The Middle is Always Evil

I can appreciate the athleticism, hard work and ability that it requires for one to get to the Olympics; in fact, I probably admire that most about the event. What I cannot stand is watching the games with others, who fail to appreciate the skill of other country’s competitors because of their blind worship of their own.

I do not wish to be misunderstood; I love the United States of America. But waving a flag and cheering for Michael Phelps just because he’s American does not make you a patriot, it makes you a tribalist moron, and when you do it, you disgrace everything that America means.

Unfortunately, for most people who watch the Olympics in this manner, America means nothing more than the flag that athletes’ hold, and the athlete is nothing more than a flag-holder. The tribalist does not admire the athlete because of his skill and ability, but because he holds his flag; and he admires the flag for no reason other than because he was born under it.

Americans jump and holler when an American man defeats a French man in a swimming competition– why did they prefer an American victory? Because they happen to come from the same country? Because of an accident of birth? What honor is there in that? The American and the Frenchman are both individual people with whom I have no relationship whatsoever; I see no reason to take pride in a victory that I did not personally have some part in, just because the victor comes from the same tribe.

There is nothing wrong with watching the Olympics, as long as one does so with no preference at all as to the winner’s country of birth. In any competition, the only rational choice for a desired winner is: the man of greatest ability; the man who deserves to win. When you’re watching the Olympics this week, here are a few questions you should ask yourself and consider:

• Do I want the best athlete to win, or simply the one from my country?

• Does this competitor’s country of origin have any real effect on their athletic ability?

• If I want someone other than the most deserving athlete to win, what does that mean that I want for the most deserving?

• In a competition between the deserving and the undeserving, where the undeserving is the victor, have they really earned their victory?

• If I desire that an athlete achieve an unearned victory, what am I really interested in when I watch the Olympics?

• If I desire the unearned, what does it mean about my values?