Torch relay: Hype or hope?
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The arrival of the Olympic Torch in Victoria last Friday was, if nothing else, a welcomed relief from the hysterical media flu hype. It was practically a 24-hour lead up and lead in to the arrival of the torch and the commencement of its Canadian journey. And it will continue until the games in January.
As usual, the TV media completely took a potentially wonderful event and sensationalized it to the point that the interest and excitement level in my house was turned very quickly into disappointed boredom. How many times can a person be shown the same footage of the same people doing the same things in a one-hour newscast – on all the channels – and still be interested?!
So, I hit the off button!
I did, nevertheless, leave it on long enough to notice the varying degrees of emotion that the few people who witnessed the passing torch or carried the torch themselves. Many of them touchingly responded to the symbolic world-peace nature that the torch has become, while others were purely wrapped up in the excitement and spirit of it all. It was wonderful. It was marvellous. It is the stuff that sparks a lifetime dream.
I wish I could naively believe the torch relay is just the pure attempt to share the Olympic spirit, and that it has nothing to do with the political and brilliant marketing strategy for the massive nationwide buy-in.
I don’t think this is lost on anyone these days, but I do think, and hope, that there are a few of us who choose to see another possible version of the future as well.
Despite all the controversy of the Olympics, the games will go on in Vancouver next year - no doubt about it. Perhaps then, it is now time to shift the focus from complaining about the inescapable to looking at the good that can come of it.
If the dismal flu-demic hype is any indication of the reactions we can expect of sensationalized fear based coverage, perhaps it would behoove us to think independently and differently about the inevitable event. There is much good in the Olympic movement. It is the perfect global catalyst for anyone with a worthwhile vision of peace and hope.
Human nature mostly defaults to security rather than commonsense, therefore, hope, compared to the flu, is a much harder contagion to spread. Consequently, a great deal of conscious effort is required to create it and keep it alive and well.
And, that’s where the media could do their best work. Imagine them reporting hopeful stories of peace over and over again.
Now that would actually be something worthy of the hype.
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