When I was young, I always dreamed of running in the Olympics. And as most youthful dreams go, I imagined myself the champion, a gold medallist standing atop the award’s stand proudly listening to the American national anthem.
Over time, my abilities have dictated my Olympic pursuit to dissipate. I now only strive to make the Olympic Trials, which still eludes me. Time has also evaporated my reverence for our country, our flag, and our national anthem. Over the past year I have difficulty looking at a flag that stands for human rights abuse, irrational wars, and hypocrisy.
Patriotism is a rarely a good thing. It is usually a way to alienate others that aren’t born in the same place as you and that don’t look like you. Ordinarily it is used as propaganda to incite violence. The Nazis forced patriotism upon most Germans helping induce an incineration of foes. Similarly, the Kamikazes of Japan and the suicide bombers of terrorist groups also invoked a sense of patriotism or regionalism. Simply put, it is dangerous to think that your better than another person simply because of one’s location.
Lately, America has become a machine of propaganda disguised as patriotism, all because of revenge and war. Unfortunately war is not a game. It’s a place where people die, even innocent people. Yet, during this most recent war, we root only for our guys. Signs adorn restaurants, exclaiming, “God protect our soldiers.” God probably doesn’t take sides in war. He probably hates war.
Moreover our egotistical patriotism is evident when we flout our power and might by ignoring the international community. Despite disobeying the United Nations, we invaded a country for disobeying the United Nations. Only in Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 are the contradictions more ridiculous. And then when other nations like France and Germany specifically disapprove, the citizens of our country, not the government, snobbishly mock their ethics.
War is a terrible excuse to show one’s brutishness. Games, however, particularly the Olympics, contrarily is the showcase for such pride and patriotism. Unfortunately, officials are warning athletes to be careful of offending this same world community we have snubbed politically. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the USOC is advising medal winners that “strutting around and preening, might trigger a reaction (internationally) that really is unneeded and risky.”
The funny thing is no one dies during competition like they do in war. If an American wins the high jump because they trained harder, then they deserve to take a victory lap with their flag. They deserve to pump their fist when they stand at the highest point on the podium listening to the Star-Spangled Banner. The same is true for the swimmers of Australia, and the ping pong players of Korea.
Although I understand the concern of USOC officials’, perhaps the leader of our country, President Bush should adhere to this advice when dealing with his own foreign policies. He never considered that flaunting our military muscle in a select country would lead to our bad reputation, and it certainly hasn’t led to a toning down of patriotism in our homeland. Anyone who dissented during the war with Iraq heard people challenge their patriotism.
Therefore I challenge our government to be the ones to not strut our military into bad situations. I call on them to stop announcing our greatness. Undoubtedly, we didn’t go into Iraq for humanitarian reasons otherwise we would have been there decades ago to help rather than supplying them with weapons. Patriotism makes us believe that we are always right, even when that’s distant to the truth.
The only pride Americans should take in our greatness is when a fellow countryman runs faster, lifts more weight, or dives better, not when we bomb others. Therefore I say to the athletes poised to win gold, run around the track with the flag, you earned it. Don’t let our politicians and bureaucrats ruin your Olympic experience.
On that note, God bless all the athletes going to Athens, the citizens from every country, and soldiers all around the world, so that they’ll never have to see another battle.
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Copyright 2004, Kevin Semanick