The Olympics

19 Aug 2012

Quote by Ben_Minx
One line from BOHEMIAN Rhapsody and 10 minutes of Spice Girls? I wish I hadn't bothered. And whet about the rest of the country's music (if it had to be limited to music at all?) Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Thomas Tallis, UB40, The Specials, any of the new batch of properlay trained singers and musicians.
It just seemed to be extracts from one person's iPod - that person having an incredibly limited playlist to start with!
And what the F*** was Russell Brand doing there at all? A more unsavoury individual would be hard to find outside Belmarsh!

Quite.
Although Townsend and Michael wouldn't be on my role model list either.
Role models ??? pick any of the musicians in the ceremony and show me their clean living drug free undebauched past ... bet you can't
As for the closing ceremony ... most of the music wasn't to my taste, but the directors stated aim was to play the songs that get people singing and dancing in the aisles ... as far as it goes I think he probably hit the right thank your lucky stars that we didn't get hi ho silver fucking lining

20 Aug 2012

Quote by Staggerlee_BB
One line from BOHEMIAN Rhapsody and 10 minutes of Spice Girls? I wish I hadn't bothered. And whet about the rest of the country's music (if it had to be limited to music at all?) Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Thomas Tallis, UB40, The Specials, any of the new batch of properlay trained singers and musicians.
It just seemed to be extracts from one person's iPod - that person having an incredibly limited playlist to start with!
And what the F*** was Russell Brand doing there at all? A more unsavoury individual would be hard to find outside Belmarsh!

Quite.
Although Townsend and Michael wouldn't be on my role model list either.
Role models ??? pick any of the musicians in the ceremony and show me their clean living drug free undebauched past ... bet you can't
As for the closing ceremony ... most of the music wasn't to my taste, but the directors stated aim was to play the songs that get people singing and dancing in the aisles ... as far as it goes I think he probably hit the right thank your lucky stars that we didn't get hi ho silver fucking lining
or indeed agado staggs :huh:

24 Aug 2012

Quote by Lizaleanrob
or indeed agado staggs :huh:

I never saw the opening or closing............but would have loved to find out that this was in it lol

Dave_Notts

30 Aug 2012

So did anyone watch the Para Olympic Opening Ceremony?
I quite enjoyed it tho not all the music was to my taste... still didn't take my enjoyment away from it.

31 Aug 2012

Quote by anais
So did anyone watch the Para Olympic Opening Ceremony?
I quite enjoyed it tho not all the music was to my taste... still didn't take my enjoyment away from it.

yes we watched it here Anais but in all honesty i found the whole thing rather boring. I drifted off to sleep for a bit of a power nap when the athletes and there people started coming out. i woke up a little while later and Italy was just coming out :shock: it went on for an eternity to be honest.
the rest of the opening ceremony i either failed to understand the relevance of it, or sorry just found it plain boring. Unlike the opening ceremony in the Olympics which i found spell binding, the one the other night was a very poor second.
i like many millions of people will watch the games but being honest i will not watch it as much as i did a few weeks ago, even though these people are an inspiration to most of us. i admire them all for sure but watching these games does not hold the same interest as the Olympics of a couple of weeks ago.

31 Aug 2012

Quote by starlightcouple
So did anyone watch the Para Olympic Opening Ceremony?
I quite enjoyed it tho not all the music was to my taste... still didn't take my enjoyment away from it.

yes we watched it here Anais but in all honesty i found the whole thing rather boring. I drifted off to sleep for a bit of a power nap when the athletes and there people started coming out. i woke up a little while later and Italy was just coming out :shock: it went on for an eternity to be honest.
the rest of the opening ceremony i either failed to understand the relevance of it, or sorry just found it plain boring. Unlike the opening ceremony in the Olympics which i found spell binding, the one the other night was a very poor second.
i like many millions of people will watch the games but being honest i will not watch it as much as i did a few weeks ago, even though these people are an inspiration to most of us. i admire them all for sure but watching these games does not hold the same interest as the Olympics of a couple of weeks ago.
The part where the athletes were coming out did take ages... it ran over by 40 mins I think. I sat and authorises some pics then : surprised

ops:
It took me a while to click what it was about and I tried to explain it to my son who failed to understand what an earth I was on about lol

