I feel like I need to get some stuff off my chest for a moment. I've been lurking on this forum on and off for a couple of years. It's always interesting reading, mainly because it explores a lot of areas the mainstream media in Britain daren't touch. As such, people don't take it seriously. I've been dismissed by friends and family as a miserable cynic and "sad" for pointing out things that have actually happened and there are good accounts of - I can point to books, articles, academics, and any amount of circumstantial evidence, and none of it will be enough to convince them
Maybe it's because I'm Welsh which gives me that bit of distance from the main English narratives (and that's what it basically is - there's little room allowed for Welsh and Scottish narratives, even with people like Geraint Thomas or Laura Muir, with Murray the only notable exception because it's a running joke), but I've been quite sceptical for a long time over the way the media portrays British success. The Olympics is the one great example of how even during the greatest international festival in the world, the national broadcaster turns inward. And I'm certain that those running the sports in Britain know that and are aware of the power of getting on the media's side, mainly by winning. Most people who watch only really care about Britain's medal count - they're not really bothered what events they come in or who gets them. And it's always that use of "we" to describe it - "we've won another medal" - as if everyone feels part-ownership of that success
Ultimately, it's chicken-or-egg to determine which came first - does the media concentrating on British success create the public's blinkers, or is it the public's blinkers that lead to the media concentrating more on British success? Either way, each feed off each other. The London games was a turbocharger, because it allowed the likes of the BBC to be extra indulgent. As a result, lots of really intelligent and otherwise quite unpatriotic people end up becoming hyper-nationalist - myself included in the past. When you spend a lot of time watching the coverage, it acts like a funnel because of the way they focus on specific events and sportspeople. You get sucked into a vortex very quickly because the BBC will be telling you how great Athlete X is and what a tough road they've had to go on, so even if you don't want to go in wanting Britain to win, you still end up wanting Athlete X to win. Heck, I even started liking Wiggins again until I saw his comments today on the Sutton case, and I only watched the final of the team pursuit. You can't call any of it journalism - it's just cheerleading, and it quickly becomes nauseating when you don't buy it
Either way, Britain is a conservative, nationalist country. I mean we kind of knew this anyway, especially after the EU referendum, but it's been noticeable for a while. And of course the way that reflects on the issues of doping and scepticism means that all reason gets thrown out of the window. I'm sure this happens elsewhere too (especially the US) but I can only speak for Britain. I just imagine this is what it's also like in Russia, or was like in East Germany in the 80s
You can provide decent circumstantial evidence for Farah being dodgy and it'll be dismissed simply on the basis of him never testing positive, and yet it's fine for people like Steve Cram to essentially accuse the likes of Gatlin, Makhloufi and Ayana of doping live on air. Even today, Steve Backley pointed at the Moldovan hammer thrower's positive tests as if to insinuate she's still cheating. God knows what it'll be like when the Russians come back. And yet I totally remember the media's reaction to Linford Christie's positive test being one of total denial and paranoia - proof that what people want isn't a positive test, because even if they had one for someone like Farah, there would be excuses aplenty as to why it's not legitimate. They just want an excuse to believe it's clean
Once you get that moment of doubt, the whole thing collapses and it just becomes unbearable. So I can understand why people on here are going to spend a lot of time "bashing Brits" - I imagine quite a few are actually British and are just sick to death of the constant sycophancy and the expectation of hyper-nationalism. And there are very few places you can go to actually express this, because the vast majority of people will immediately dismiss any degree of scepticism and it's impossible to engage a reasonable, nuanced conversation about it. It's very frustrating and I don't see a way out unless there's a mass unveiling of the whole thing - even if it's just one or two individuals that get caught, they will be written off as bad eggs and the circus will carry on as before
Maybe it's because I'm Welsh which gives me that bit of distance from the main English narratives (and that's what it basically is - there's little room allowed for Welsh and Scottish narratives, even with people like Geraint Thomas or Laura Muir, with Murray the only notable exception because it's a running joke), but I've been quite sceptical for a long time over the way the media portrays British success. The Olympics is the one great example of how even during the greatest international festival in the world, the national broadcaster turns inward. And I'm certain that those running the sports in Britain know that and are aware of the power of getting on the media's side, mainly by winning. Most people who watch only really care about Britain's medal count - they're not really bothered what events they come in or who gets them. And it's always that use of "we" to describe it - "we've won another medal" - as if everyone feels part-ownership of that success
Ultimately, it's chicken-or-egg to determine which came first - does the media concentrating on British success create the public's blinkers, or is it the public's blinkers that lead to the media concentrating more on British success? Either way, each feed off each other. The London games was a turbocharger, because it allowed the likes of the BBC to be extra indulgent. As a result, lots of really intelligent and otherwise quite unpatriotic people end up becoming hyper-nationalist - myself included in the past. When you spend a lot of time watching the coverage, it acts like a funnel because of the way they focus on specific events and sportspeople. You get sucked into a vortex very quickly because the BBC will be telling you how great Athlete X is and what a tough road they've had to go on, so even if you don't want to go in wanting Britain to win, you still end up wanting Athlete X to win. Heck, I even started liking Wiggins again until I saw his comments today on the Sutton case, and I only watched the final of the team pursuit. You can't call any of it journalism - it's just cheerleading, and it quickly becomes nauseating when you don't buy it
Either way, Britain is a conservative, nationalist country. I mean we kind of knew this anyway, especially after the EU referendum, but it's been noticeable for a while. And of course the way that reflects on the issues of doping and scepticism means that all reason gets thrown out of the window. I'm sure this happens elsewhere too (especially the US) but I can only speak for Britain. I just imagine this is what it's also like in Russia, or was like in East Germany in the 80s
You can provide decent circumstantial evidence for Farah being dodgy and it'll be dismissed simply on the basis of him never testing positive, and yet it's fine for people like Steve Cram to essentially accuse the likes of Gatlin, Makhloufi and Ayana of doping live on air. Even today, Steve Backley pointed at the Moldovan hammer thrower's positive tests as if to insinuate she's still cheating. God knows what it'll be like when the Russians come back. And yet I totally remember the media's reaction to Linford Christie's positive test being one of total denial and paranoia - proof that what people want isn't a positive test, because even if they had one for someone like Farah, there would be excuses aplenty as to why it's not legitimate. They just want an excuse to believe it's clean
Once you get that moment of doubt, the whole thing collapses and it just becomes unbearable. So I can understand why people on here are going to spend a lot of time "bashing Brits" - I imagine quite a few are actually British and are just sick to death of the constant sycophancy and the expectation of hyper-nationalism. And there are very few places you can go to actually express this, because the vast majority of people will immediately dismiss any degree of scepticism and it's impossible to engage a reasonable, nuanced conversation about it. It's very frustrating and I don't see a way out unless there's a mass unveiling of the whole thing - even if it's just one or two individuals that get caught, they will be written off as bad eggs and the circus will carry on as before