http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/2168/Dressage-Wars.aspx
HOW APPOSITE THAT THESE TWO HORSES’ ASSES ARE IN A SNIT ABOUT ANN ROMNEY’S HORSE…..RSK
Robert Strauss, a longtime correspondent of this blog, writes in today concerning an anti-Olympics op-ed in the New York Times by two academics: Jules Bykoff, an associate professor of political science at Pacific University, “who is writing a book on dissent and the Olympics,” and Alan Tomlinson, professor of “leisure studies” at the University of Brighton. Their piece critiques the commercialism of it all, the cronyism of it all, the privilege of it all (aha!) … and “Ann Romney’s horse,” which is probably the raison d’etre of it all.
Bob writes:
Honestly, I don’t have much concern for the Olympics one way or the other. And gee, who’d a thunk that a major sports event would be overly commercialized!
But what’s interesting about the Occupy-style tone of this article is that it could be applied perfectly to the Obama stimulus. It’s almost a parallel blueprint, especially the emphasis on cronyism and signage!
Eureka: It’s the same anti-capitalist Agenda.
To improve the Olympics, the poli sci and “leisure studies” profs have a plan. They write:
Competitions drenched in privilege, like the equestrian events, should be ditched (with apologies to Ann Romney’s horse Rafalca, who will be competing in dressage in London). Pseudo-historical events like Greco-Roman wrestling, concocted in the 19th century, could also go. Events with high start-up costs could be swapped for those requiring fewer resources. Why not bring back tug-of-war (a hotly contested event in the early 20th century) and add more running events, like trail running and cross-country?
Can’t you just see their rimless little Lenin glasses fogging up at the thought of “ditching” “privilege-drenched” equestrian events? And maybe the “p-d” equestrians themselves to boot! “Privilege” has no place in their brave new world; academic tenure, of course, is perfectly okay. Let them play tug-of-war!
Personally, I am all for privilege drenching society — trickle-down and all that. In fact, since Marxists like economics so much, before the revolution, let’s consider the relative economic impact of dressage and its apparently prole-approved replacement, tug-of-war.