Why would the Associate Press feel the world needs this “news” when Savannah Guthrie’s mother is still missing?
The Associated Press is troubled that there are so many white athletes at the Winter Olympics. No, it really offered a new story that says this. No I am NOT kidding. The apparently woke-mad Chris Nisi complains in “Europe’s rising diversity is not reflected at the Winter Olympics. Culture plays a big role” [Note: “Culture plays a big role”= “Bulletin: Water is Wet.”]…
Immigration from Africa and the Middle East has transformed the demographics of Europe in recent decades. And while the growing diversity is reflected in many sports such as soccer — Sweden’s men’s national team has several Black players including Liverpool striker Alexander Isak — it hasn’t made a dent in winter sports…At the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, Sweden is sending a team made up almost exclusively of ethnically Swedish athletes, with NHL player Mika Zibanejad, whose father is from Iran, a rare exception. That hardly reflects the diversity of the Nordic country: About 2 million of its 10 million residents were born abroad, about half of them in Asia or Africa, according to national statistics agency SCB.
The lack of athletes of color at the Winter Olympics — and in winter sports in general — has been a recurring theme in the U.S., which is sending one of its most diverse teams to the Games. It hasn’t gotten the same attention in Europe.
Ethics Alarms 
Why should it matter if an Olympic roster is “overwhelmingly white “?
It shouldn’t and doesn’t, unless the critic is a racist.
There should be more black athletes in the Olympic ski jump that way they wouldn’t have to inject their penises with hyaluronic acid.
As far as the Olympics are concerned my attitude is WGAF.
Hey, “Cool Runnings” was a good movie!
Actually, they may be saying: “Hey! African athletes dominate in most every sport they compete in. Why aren’t they dominant in winter sports? Why aren’t countries recruiting and training African athletes in Nordic sports? After all, Africans are physically superior. Don’t these countries want to win medals at the Olympics? Clearly, these countries must be discriminating against African kids by training inferior white kids rather than intrinsically more athletically superior African kids.”
I assumed that they article would justify their position by stating that the Olympics were actually invented by Sub-Saharan Africans and Europeans stole the idea through colonialism. This would go nicely with the latest assertions by the British press that Shakespeare was a black, Jewish woman. The current standard narrative in Europe seems to be that all Europeans were people of color(TM) until recently, when ‘white people’ just showed up from nowhere and stole everything from everybody through colonialism and racism.
When Trump does Trump things, I think about the alternative, and I remember that Trump is crude and insensitive and petty, but he doesn’t think like a Soviet comrade who is so infused with envy that any inequality on anything sends him into a conniption.
“Next comes equity, where black speed skaters get five seconds subtracted from their speeds because it’s only fair.”
Well, after all, these poor, plucky underprivileged migrants don’t experience much snow in their countries of origin, so one could argue they are disadvantaged and need a boost, right?
Or maybe these folks just don’t care about winter sports because they’re not familiar with the games and because the poor in general tend not to care about the Olympics. But, no, it must be the whites that are at fault.
I have to admit that I do not watch a lot of sports on television. Part of this has to do that I have other interests, and part of this is because I do not like to watch an actual game all by myself.
Watching sports works best when you are with other like-minded people who all cheer for the same team, and in case of the Olympics for the same country. This experience creates a bonding experience between spectators who together cheer when their team or country wins. In other for this to work best divisive matters that do not have a direct relation to sport are best to be avoided; this include race and politics.
Associated Press acts as a spoiler here by addressing the issue of race. I would guess that AP never complains about racial disparities in basketball and football.
The USA Olympic Team Skier Hunter Hess had the following to say:
“It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now… Just because I wear the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.”
If members of the Olympic Team express shame for representing their own country, do they not forfeit the moral right to earn medals for the USA? Why would Americans be rooting for such a team? I guess that there are many Americans who now have less interest and enjoyment in watching the Olympics.
For the Super Bowl LX we see something similar. The as always super relevant Washington Post seems to think it relevant to use this occasion to tout a divisive figure Colin Kaepernick, notorious for disrespecting the National Anthem due to his racial grievances. Instead of focusing on how to enjoy the game together as a nation, they need to be the killjoy by focusing on race.
“Incorrigible, monomaniacal weirdos.” Cooke should trademark that.
Which warrants a “What is wrong with these people?”
I actually think the article is fairly even-handed in exploring one of the reasons athletes of colour are under-represented in winter sports: cultural unfamiliarity. I don’t find the author is accusing anyone of racism — just describing a case study and proposing solutions.
I think, when we see under-representation in winter sports, we don’t need to cry racism, nor do we need to flog ourselves and gnash our teeth, but we can interpret it as a sign that certain minorities may be left out of winter sports because of something other than merit. If, through (judiciously publicly funded? improved charity-supported?) outreach programs we could get more South Asians or Africans or Pacific Islanders to get into winter sports, and some of them, through leveraging some physical attribute or drawing from some cultural heritage, put on a more spectacular ice dance routine or develop a new curling technique, does that not enrich us as a people (to say nothing of enriching the lives of those athletes)?
As a (distant) parallel, I think of myself, an East Asian who was accidentally exposed to community theatre in my 20s and now aim to do 2-3 shows a year. I would have benefited from being exposed to theatre earlier in my life, and I dare say my high school theatre program could, in retrospect, have used me! East Asians (and [heterosexual] males) are definitely under-represented in the performing arts. It isn’t racism nor sexism, but in my opinion, it’s still something we, as a society, should investigate and attempt to correct, if appropriate.
My point is, so what? It’s like complaining that not enough short people play NBA basketball. Why does any group have to play any particular sport? Does anyone complain that not enough Swedes play Go? Why would they? Not enough Welsh rappers?
And my point is, if it turns out Swedes are genetically unfit for Go or the Welsh culture is diametrically incompatible with rap, that’s one thing; if, however, Swedes couldn’t play Go because they couldn’t afford it or the Welsh didn’t rap because they don’t know enough about it, I do care to rectify that
Diversity isn’t everything, but it isn’t nothing; and, the degree to which I/we/society can care about/invest in diversity can be proportionate to how much we value it.