Various pundits over the years have lauded the practice of changing one’s mind at least once a year (or month or week, depending on how radical the orator’s ideas are). I have always been of the opinion that if you are careful about how you make up your mind, you shouldn’t have to change it that often. However, If you make up your mind based on the facts, and you receive aa bunch of new facts, that’s the time to reconsider.
Vancouver 2010
In my younger days, I was all for the Olympics. I even took part in the 1968 push to bring the 1988 Olympics here. When the chance for 2010 came, I was still in favour. Vancouvere was in an “almost-there” position as a city of the world, and an Olympics might give us that final push. Self-interest also factored in. Recently retired, I thought there was an outside chance I would get some of those Olympic-sized paycheques that would be floating around.
So, I was pleased when we got the nod, and threw myself into doing my best in my small way to make it a success. Which it was. As a bonus, I also got three months of employment at a higher salary than I ever made in my professional life.
Then What?
You’d think this experience would make me an even stronger proponent, wouldn’t you?
Quite the opposite.
Working for the IOC and talking to the volunteers taught me what an elitist, egotistical and profit-generating organization it is. The awarding of the last Olympics to China — again — has demonstrated just how corrupt (or perhaps how desperate) this organization is. So, while I actively participated in Vancouver’s bid for the Winter Olympics in 1968, and was happy to take their money in 2010, I’m pretty lukewarm about doing it all again in 2030.
The Indigenous Bid
Perhaps you can see why I am not unhappy that the latest B. C. bid has failed. While I applaud the First Nations for having the idea, I don’t think it would have been good for them. It the first place, the Olympic spirit of unbridled competitiveness is completely foreign to their cultural values. Worse than that, the International Olympic Committee is the final resting place for the dregs of the European nobility that cause much of their problems in the first place. Given that this bunch have walked all over everyone they dealt with everywhere in the world, nothing leads me to believe that the First Nations of B. C. wouldn’t have had a similar experience.
As with all the other venues where the Olympics takes place, a small number of wealthy people make a great deal of money and fame, and the rest of the population may get their bread and circus for a couple of weeks, but don’t receive much benefit from the experience.
Rather than bemoaning the missed chance to increase their media footprint, local Indigenous people might see it as a narrow escape from what could have been a soul-destroying experience.