How 2010 Winter Olympics Accident Resulted in Canada Bashing
On Saturday I went seeking out online gambling blogs to try to find the
best online sports betting site to wager on the 2010 Winter Olympics, when I
got seriously sidetracked.
But let me just begin by acknowledging that technology is a wonderful thing.
Particularly web-based and cellular phone technology, which has ensured that
news, images and video can be sent, circulated and consumed just about anywhere
in the world quicker than you can yell 'STOP THE PRESSES.'
The downside of this, of course, is that everyman and everywoman has become an
instant expert in just about everything. Gone are the days when listeners or
viewers used to tune in to hear or watch educated and informed people discussing
and analyzing the news. Now every Tom, Dick and Harriet has an opinion and isn't
afraid to share it no matter how ignorant, uninformed, stupid, brutal or
offensive it is thanks to billions of online blogs, and mainstream websites like
Twitter, which has been designed solely to deliver bite-size pieces of
information and dreg perfectly suited for our ADD world.
Here you can view such Tweets as '7 British soldiers killed by roadside bomb in
southern Afghanistan' right above a chestnut such as 'I think Big Macs taste
better than Quarter Pounders and always have. I also think Coke tastes better
than Pepsi.' You get the idea. Not that I'm saying everyone should not be free
to their own opinions - I am after all not a Communist - but surely dumb people
should be censored if they cannot censor themselves.
If you've read this far, you may be curious as to what brought on this rant.
Well I'll tell you. As a Canadian, I was very offended by some of the comments I
read on a blog recently regarding the accidental death of Georgian luger Nodar
Kumaritashvili last Friday in Vancouver, Canada, the day before the official
opening of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
While most of the posts expressed sadness and condolences about Kumaritashvili's premature death - he was only 21-years-old - one blogger proceeded to blame the accident on Canada, accusing Olympic officials in Canada of screwing up the luge track etc. Well, this single comment opened up a Pandora's Box of anti-Canada sentiment. It was amazing to me how people seemed eager to crawl out of the woodwork all dying to bash all things Canadian.
Comments ranged from knocking the builders of the 'deadly luge track', to calling all Canadians 'vicious baby seal killers', to accusing Canada of being too French, to insulting Canada's 'funny accent' and on and on. It was incredible just how much venom the average Joe can spout when he or she is safely hidden by thousands of miles of anonymous fibre optics or wireless radio waves, especially when it was all sparked off by a single comment regarding a very sad occurrence.
The site I was seeking, by the way, is Bodog.com where you can enjoy all manner of 2010 Winter Olympics betting opportunities.
 | Posted by Anton Johan at 08:55 on 15 February 2010 |