Don't ask me now what the theme was cos my memory is awful at the moment...
The first one sort of set the bar high, so yeah I do agree it wasn't as good.
Im a bit cheesed off its all on C4 with all those flipping adverts...
Anyway on a high note we've done all right with the medals so far :-)

2 Sep 2012

Most if not all the athlete's who participated could put some of us more able bodied people to shame with their strength and determination.
Once again a great event hosted by London and great coverage by Channel4

5 Sep 2012

Although i admire the paralympians i cant watch them ... and the swimmer girl in the huge billboard ads in London are just wrong!!
Gary Barlow is a good role model that performed on the ceremony .. not rock n roll though!
London back to normal soon .. thank feck .. J

5 Sep 2012

Quote by VoyeurJ
Although i admire the paralympians i cant watch them ... and the swimmer girl in the huge billboard ads in London are just wrong!!
Gary Barlow is a good role model that performed on the ceremony .. not rock n roll though!
London back to normal soon .. thank feck .. J

Moi aussi.
It's almost like watching a freak show. A terrible attitude I know, but it's just the way I feel about it.
Something about exploitation comes to mind...

6 Sep 2012

Quote by GnV
Although i admire the paralympians i cant watch them ... and the swimmer girl in the huge billboard ads in London are just wrong!!
Gary Barlow is a good role model that performed on the ceremony .. not rock n roll though!
London back to normal soon .. thank feck .. J

Moi aussi.
It's almost like watching a freak show. A terrible attitude I know, but it's just the way I feel about it.
Something about exploitation comes to mind...
Well lucky you to be non-disabled, and not a freak, but will you remain that way ? how will you feel if you become a freak ?
Today and every other day someone will become disabled in a car accident, someone will lose fingers or a hand or become partially paralized in an industrial accident and a soldier will lose limbs in Afghanistan.
And your answer to that, the soldier will become a freak.
For those people that this happens to (and it could be you) it will be devastating, thier first thoughts will be that thier life is over and thier life as they know it will be over, but thanks to the paralympians they may then just start to realise that a new and for some better life is about to start.
The inspiration for those already less abled and those that will become less abled is immeseasurable. hope will be given
And not just those who find themselves in that position by accident, I don't know how many people young and old are, each day, diagnosed with crippling diseases such as Cerabl Pausey, but I am guessing that around the world the number is quite high.
The families of these people are given hope, the sufferers are given hope and the FREAKS as you label them are, through thier dedication and hard work are able to enjoy a life that you consider normal.
But you could start a campaign to have all Freaks burnt in ovens or locked away out of site, another man tried to do it once and hoped to create a Master Race without freaks.
What an insight into your personality your statement is.
Exploitation ? how much are these athletes being paid to perform then ? who is gaining from thier perfomances ? (other than those in the same position as them or about to become in that position).
Playing football when your blind makes you a freak, now I have heard everything, a shame that had you made a racist comment the Police would track you down and charge you with an offence, to me your statement is worse than racism.

6 Sep 2012

In a freak show - the freaks are not the ones behind the bars.

6 Sep 2012

Quote by MidsCouple24
But you could start a campaign to have all Freaks burnt in ovens or locked away out of site, another man tried to do it once and hoped to create a Master Race without freaks.
What an insight into your personality your statement is.

What an insight into the realm of over reaction.

6 Sep 2012

Quote by Trevaunance
But you could start a campaign to have all Freaks burnt in ovens or locked away out of site, another man tried to do it once and hoped to create a Master Race without freaks.
What an insight into your personality your statement is.

What an insight into the realm of over reaction.
And that attitude is why he succeeded killing so many millions before being stopped

6 Sep 2012

Quote by VoyeurJ
Although i admire the paralympians i cant watch them ... and the swimmer girl in the huge billboard ads in London are just wrong!!
Gary Barlow is a good role model that performed on the ceremony .. not rock n roll though!
London back to normal soon .. thank feck .. J

Gary Barlow a good role model, a drunk and a drug addict a good role model, well it is hardly surprising you find a picture of someone who turned a disability into an ability so wrong.

