Ladies and gentlemen... Susan Jacoby.
Torrey M. Spears
Olympic boosterism and American cultural narcissism
If you would like a graphic (literal and figurative) demonstration of
our nation's greatest failing, sit in front of your television set and
watch NBC cover an international sports event, the Winter Olympics, as
if only Americans were participating. Every time the Today show's
Meredith Vieira stumbles over the name of the Russian figure skater
Yevgeny Plushenko (it's pronounced exactly as it's spelled, Meredith,
with the accent on the second syllables) and giggles to show that it's
OK to be ignorant, I think about all of the announcers from Canada and
Europe who pronounce everyone's name correctly. Their employers care
about getting it right, and NBC doesn't. Not if the athlete isn't one
of us, contributing to the mounting total of "American" medals
announced breathlessly every day. Why, anyone would think that these
medals were more important than the performance of American students
on international comparison tests of achievement in school. In case
you're interested, Finland was No. 1 and Canada No. 2 in the most
recent international assessment of reading comprehension. The United
States was No. 15. U.S.A., U.S.A....
This Olympic coverage matters because it offers a window into a deeply
provincial, reflexively nationalistic mindset that hampers our
understanding of the rest of the world and prevents any realistic
assessment of American weaknesses and strengths in comparison to other
countries. In a truly emblematic moment in the "We're No. 1"
extravaganza, NBC showed a recap of the medals ceremony for the Men's
Super-G, an Alpine skiing event. Americans Bode Miller and Andrew
Weibrecht won silver and bronze, respectively, but the network simply
blanked out the gold medal podium, which was occupied by Norwegian
Aksel Svindal. Well, who cares about a Norwegian? He's just an athlete
from one of those unhappy countries cursed by secularism and universal
health care.
The conviction that the United States is morally and culturally better
than other
countries--including other developed democracies--is a real social
disease that hurts us more than it does anyone else. It is also a
profoundly anti-intellectual. This cultural narcissim is what impelled
Brit Hume to urge Tiger Woods to convert to Christianity because
Buddhism (in Hume's view) is an inferior religion that does not offer
enough opportunity for forgiveness and repentance. Ours is the most
religiously diverse nation on earth--our secular Constitution
guarantees that--but Buddhism isn't quite good enough, not quite
American enough, for people still living mentally in the days when
nearly every American (except, of course, for the people who were here
when the first pilgrims landed) was a Christian.
One of my favorite examples of this arrogant provincialism appears in
Justice Antonin Scalia's 2005 dissent in one of the Ten Commandments
cases. The Supreme Court majority ruled that displays of the
commandments be removed from all courthouses in McCreary County, KY,
and Scalia disagreed. [McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky.]
He opened his argument with a slap at secular Europe--though only the
gods know what that has do with biblical displays in American courts.
"On September 11, 2001," Scalia wrote, "I was attending in Rome,
Italy, an international conference of judges and lawyers, principally
from Europe and the United States. That night and the next morning,
virtually all of the participants watched, in their hotel rooms, the
address to the Nation by the President of the United States concerning
the murderous attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, in which
thousands of Americans had been killed...." (I particularly like that
capitalization of Nation.) Scalia noted that Bush's address concluded
with what he termed a prayer--"God Bless America." In the same weird
judicial opinion, Scalia went on to claim, "I was approached by one of
the judges from a European country, who...sadly observed, "How I wish
the Head of State of my country, at a similar time of national tragedy
and distress, could conclude his address, `God bless_____." I presume
Salia knows that this so-called prayer was the title of a song written
by Irving Berlin. Whether this incident actually happened or whether
Scalia just made it up to serve his rhetorical purposes, the point is
clear: our government is more godly than European governments and
Europeans envy us our endless obligatory displays of public piety.
A twin of this delusion about superior American morality is the
conviction that we have nothing to learn from the way any other
country does things. The dire warnings that "Obamacare" was going to
turn the U.S. into Europe or Canada--as if the inferiority of European
and Canadian medical care were self-evident--has been very much a part
of the non-debate over health care this year. And here is why the NBC
coverage means more than the jingoistic flag-waving that always
surrounds international sporting competitions. This has been a lost
opportunity for a little bit of education that could have been
sandwiched in between the medal counts. Since the Olympics are being
held in Canada, would this not have been a perfect opportunity to do a
feature on the Canadian health care system to go along with the
endless time-filling blurbs on what the American athletes are
listening to on their iPods? There were certainly ample news pegs,
since injured athletes were being carried off the slopes to Vancouver
hospitals every day.
