Pain Explored.

[gerry the neck]

The Olympics !

The 2012 Olympics are being held a couple of miles down the road from where I live. A sense of being close to such a global event has inspired the following comments.

Although I can’t fully rationalise it, I am aware that we are all, with few exceptions, titillated by the prospect of displays of physical superiority, by means of regulated games, which pander to our basic tribalistic competitive instincts. Somewhere, in our nature, we desire confirmation that the elite representatives of our particular culture / nation can hold their own against all opponents. It’s a bit like the warrior champions of old engaging in single handed combat , to avert the prospect of both armies having to engage in a bloody battle. And we accept the results and go home peacefully, feeling like winners or losers respectively. The entire experience is probably only properly explained on a Freudian level.

The whole event is underpinned by some global desire to decide superiority, otherwise there is absolutely no point in running 100 metres faster than anyone else. I may be misguided here, but I actually believe that, when I get through a days work, and considering my limitations with cervical spondylosis, I have actually achieved more than Usain Bolt has achieved in his entire racing career. The fact that his rewards make my rewards look non-existent is merely relative to the insane global misunderstandings of relative achievements. However, I’ll bite the bullet on that one because I too have that tribalistic requirement to associate myself with genetically similar champions. No matter how they develop their physicality to freakish proportions just to appease my need for a sense of winning, I forgive them their dedication to a pretty useless pastime.


And now to the ParaOlympics. I’ve got real problems with this one. Real problems of ‘elitism’ and ‘exclusivity’. I can’t imagine that anyone with an unobvious painful chronic condition ( MS, Crohn’s, RA, Lupus, or even C/S etc etc ) could relate in any meaningful way to a display of seemingly overcoming disability by disabled athletes who are, maybe, lucky enough not to experience chronic pain. I’m not sure I’ve expressed that correctly…it’s a minefield of threatening terminology. I understand that people with certain disabilities might want to compete as the able bodied do, but I don’t see that that is representative of the vast majority of disabilities. I’d even go so far as to say that I suspect the whole ParaOlympic event is used to ease the conscience of the able bodied populace by only displaying an elite of disabled athletes. It has a pretence about it that, if only disabled people tried a bit harder, then they can achieve just like the able bodied. Strangely, we don’t apply that same argument / pressure to the able bodied audience of the able bodied Olympics. We just assume that some are better than others and leave it at that.

So, here’s a question…..Are the ParaOlympics used as a means to pressure the many varied disabled into trying harder to be ‘normal’ ? If I were to organise a ParaOlympic event, I would simply ask 5 wheelchair bound disabled to sit in their wheelchairs for 5 minutes, and then give all 5 a gold medal each for just enjoying themselves. Competing between different disabilies just doesn’t work in my mind. We should represent the struggle with disabilities as one of survival, rather than as one of competing to be better than another disabled person.

[ophqui]

The Olympics !

So, here’s a question…..Are the ParaOlympics used as a means to pressure the many varied disabled into trying harder to be ‘normal’ ? If I were to organise a ParaOlympic event, I would simply ask 5 wheelchair bound disabled to sit in their wheelchairs for 5 minutes, and then give all 5 a gold medal each for just enjoying themselves. Competing between different disabilies just doesn’t work in my mind. We should represent the struggle with disabilities as one of survival, rather than as one of competing to be better than another disabled person.

Agreed, lets tell the paralympians who have trained for years that they cant/shouldnt compete against each other in sporting activity. Its of no value. If you're disabled you should just sit down and have fun in your wheelchair