Tuesday, July 17, 2012

WILL I SURVIVE THE OLYMPICS?













They increasingly encroach on my TV. They delay traffic as their absurd torch passes through the town. London public transport may collapse under the strain. Helicopter gunships are promised, cruising overhead like we were still in Saigon waiting for a mission. Warships are parked in the Thames. Residents’ protests are ignored as SAM missiles are mounted on the roofs of tower blocks. 3,500 squaddies have been recalled from leave to bail out G4S after the security giant failed to complete a contract with the wholly inept Tory Home Office to train and deploy the 10,000 security staff. But, on the other side of the cluster-fuck, corporate goons in purple uniforms – with the power to enter shops and offices near Olympic sites and hand out $31,000 fines for the 'misuse' of words such as "gold", "silver" and "bronze", "summer", "sponsors" and "London." – will prowl the streets of East London protecting the sponsorship rights of McDonald's, Coca-Cola, BP Oil, General Electric, Adidas, Dow Chemical, Procter & Gamble and the rest. These manifestations of the 2012 Olympic spirit seem just a tad too shamefully  reminiscent of 1936 and the picture above. And maybe I’ll be arrested for writing this under one of the new Olympic laws we don't know about.

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The secret word is Run


Kitty Wells – RIP 

9 comments:

Johnny Haddo said...

perhaps Tommie Smith & John Carlos will put their running shoes on & make your day..hahaHa

Anonymous said...

Yeah and hundreds of millions of people around the world will enjoy watching them, despite the protestations of the misery brigade.

Bernard said...

The purpose of these meaningless dramas is to fill the masses minds with trivia to prevent them thinking about political struggle

Marc Perelman Barbaric Sport

Maggie M'Gill said...

"$31,000 fines"? Er, what's that in Sterling, Doc?

mrjohn said...

The segregation in the UK is becoming brutally clear. You have two choices, leave as I did to escape Thatcher, or comply.

Maggie M'Gill said...

This may sound trollish (and apologies if so), but really. You could stay here and do something about it. Whether you are going to be the problem, or whether you are going to be the solution. You needn't just run.

'Creaky' said...

As Maggie said, the thing to do, surely, at the very least, is protest. Actively. Noisely. Forcefully.

Mr Jones said...

The torch procession round the country that is allegedly a hallowed Olympic tradition, was introduced by Hitler for the 1936 games. Before that, the torch was merely lit in Athens then taken directly to the city concerned to light the flame to signal the start of the games. There was no parading it around the nation.

Good to see these old Nazi traditions being upheld, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

Yet more evidence that misanthropy is rational.

Woodchuck Pirate
aka Raymond J Raupers Jr USA