Moreover, the first Canadian ever to win an Olympic gold medal on his
home soil, Alexandre Bilodeau, has a medical and human backstory that
would have been made for TV--had he been an American. Bilodeau, a
French-Canadian from Montreal, won the Men's Moguls. He has an older
brother, Frederic, with cerebral palsy, and Alexandre -- in addition
to being a champion skier -- is a strong advocate for the rights of
the disabled. NBC, to give it its due, did use a clip of this story
form the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (which at least prevented
Meredith from mangling the name "Bilodeau"), but that was all. It
might have been interesting to hear what the frightening Candian
health care system does for the disabled, since if the Bilodeau family
lived in the United States, they would have been ineligible for most
health insurance plans because their son has a pre-existing condition.
Another story you're not likely to hear on NBC is that Canadian
students outperform Americans on every international test. In the same
report that ranked American students No. 15 in reading comprehension,
released in December by the Paris-based Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development, the U.S. was down at No. 14 in science
and No. 19 in math.
Pay attention to what you are hearing and seeing from Vancouver, even
if you are not captivated by ski jumping, snowboarding and figure
skating (which, alas, I am). American television has unwittingly, by
omission more than commission, presented a portrait of a nation
clinging to the stories it tells itself about the superiority of
American morality, culture, and education. These illusions have played
a crucial role in placing us way down in the standings that really
count if we are to function effectively in a world in which neither
the self-congratulatory "God bless America" mantra nor a gold medal on
a slippery slope are measures of national excellence. And it's
impossible to Photoshop away the test scores of students in other
countries who are beating us where it matters most. Oh, how I wish
that every teacher could say "God Bless America" when his C students
are outperformed once again by those non-Christian Asians and those
secularly corrupt Europeans.
Smart Ape embraces the suck
"Torrey M. Spears" <nwoph...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:a3c31cef-52d9-4b45...@f35g2000yqd.googlegroups.com...
> http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/spirited_atheist/2010/02/olympic_boosterism_when_american_superiority_means_inferiority.html
>
> Olympic boosterism and American cultural narcissism
>
> If you would like a graphic (literal and figurative) demonstration of
> our nation's greatest failing, sit in front of your television set and
> watch NBC cover an international sports event, the Winter Olympics, as
> if only Americans were participating. Every time the Today show's
> Meredith Vieira stumbles over the name of the Russian figure skater
> Yevgeny Plushenko (it's pronounced exactly as it's spelled, Meredith,
> with the accent on the second syllables) and giggles to show that it's
> OK to be ignorant, I think about all of the announcers from Canada and
> Europe who pronounce everyone's name correctly. Their employers care
> about getting it right, and NBC doesn't. Not if the athlete isn't one
> of us, contributing to the mounting total of "American" medals
> announced breathlessly every day. Why, anyone would think that these
> medals were more important than the performance of American students
> on international comparison tests of achievement in school. In case
> you're interested, Finland was No. 1 and Canada No. 2 in the most
> recent international assessment of reading comprehension. The United
> States was No. 15. U.S.A., U.S.A....
Canada would be #1 if they didn't have socialized health care.
--
--- "Damn, dirty fleas."
deem...@aol.com
<SNIP>
Yes, WE SUCK!!!!!!!!!
Oh, I guess the author missed all the love NBC has given to
Canadian athletes.
trijcomm
> http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/spirited_atheist/2010/02/o...
This is so '70s.
The Henchman
"Smart Ape embraces the suck" <Za...@POTA.com> wrote in message
news:hmcile$nn5$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>
> Canada would be #1 if they didn't have socialized health care.
What is socialised health care?
That Don Guy
>http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/spirited_atheist/2010/02/olympic_boosterism_when_american_superiority_means_inferiority.html
>
>Olympic boosterism and American cultural narcissism
>
>If you would like a graphic (literal and figurative) demonstration of
>our nation's greatest failing, sit in front of your television set and
>watch NBC cover an international sports event, the Winter Olympics, as
>if only Americans were participating. Every time the Today show's
>Meredith Vieira stumbles over the name of the Russian figure skater
>Yevgeny Plushenko (it's pronounced exactly as it's spelled, Meredith,
>with the accent on the second syllables) and giggles to show that it's
>OK to be ignorant, I think about all of the announcers from Canada and
>Europe who pronounce everyone's name correctly. Their employers care
>about getting it right, and NBC doesn't. Not if the athlete isn't one
>of us, contributing to the mounting total of "American" medals
>announced breathlessly every day. Why, anyone would think that these
>medals were more important than the performance of American students
>on international comparison tests of achievement in school. In case
>you're interested, Finland was No. 1 and Canada No. 2 in the most
>recent international assessment of reading comprehension. The United
>States was No. 15. U.S.A., U.S.A....
Okay, who just said, "Testing for reading comprehension discriminates
against blind people"?
