Liking Athletics

Athletics always bored me.
Actually, most sport bored me. I am less bored now. Some sports, basketball to take one obvious example, I am actively enraptured by. But mostly – sport is not my thing.
Athletics was a particularly boring example. Okay, some people run. And then they stop. Hmmm.
I’ve watched some athletics at this Olympics, just like I’ve watched some at previous Olympiads. And you know what? It is cool, man. I like watching it. There was something in the paper today about how new technology is making it so much more fascinating – you get to be so close to the athlete, to see their face as they push themselves, compete, succeed or fail.
The runners seem so fast to me now, when once upon a time they seemed to be running at precisely the speed runners should run.
The high jumpers, decathletes, hell, all the track and field – I love watching it. It fills me with a kind of positive existential energy, if that makes any sense. It is thrilling.
Meanwhile, sadly, the NZ mens basketball team has been scorched in its final game, losing big to Australia of all people. A gutwrenching win-loss tally; we came close so many times but couldn’t quite win.
Brilliant news, however – the womens team, so long in the shadow of the men, has fought through to the top 8! I am elated for them.
————
Oddest thing about the Destiny Church rally that all the NZ bloggers are talking about – in one report, I see the National Front made an appearance. In a photo elsewhere, I see an Israeli flag being waved. Stephen partly explains (from the comments in Chinashop, well worth a read in full):
“My informants tell me the Israeli flag bearers are a bunch of so-called “Messianic Jews”, ie former Jews who have been sucked into fundamentalist Christianity with the promise that they can somehow retain their Judaism. (Funnily enough, only missionaries and other apostates agree with this: you’d think that would be a tipoff). Hence their fondness for stars of David, etc: it’s how they reassure themselves.
Anyway, as far as I’m concerned, they’re not Jewish, they are deeply confused Christians.”
Any march where the National Front, who I understand to be behind the Jewish cemetery desecrations, is sharing ground with people waving an Israel flag – man, something is very very non-right.

10 thoughts on “Liking Athletics”

  2. Re the athletics. I get the same kind (maybe?) of exhilaration from watching the action scenes in Buffy, and also some films. That sense of expert, deliberate and productive use of energy, yeah? TV without action seems so flat, nowadays.

  3. There’s an interesting article on the Herald site about a National Front rally in Wellington in October and plans to mobilise a counter rally. I think as many people as possible should join this counter rally to show that the National Front and its supporters are a tiny minority compared to the much larger group of New Zealanders who support equality. Article is at
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3584526&thesection=news&thesubsection=general

  4. Morgue, could you point to the report that the National Front were there at Destiny’s rally? Are you sure you’re not getting confused with the anti-racism rally that took place, also at Parliament, the day afterwards?
    Man, this is getting weirder by the second.

  5. Also, wrt organising a counter-rally – in many ways, I would prefer everyone to stay away. Let them have a pathetic spectable with the few dozens they can muster, and be ignored. A counter-rally would only feed their sense of mission and encourage a confrontation.

  8. I just looked at the Stormfront discussion forums, where National Fronters hang out, and the only discussion about the Enough is Enough march is about how inappropriate it is to label the protesters Nazis. They want to hang on to that term themselves, it seems.
    Which doesn’t indicate anything about whether or not NF was there – but if they were, it wasn’t a well-organised appearance apparently. (Insert your own snarky comment about their organisational capabilities vis a vis paper bags/breweries here to finish.)

  9. I didn’t go in the counter-march, but I stopped by and checked it out on my way back to work from a job interview.
    Before I could see anything of the Destiny protest I could hear them chanting in Civic Square while I watched the counter-march. A Samoan woman came and stood next to me and said “It sounds like the Nuremberg Rally.”
    I don’t think the Destiny Curch are facists per se, but I think it’s interesting that they’ve co-opted facist iconography.
    As my mum said recently, “It makes me sick to see people using the words of Jesus to promote hate.” Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but I’ll oppose anyone who wants other people to have less rights than themselves. ‘Cause that’s what it’s all about: making sure everybody has the same rights. If you give one group of people less rights – queers, blacks, Jews, gaming geeks, whoever – you’re also labelling them as the Other, less than human and open to other attacks.
    Besides, if Brian Tamaki really wants to follow the bible’s hard line on homosexuality he’s going to have to advocate the death penalty for male gays. See Leviticus 20:15-17 (there’s a good searchable Bible site at http://bible.gospelcom.net ) Let’s see how he does with a “Kill A Queer For Christ” platform.
    (Actually Lev 20:10 advocates death for adulterers – according to some sources, Mr Tamaki might have to execute himself.)
    As far as I’ve been able to tell, the Bible is silent on the subject of “women laying with women” so I guess lesbians will be okay. Mr Tamaki is departing from scripture in calling them “evil” – I guess that as a (self-appointed) Apostle he’s entitled to write a little scripture of his own. (The guy’s known for re-writing scripture, eg changing a quote from Jesus from “sell your possessions and give to the poor” to “sell your possessions and give to the church” in order to justify his tithing.)
    Hopefully Mr Tamaki’s entry into politics will be the sad joke I suspect.

  10. Personally, I’m always amazed at the huge number of people who consider themselves sufficiently “without sin” to go stone-throwing… but hey, everyone has some capacity for self-deception.

Comments are closed.