When is the sports thing over?

[sabotabby]

Almost everyone has some reason to care about the Olympics. Whether it's the one event that they watch or some record-breaking something or that picture of the Black Power salute in 1968 or they just think some famous athlete is hot. Or they think the opening ceremony was cool/awful/loltastic. Even I am contributing by making this post. I can't avoid it, even with my Olympic content blocker (for some reason it also blocks references to disco).

Non-sports people are frequently apologetic when I bring up the fact that I feel like an alien during times like this. "I'm not interested, except...” It's like the Scumsucking Parasite Wedding, except in that case I at least had the rest of the extreme left on my side. But not so here. Even those who object to the totalitarian measures required for the Olympics to happen get misty-eyed over its ideals.

Fuck that.

Things that make me care about the Olympics:

• The purging of the poor and mentally ill from London.
• Surveillance cameras everywhere.
• The godawful branding (seriously hilarious).
• Rocket launchers on the roofs of apartment buildings.
• Banksy doing Banksy things.

Of course, even if these things were not an issue, I would still be apathetic at best, as the Olympics involves two things I could not possibly give a less of a shit about: sports and nationalism. It's not that I hate sports—I would be loathe to fall into the nerd-vs-jock dichotomy–I just don't care. It's probably how some of my fandom friends feel when I start going on about politics, or vice versa. Or any of you when I talk about home decor. (Or how the people at work feel when I start spouting off about any of my interests.) You just skim over those posts, right? Which is cool. There's always something that someone is Just. Not. Interested. In. It's fine if you're into these things but it's about as interesting as someone reading a calculus textbook out loud.

Nationalism is a different matter. I resent the implication that I'm supposed to "support Team Canada." What, by praying to the Sports God? With my tax dollars? Is this how ordinary Tim Hortons-swilling hosers felt about $1.8 million to buy "Voice of Fire" for the National Art Gallery? Borders are arbitrary and demarcated by violence. I have an opinion on nationalism and it generally involves me making angry faces.

Anyway, it is irritating me profusely that I can no longer easily read the news, or even be in a public space and avoid this stuff. You can't even sit down in a pub these days and not have the TV blasting or people talking loudly about some 'roided out athlete. It's a low-level but persistant irritation that gets worse when I think about how ordinary people's lives are shat-upon to turn London into a playground for rich fucks.

So. How much longer am I going to have to be pissy about this?

Comments

[sabotabby]

Ugh, it must be a million times worse over there, y/y?

[khalinche.livejournal.com]

I live 2 miles from the Olympic park, so, uh, yeah.

[pofflewomp.livejournal.com]

What is it like? Here (Russell Square) is ok.

[khalinche.livejournal.com]

Apart from the helicopter noise, not a dicky bird. I've been mostly hiding in my house (I work from home anyway and I've been busy) but the traffic's been alright. I've not been into town since it started, though. Noticed a lot of soldiers last time I took the tube through Stratford, and the missiles on my local favourite picnic spots freak me out. My friends who live in Leyton say the tube at their end has been purgatory. Mind you, the Venezuelan cycle team went past me on Leyton High Road the other day and it was pretty exciting to see proper world-class athletes in their national strip just going up the road.

[(Anonymous)]

I didn't know they had missiles watching picnics! Is that in Epping Forest? Not been there since school trips. Here it is soooo quiet. Even Oxford Street is practically empty, for Oxford Street.

There has been an increase in homeless people here in last year or so, but nowhere near the amount there was in late 90s. I am expecting it to get worse as the cuts take effect, though. They say 80% of the cuts are still to come.

[pofflewomp.livejournal.com]

Yes, here i is so quiet. I was expecting there to be lots of tourists, but it is the most tourist-free I have ever known. It is really nice to have the area for locals for once!
Bloody missile launchers - is that in Epping Forest? Not been there since school trips many years ago. A friend was jumped on by six policeman who appeared out of the bushes from nowhere when he was taking photos of trees there a few years ago, so maybe the forest is full of secret military instalments or something!

[khalinche.livejournal.com]

They're technically in Epping Forest, yeah, but in the bits of Epping Forest which are very close in - Wanstead Flats and Hollow Ponds, both of which are 15 minutes' walk from Leytonstone station. We're not talking way out in Essex here. My old house was 5 minutes from one of the missile installations and 20 minutes from the other, and my current house is within range of 4 overlapping ones.

I never saw any secret military installations when I lived there, but maybe that's what all that refurbishment work around the boating lake was.

[pofflewomp.livejournal.com]

Eeeerrgh.
It is horrible. There don't seem to have been protests about the missile launchers, or have I just missed them?
My friend livd in Walthamstow. I think he was jumped on by police because of their new-ish obsession with stopping people taking photos anywhere, as if takiing photos of trees is a potential terrorist something or other!