U.S.A. wins 2002 Winter Olympics jingoism gold medal

U.S.A. wins jingoism gold medal in Winter Olympics
by Chuck Tripp

Guess what folks? The Germans didn't really win the 2002 Winter Olympics medals count by one over the United States. I'm sorry, Germany, I really am, but
the International Olympic Organizing Committee forgot to award three medals-the jingoism events medals. The U.S.A. won the jingoism gold medal hands down,
with Canada a distant second (silver) and Russia third (bronze) trailing behind. Consequently, you see, Germany and the U.S. were really tied for first place.

The amazing thing is that no one protested the
shameless American displays of patriotism and nationalism, perhaps believing their day to do the same will come or had already arrived, as citizens from other countries copied America's hubris
at the 2002 Games.

A more in-depth look at what it took to win the jingoism gold yields the following:
Numerous media interviews with brain dead spectators who didn't display any capacity for critical thought, or couldn't admit they weren't having fun after
spending so much money to do so, and gushed with happy-talk;

Sappy, so-called news reports extolling the virtues and drama of history's most expensive winter Games, part of which were held just blocks away from the center of Salt Lake City's greatest concentration of homeless people;

Successful propaganda efforts to purge images of Utah's weirdness (believe me it exists, I know, I live there) for 17 days from the minds of those who were
aware of it and to hide it from those who weren't;

A deep line-up of entertainers and sports figures whose main function was to promote unthinking acceptance of and participation in the Games' rituals;

Use of a never-ending steam of politicians, including the U.S. president, to legitimize and enhance jingoistic fervor and reinforce the idea that all is well and normal in Utah;

Media who downplayed the existence of daily protests, near Games venue sites, concerning a variety of political, social and economic grievances-media who instead portrayed the existence of a false sense of unity and unanimity within their nation;

and Olympics officials who shamelessly patted themselves and each other on their backs, full of self-congratulations, over an event that most nations
could have pulled off as well as or better than they did if they had the same amount of money to spend (Sorry, Salt Lake Organizing Committee, it was all about having money and widespread elite and media
support, not your organizational genius).

As I thought about this issue, some questions came to mind. For example, "How many dazed dorks with painted faces, waving flags and screaming, 'U.S.A., U.S.A.!' does it take to win a Winter Olympics jingoism gold medal?" And the answer came to me-"As many such American spectator clowns as there were in Utah for the 2002 Winter Games." Easy question, easy answer.

A second question: "How many hyperbolic, posi-talking, silly, hero-generating, no-think media reports designed to pander to patriotism does it take to win a winter Olympics gold medal in the jingoism events?" Another easy answer-"Exactly as many as appeared in Salt Lake City's two major daily newspapers and nightly local and national T.V. news broadcasts."

And finally, "How much athlete bragging and self-love does it take to win jingoism gold?" Dare I say it? A few quotations to illustrate, if I may: Brian Shimer-"It was our time, it was just meant to be." Apolo Anton Ohno-" . . . I shined, like a star or something . . . ." and "Good call," regarding the disqualification of South Korean skater, Kim Dong-sung, leading to Ohno's gold medal victory. And, let's not forget Derek Parra-"This was definitely an exclamation mark which
said, 'Hey, we're the U.S., and we came to play.'"

There you have it, the keys to winning a jingoism gold medal in any Olympics: News media which promote group think via group speak; shameless, self-promoting athletes, trying to position themselves for commercial endorsements; and robotic herds of vocal citizen-spectators. The rest of the world can learn a lot from the U.S.A. about how to compete for jingoism medals at the next Olympics. "U.S.A., U.S.A!" er, I mean, "Italia, Italia!" or whatever.