"The Olympics have always been a bit fascist"

[Dawson Leery]

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/guy-walters/2011/06/bit-fascist-olympic-emin-race

"Essentially, both Olympism and fascism are secular religions that venerate the human body and seek the triumph of the will. The Olympic motto of "citius, altius, fortius" ("faster, higher, stronger&quot is something that could have been dreamed up by Hitler or Mussolini. Indeed, throughout the 1920s and 1930s, celebrations of the Olympiads and fascist rallies grew increasingly indistinct. Both were quasi-religious experiences, complete with increasingly sophisticated rites and rituals, and adorned with striking iconography. Even their salutes looked the same. (Just check out the Paris 1924 poster.)"

[FSogol]

1. Was it fascism when Jesse Owens kicked Nazi "Superman" butt?

The entire world was more fascist in the 20s and 30s, that why we had WWII. Blaming the Olympics?

[linuxman]

2. This just in:

Hitler wore pants. If you suspect yourself or someone you love of being Hitler, please surrender your pants to the nearest disposal agent.

[Igel]

3. "citius, altius, fortius"

A local private school around here has something very close to that on its electronic billboard as the school's motto.

Who knew that they were fascist?

Then again my first college's motto was something like "per aspera ad astram". It was fashionable in the 1800s to have pithy Latin mottos. The Olympics started--wait for it--in the 1800s.

Moreover, it's a competition between countries. It's hard to root for your country in the Olympics without sounding a bit fascist. If we had city states the sheer amount of nationalism shown over the weekend (Seahawks? Broncos?) would have been amazing. But we don't think of "nationalism" as being at that level. Pity. It would provide perspective and clarity.

DU has a mixed attitude towards nationalism: Sometimes it's good (if we like the government and the nationalism is directed against a favorite foe), sometimes it's bad (if we don't like the government or the nationalism is touted by a favorite foe).