>This Olympic coverage matters because it offers a window into a deeply
>provincial, reflexively nationalistic mindset that hampers our
>understanding of the rest of the world and prevents any realistic
>assessment of American weaknesses and strengths in comparison to other
>countries. In a truly emblematic moment in the "We're No. 1"
>extravaganza, NBC showed a recap of the medals ceremony for the Men's
>Super-G, an Alpine skiing event. Americans Bode Miller and Andrew
>Weibrecht won silver and bronze, respectively, but the network simply
>blanked out the gold medal podium, which was occupied by Norwegian
>Aksel Svindal. Well, who cares about a Norwegian? He's just an athlete
>from one of those unhappy countries cursed by secularism and universal
>health care.
Give NBC some credit - they have shown their share of other countries'
anthems. It isn't nearly as bad as in 1996, when NBC aired something
like 41 out of 44 anthems where the USA won gold (and note that one of
the ones they skipped was for rifle shooting - apparently, cooler
heads have prevailed, as there is all sorts of biathlon coverage this
year) and four for other countries.
(Have they shown any ceremonies where Germany has won? They did in
the past, but in the back of my mind, I can't help but think that
somebody might have complained that the music for the German anthem is
the same as for the Nazi-era anthem.)
>Pay attention to what you are hearing and seeing from Vancouver, even
>if you are not captivated by ski jumping, snowboarding and figure
>skating (which, alas, I am). American television has unwittingly, by
>omission more than commission, presented a portrait of a nation
>clinging to the stories it tells itself about the superiority of
>American morality, culture, and education.
The main reason they give the air of American superiority (and I am
not helping matters any by using "American" for the USA) is, that's
what the audience wants to hear - and NBC is a profit-making endeavor.
-- Don
--
Because everybody needs insurance,
but not everybody needs a lawyer -
THAT'S why
Guy Namechanger
"That Don Guy" <del_gra...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:v3qjo5lk578ipo2ne...@4ax.com...
>
> The main reason they give the air of American superiority (and I am
> not helping matters any by using "American" for the USA) is, that's
> what the audience wants to hear - and NBC is a profit-making endeavor.
>
with Boosterism for the people who pay you.
Zaphod Beeblebrox
on 2/27/2010 11:13 PM???
bring up something this dumb by some incredibly dumb person as though
it's indicative of anything!
NBC is a US network for crying out loud. OF COURSE they're focused on
the US. I'm sure the BBC is focused on the Brits and Al Jazeera is
focused on the Arabs (and all the athletes they have at the Olympics).
Do the Canadian or Russian or Korean TV networks spend their time
focusing on the athletes from Belarus or Outer Mongolia?
Sheesh.
Anthony Summers
> I'm sure the BBC is focused on the Brits
Actually, the BBC is focused on the competition.
--
A. Summers || summerstorm0007-->at<--yahoo.com
Dan Bretta
wrote:
> On Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:32:41 -0500, Zaphod Beeblebrox wrote...
> > I'm sure the BBC is focused on the Brits
>
> Actually, the BBC is focused on the competition.
>
also focusing on the competition...it's not like they aren't showing
the other countries athletes competing. I even saw them interview the
Canadian gal that lost her mother. This article was dripping with
stupidity.
Dan
DanS.
ability put all the words together as I was on 2/27/2010 in saying:
> Canada would be #1 if they didn't have socialized health care.
And were more pious and had 10 commandment cases and such.
Zaphod Beeblebrox
on 2/27/2010 11:35 PM???
> On Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:32:41 -0500, Zaphod Beeblebrox wrote...
>
>> I'm sure the BBC is focused on the Brits
>
> Actually, the BBC is focused on the competition.
>
Yeah, but that's because the Brits are as relevant as the Arabs or the
Africans or the Indians or the Brazilians when it comes to the Winter
Olympics (sic).
David E. Powell
> http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/spirited_atheist/2010/02/o...
The Olympics have always been like that, but for all the medal counts
I can name a bunch of stories this year where participation of someone
after a tragedy was a big story. Especially the poor skater who lost
her mother.
The "medal race" stuff was very huge during the Cold War. Yes, they
still keep count, because honestly, don't the viewers do that anyway?
What's wrong with rooting for our crew? The Canadians are proud as all
and cheering their home team as well they should, don't get mad
because the US cheers too, columnist*....
No I didn't say "Communist" but if you say it fast it sounds a lot
like it. Communist. Um, columnist.
David E. Powell
wrote:
I saw some strong brits in some sports this year. Cross Country,
sledding, the Womens' Skeleton gold went to a Brit I think.... I miss
Eddie the Eagle though!
Lord Gow 333, not a White House approved poster!
"The Henchman" <y...@yup.org> wrote in message
news:hmcni0$f2u$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
A stupid ass idea that Canada is trying to sucker us into.
LG (wondering who they'd leech technology off of then)
--
Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity,
and hardihood -- the virtues that made America.
