticity.
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The Olympics is a classic example of one of the fundamental systems failings: Systems tend towards self-perpetuation, so regardless of how the system is designed, over time the extrinsic goals of the system tend to become subordinate to intra-systems goals. The system itself becomes the purpose for its own existence, and it leads to really stupid choices from the point of view of those on the outside who are still relying on or still believe in the system’s extrinsic purpose – or who otherwise see the utter absurdity of the self-destructive choices being made.
See also: the American health care system (“we couldn’t possibly have universal health care, it would put millions of people in the insurance industry out of work!”), the prison-industrial complex (“our contract with the private prison company mandates a certain minimum occupancy, so we couldn’t possibly revisit sentencing laws”), and so many others.
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New pro-sports stadiums are terrible boondoggles for local economies as it is, promising prosperity for all but only benefitting a small group of already rich and powerful cronies. Having the “honour” of hosting the Olympics is that same curse on a massive scale.
The only community benefit I recall in my own life from the games being hosted in my city was the reduction of L.A.'s terrible traffic in 1984, as the city and businesses worked together to stagger commute times. Of course, that was only temporary and congestion quickly returned to normal after the event moved on.
Very true. The Olympic system is particularly toxic because for many years it also granted dictatorial powers at various organisational levels to creeps like Avery Brundage (a racist snob), Juan Antonio Sameranch (a fascist), and Mitt Romney (a greedpig bust-out artist with whom we’re all familiar). Those are just the familiar names, with hundreds if not thousands of other grifters, thieves, exploiters, and abusers whose names have come up in connection with Olympics scandals over the years. As horrible as FIFA is, the rot in the Olympics is more sprawling in all ways.
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Would they be able to require anyone coming from overseas to have been vaccinated prior to coming into Japan? Even if Japan’s vaccine rollout has been slow, most countries could manage to get their Olympians and staff vaccinated by summer.
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Right now they’re requiring quarantine, even for vaccinated individuals, if I’m understanding correctly. Normally I’d roll my eyes at the tendency of Japan to blame all problems on foreigners, but with the current situation it seems to be something more of us should be requiring.
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It’s almost like the leader of that hypothetical country was so incompetent as to contribute to 600,000 “extra” hypothetical deaths.
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Aw, come on. I said “hypothetical” not “beyond the realm of belief.”
Oh, wait…
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How many countries would boycott/be excluded from the Olympics due to COVID risks alone?
(That alone would be a factor against having a “worldwide event” with only a handful of 1st world nations that have successful vaccine efforts.)
Personally I would punt this to 2022, same year as the winter games, or skip it altogether.
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Maybe they could hold a Zoom Olympics, where the athletes stay in their home countries, and compete remotely?
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You would, I would, most people would, but all that matters is the IOC.
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