In what is but yet the latest and perhaps the most blatant case of recent anti-Americanism – on American soil no less, we now have the International Olympic Committee (logo, right) whining about the alleged propriety of the American Olympic team carrying into Salt Lake City’s Rice-Eccles Stadium the tattered American flag that survived the attack on the World Trade Center. This was also the same flag that was flown at the World Series last fall as well at the Super Bowl this past Sunday. But oh, no, the IOC brass (as in rhymes with…) just couldn’t stand the notion of a people actually loving their country. It is clearly evident that they understand neither our history nor us as a people. Talk about needing to remove a cork! And they say Americans are clueless about the history of foreign nations – please!
The IOC was faced with what they actually had the temerity to call a dilemma. It was to either allow the flag (left) to be part of the athletic procession and risk ‘turning the Olympics into a red-white-and-blue rally’, or deny the USOC’s request and anger a host nation still in mourning. After a day of intense lobbying by U.S. Olympic officials, the IOC relented and ‘decided’ not only to allow the Ground Zero icon to be hoisted as the official flag, but to let an honor guard of “American athletes, heroes and policemen” accompany it into the stadium.
To add to the sniping, we have columnist Steve Buffery of The Toronto SUN complaining that Americans’ nonstop cheerleading is hard enough to stomach, adding: “Now throw in the fact that U.S. television is going to try to tie in every American triumph with Sept. 11 and you’ve got a sure-fire recipe for nausea . . . It shouldn’t be a problem for veteran athletes, but out of common courtesy, it would be nice if, for once, the fans down south remembered that the Olympics is supposed to be about the world coming together, and not about one team.” If Buffery doesn’t like it, he can leave town and the SUN can send someone else in his place, or he can watch the Canadian analysis through the international video feed on CBC Television.
Buffery fails to take into consideration that Canada has never been the victim of terrorism on its own soil, and as such does not know what he is talking about, not to mention that nobody with any credibility is going to pay him any attention on this one. Were the CN Tower or the First Canadian Place Tower in Toronto, an office building that stands at 952 feet high the object of a similar attack as the WTC and the Pentagon suffered, you can bet the Canadians would be sufficiently worked up. Also to consider is the fact that as part of NORAD, Canada relies on the United States for more than 90 percent of its domestic defense needs, as they are too busy spreading their troops too thin on peacekeeping missions overseas, when they could be better spending the money getting their troops newer uniforms than 1960’s vintage and better, safer and more functional equipment.
While most of Europe has had terrorist attacks in its major population centers, the fact is that none of them ever experienced a singular loss of life in one day on so large a scale as we did in the United States on September 11th, 2001. Had Buffery been in New York or Washington on that fateful day, he might have a different perspective. On the other hand, if he has a virulent anti-American bug up his shorts, then his mind is already made up and he does not want to be confused with the facts.
Granted, there will be some who will think there will be some who will feel that there is too much flag-waving on the part of the Americans. Part of this is part and parcel of the healing process that we as a people are going through in our personal, emotional and spiritual recovery. The fact that there are almost 300,000,000 people living in America only serves to heighten our profile, our pain and our recovery.
The world has always looked to us as a nation for leadership and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Whatever problems the Europeans or the snooty hoity-toity types at the IOC have with American patriotism, as far as I’m concerned, they can stuff it. Unlike their countries that were ruled by an elite few that had the remainder of the people living as serfs – or worse – and still do to some extent, America was founded on the principle that all men (and women) are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” (Declaration of Independence)
President Bush (right, in Florida last week) will be there to open the Olympic Winter Games this evening. His presence has been a great reassurance to not only America, but to the world, for he is a symbol of America’s reemerging preeminence, prominence and greatness on the world stage as it rightly assumes its place of leadership.
Like the 1994 Winter Games at Lillehammer, Norway, where the Norwegians were the class of the Games – winning the medals count in the process, let us hope as Americans, that we as a people and especially our athletes will be the epitome of grace and class in competition regardless of how they finish, for if there is anything that has set Americans apart over the years, it has been our sense of fair play.
Let’s show the world that anything worth doing is worth doing right, and in the process, we can show the IOC brass exactly what it is of ours they can kiss.
Let the Games begin!
Timothy Rollins
This article may not be reproduced in any form without the expressed written consent of its author.
International Olympic Committee Logo courtesy of IOC Web Site
Tattered Flag at Super Bowl courtesy of the Associated Press
Olympic Games Logo
Tattered Flag from WTC
President Bush