Thursday, August 9, 2012

Jonathan Kay - "Olympophobe"

Peter Foster - The joy of competition:
... it’s time for my quadrennial smackdown with the Post’s foremost Olympophobe, Comment editor Jonathan Kay.
... During the Beijing Olympics four years ago, Mr. Kay bemoaned sport as a source of conflict. He quoted George Orwell’s claim that sport is “bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting.” ...

1 comment:

Xanthippa said...

While I do not agree with Mr. Kay's evaluation of sports in general, I do have to note that I think taxpayer support of the Olympic movement - at any stage - is unacceptable.

Why?

One could cite the civil-liberty-free zones that Olympic venues are.

Or one could cite the gender apartheid inherrent in Olympic competitions.

Or one could focus on the corruptionn which permeates the IOC.

...before one got to the really blatant reasons - obvious and glaring...

But for me, the reason is simple: why should I pay taxes so that other people could pursue their hobbies?