corellian77 said:

asterisk8 said:

Sports...are also highly symbolic war game.s If you think that's lost on world leaders, you're crazy. So, right off the bat, it's presumptuous to assume that the Olympics are about fostering peace. Maybe on the surface, but politics is about claiming to foster peace while you prepare for war. Peacekeeper missile, anyone?

You don't foster peace between nations by beating them in a physical competition. My strongest memory about the Olympics, growing up in the 80s, is people cheering for the US to beat those commie bastards in the USSR.

As you so astutely pointed out, sports are indeed a modern-day way of releasing our innate warlike behaviours. But does that make them a bad thing? Is it really that harmful competing with other countries in a non-violent, non-lethal way, with no real life repercussions?

I think it depends on the intention of the people involved - spectators, athletes, and politicians alike. Like most things in life, it's a double-edged sword. It can have a positive benefit like C3PS said, or it can reinforce nationalistic, prejudiced notions of what races/cultures are better or worse than others.

And it's not limited to the Olympics, it's just the topic of this thread. I have friends who are diehard football (soccer) fans, and I'm familiar with the obscene levels of violence that some fans of that sport have been known to engage in after a match. Sports has the potential to bring out the best and worst in people, as does politics. Put the two together, which is what the Olympics does, and that potential goes up dramatically.

I could argue against the idea that the Olympics has "no real life repercussions", but that could be a page or more of discussion, and I we've had enough sighs and whatevers for one thread. :-)