- Theodore Roosevelt, 1917
Lord Gow 333, not a White House approved poster!
"Zaphod Beeblebrox" <victor...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:hmcrlc$oku$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
> Disculpa Senora Guy Namechanger, pero did you really mime the following on
> 2/27/2010 11:13 PM???
>> "That Don Guy"<del_gra...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>> news:v3qjo5lk578ipo2ne...@4ax.com...
>>>
>>> The main reason they give the air of American superiority (and I am
>>> not helping matters any by using "American" for the USA) is, that's
>>> what the audience wants to hear - and NBC is a profit-making endeavor.
>>>
>> exactly. nobody's ever asked NBC to be neutral, and there's nothing
>> wrong
>> with Boosterism for the people who pay you.
>>
>>
> This whole thread is so goddamn stupid - trust an ass like Spears to bring
> up something this dumb by some incredibly dumb person as though it's
> indicative of anything!
Sounds to me like all he was trying to prove is that Susan Jacoby is a
dumbass.
Also seems that you agree.
Persecution complex there, Bub?
LG
--
The shining beacon of truth in a newsgroup full of liberals. - rafiki
GregoryD
> http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/spirited_atheist/2010/02/olympic_boosterism_when_american_superiority_means_inferiority.html
>
> Olympic boosterism and American cultural narcissism
<snip>
Paragraphs, motherfucker, paragraphs! They aren't just for when you get
hand cramps!
GregoryD
Carl Banks
Indeed, the people who sanctimoniously decry Amerocentral coverage of
the Olymics are on whole different dimension of annoyance. I've read
this essay like clockwork every two years and have yet to see a single
original thought in any of them.
Carl Banks
Anthony Summers
That's an interesting theory, Victor.
The Cheesehusker, Trade Warrior
>
> Olympic boosterism and American cultural narcissism
>
> If you would like a graphic (literal and figurative) demonstration of
> our nation's greatest failing, sit in front of your television set and
> watch NBC cover an international sports event, the Winter Olympics, as
> if only Americans were participating.
Wow - is this from the Onion or something?
NBC's coverage has been really good, IMO. They've shown a ton of
athletes from other countries and loads of sports where the US wasn't
involved. Probably the *best* winter coverage ever, IMO.
And her taunt about Aksel Svindal (I noticed she forgot the Lund he
likes) was particularly stupid b/c NBC did a huge piece on him and his
road back from a very nasty wreck.
m&kp
> "That Don Guy" wrote:
> > The main reason they give the air of American superiority (and I am not
> > helping matters any by using "American" for the USA) is, that's what the
> > audience wants to hear - and NBC is a profit-making endeavor.
>
> you're going to see a paid endeavour cry like absolute bitches.
>
> --
> Chad Bryant - go Canadawww.chadbryant.net
>
> "The two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a big fat
> white guy who is threatened by change."
> -Seth MacFarlane
>
> Salus populi suprema lex esto.
They won't
David Loewe, Jr.
>Disculpa Senora Guy Namechanger, pero did you really mime the following
> on 2/27/2010 11:13 PM???
>> "That Don Guy"<del_gra...@earthlink.net> wrote
>>>
>>> The main reason they give the air of American superiority (and I am
>>> not helping matters any by using "American" for the USA) is, that's
>>> what the audience wants to hear - and NBC is a profit-making endeavor.
>>>
>> exactly. nobody's ever asked NBC to be neutral, and there's nothing wrong
>> with Boosterism for the people who pay you.
>>
>This whole thread is so goddamn stupid - trust an ass like Spears to
>bring up something this dumb by some incredibly dumb person as though
>it's indicative of anything!
Yet there are many threads currently raging in this here chatruum about
how the actions of a few racist idiots are indicative of something about
an entire diverse movement...
>NBC is a US network for crying out loud. OF COURSE they're focused on
>the US. I'm sure the BBC is focused on the Brits and Al Jazeera is
>focused on the Arabs (and all the athletes they have at the Olympics).
>Do the Canadian or Russian or Korean TV networks spend their time
>focusing on the athletes from Belarus or Outer Mongolia?
>
>Sheesh.
--
"We all grew up on Mickey Mouse and hula-hoops
Then we all bought BMW's and brand new pickup trucks
And we watched John Kennedy die one afternoon
Kids of the baby boom."
- David Bellamy
Eminence
<peterdunc...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>"That Don Guy" <del_gra...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>news:v3qjo5lk578ipo2ne...@4ax.com...
>>
>> The main reason they give the air of American superiority (and I am
>> not helping matters any by using "American" for the USA) is, that's
>> what the audience wants to hear - and NBC is a profit-making endeavor.
>>
>exactly. nobody's ever asked NBC to be neutral
You mean NBC doesn't stand for Neutral Broadcasting System?
Eminence
_______________
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