Olympic criticism by outsiders hard to bear
A Globe and Mail columnist takes umbrage with how some foreign media portray Vancouver’s Olympics …
A Globe and Mail columnist takes umbrage with how some foreign media portray Vancouver’s Olympics.
Gary Mason targets two stories in particular. A Guardian piece headlined “Vancouver’s Olympics head for disaster” called the event the “Bailout Games” and said the city is “gripped with dread.” Sports Illustrated chimed, “As Olympics near, people in Vancouver are dreading the Games.”
Such commentary — and far more strident criticism — is homegrown and
common in southeastern British Columbia, where you’d have to wear
earplugs and ignore at least half the citizenry to believe everyone is
joyful about the games. But perhaps it’s because the critics are
outsiders, and governments said the games would boost Vancouver’s
international image, that Mason is upset. He suggests the stories
greatly exaggerate and are based on thin gruel. He notes that one
quotes a “disillusioned city bus driver … giving voice to the
masses;” criticizes simplistic reporting that tallies the cost of the
games by including related infrastructure; and protests reports about
homeless people that lack nuance. Mason calls for an “honest
discussion.”
Mason writes, tongue in cheek, “call me a sellout” for not agreeing with
critics who consider the games “a decadent corporate cocktail party
that gives politicians the bogus
right to impose police-state like sanctions and limitations on our
freedoms.”
No nuance there.
