Roger Varley has been in the news business almost 40 years with The Canadian Press/Broadcast News, Uxbnridge Times-Journal, Richmond Hill Liberal and Uxbridge Cosmos. Co-winner with two others of CCNA national feature writing award. In Scout movement over 30 years, almost 25 as a leader. Took Uxbridge youths to World Jamboree in Holland. Involved in community theatre for 20 years as actor, director, playwright, stage manager etc. Born in England, came to Canada at 16, lived most of life north and east of Toronto with a five-year period in B.C.
Time for the Olympics to die
In just a couple of weeks, the world's largest sports extravaganza begins in London, England: the quadrennial Olympic Games.
Thousands of athletes from around the globe, who have been honing their skills for years, will gather for the opportunity to challenge their competitors and, hopefully, come away with a medal. The vast majority of the 17,000 or so athletes competing will come away disappointed.
Let us hope that one of those who are not disappointed will be Jessica Phoenix, the Uxbridge woman - now living in Cannington - who will be taking part in the three-day equestrian competition known as eventing.
But let us also hope that this will be the last Olympic Games ever held.
Why? Because the Olympic Games have lost their way and, indeed, their credibility.
The Olympics were originally designed to showcase the athletic prowess of young men and women in a variety of sports, competing in a spirit of fair play and camaraderie. But what the world will see when the London Olympics begins is quite possibly a stark look into the future of society as a whole. London has, to all intent, become an armed camp, complete with surface-to-air missiles installed on top of apartment buildings, a Royal Navy aircraft carrier anchored in the River Thames and squadrons of jet fighters stationed nearby.
Of course, the missiles are nothing new. China had similar missiles poised during the 2008 Olympics and Greece had them, at the insistence of the U.S., during the 2004 games.
More than 30,000 police and private security guards will be watching - and searching - residents and visitors alike, backed up by dozens of canine squads and the frightening LRAD: the Long Range Acoustic Device, otherwise known as a sonic gun, which is capable of emitting pain-inducing noise. In fact, London is seeing the United Kingdom's biggest mobilization of military and security forces since the Second World War
On top of this, the Olympic zone has been partitioned off from the wider city by an 11-mile, $127-million, 5,000-volt electric fence.
The reason for all this security, of course, is to safeguard the athletes, the dignitaries, the heads of state and the visitors from terrorist attacks, notwithstanding that the only time terrorists attacked the Olympic Games was in Munich in 1972, 40 years ago. All this security, however, comes at a staggering cost, not only in monetary terms - estimates for security spending alone range upwards of $1.5 billion - but also in terms of violation or even suspension of citizens rights. People have already been warned that police are likely to overstep the bounds when it comes to stopping and searching residents and visitors and they shouldn't complain about it.
In fact, a British member of Parliament, Patrick Mercer, put it this way, speaking particularly about the apartment-top missile bases: "The national good is more important than the inconvenience these individuals will suffer for a few weeks."
That is not good enough by half. If a nation's citizens - or even just some of them - have to give up their rights in order for a sports competition to be held, then that competition should not be allowed.
And, quite frankly, anyone who thinks the Olympic Games are all about the athletes should think again. The games are all about the high-living autocrats who make up the International Olympic Committee and the mega-corporations who derive uncounted benefits from having a stranglehold on commercial advertising. For example, within a half-mile of the Olympic stadium, no advertisements for Pepsi-Cola will be allowed, because Coca-Cola is a major sponsor. That means a Mom and Pop convenience store within that zone will have to take down any Pepsi signs they might have. And that edict will be strictly enforced.
All of this is nothing new. It has been going on for years, most notably and blatantly at the Atlanta Olympic Games. But it seems to me that the athletic events have become so overshadowed by every other aspect of this spectacle that it is time the Olympic Games went the way of the dodo.
Tell me, am I wrong?