6 Sep 2012

Well Mids, at least I was honest in my reply although I have to say that you are well short of the mark in your analysis of what I am actually like so far as disability is concerned.
Firstly, I didn't say the disabled are freaks. Far from it.
What I did say is that thrusting disability down people's throat (whether fully functional people or not) can be quite demeaning, for the disabled. If it does little more than just engender pity for the severely disabled, that does disablement and the achievements of the disabled a huge injustice.
Are people watching the Paralympic games because of a genuine desire to encourage achievement and is their handclapping other than 'polite' lip service to these 'poor unfortunates'?
I can't be certain to be honest.
Are they there from some morbid desire to oggle something 'different' on which they can pour their pity? Something akin to 'rubber neckers' at road accidents and those crowsdcrushers pushing their way through the crowd to view the aftermath of suicides in full public view.
Probably.
In that context, it is a freak show and takes away the quiet enjoyment of the achievement by the athlete.
Is the massive media presence and involvement exploiting disablement?
Very probably.
Are the hoi polloi there because they genuinely wish to encourage achievement or are they really there because 'it's the place to be seen' and will improve their 'caring' image.
Most definitely.
You dont have to be an athlete and disabled to be one of life's heroes. Every day, in every place in the world there are disabled people who go about their ordinary lives in extra-ordinary circumstances. Because they are not featured in the greatest freak show on earth doesn't mean to say that they are any less able or deserving but media pressure to feed the troll often means that they are forgotten or ignored altogether because "they" are not sexy or on today's media agenda.
Tomorrow, the paralympians will be forgotten in favour of something else more sexy, newsworthy and capable of commanding huge revenues for investors. That's what I mean by exploitation.
That's where it is wrong. The disabled deserve much more.

6 Sep 2012

Quote by flower411

Firstly, I didn't say the disabled are freaks. .

Quote by GnV
It's almost like watching a freak show.

No ...you said they were almost freaks ...suppose that`s why you can`t watch ....only real freaks good enough for you huh ?
I read your posts..... :grin:

6 Sep 2012

Quote by GnV
Well Mids, at least I was honest in my reply although I have to say that you are well short of the mark in your analysis of what I am actually like so far as disability is concerned.
Firstly, I didn't say the disabled are freaks. Far from it.
You implied they came accross as freaks and perhaps even that you considered them to be freaks
What I did say is that thrusting disability down people's throat (whether fully functional people or not) can be quite demeaning, for the disabled. If it does little more than just engender pity for the severely disabled, that does disablement and the achievements of the disabled a huge injustice.
So thrusting the able bodied Olympians down peoples throats, or footballers or talented singers is different, or could that be is different, I don't feel pity for myself because those people are more talented than me, that some of them become legends because of thier talent, and I don't feel pity for Paraolympians who have achieved more under the duress of greater adersity than I have, I admire them abled and disabled alike, when I see a blind man playing football, a person with one arm or one leg swimming faster than I can swim, a man without arms hit the bullseye time after time with a bow and arrow, I feel humbled, inspired and pride in the abilities of the human being. I don't see thier disability I see thier people watching the Paralympic games because of a genuine desire to encourage achievement and is their handclapping other than 'polite' lip service to these 'poor unfortunates'?
I can't be certain to be honest.
Are they there from some morbid desire to oggle something 'different' on which they can pour their pity? Something akin to 'rubber neckers' at road accidents and those crowsdcrushers pushing their way through the crowd to view the aftermath of suicides in full public view.
I do not consider it morbid to watch people achieve thier dreams, overcome adversity, inspire others and do things I would have believed impossible.
Probably.
Most certainly ..... in a narrow mind
In that context, it is a freak show and takes away the quiet enjoyment of the achievement by the athlete.
Still not calling them Freaks eh! but how can you have a freak show without freaks ?
Is the massive media presence and involvement exploiting disablement?
And how pleasant it was to see commentators, interviewers, camera operators, advisors to the public on the athletes equipment and particular problems who were also disabled themselves and also achieving success at the peak of thier chosen profession being chosen to do those jobs and doing it so well.
Very probably.
Are the hoi polloi there because they genuinely wish to encourage achievement or are they really there because 'it's the place to be seen' and will improve their 'caring' image.
Most of them are there because they themselves are disabled and can appreciate how hard it has been to get where they are
Most definitely.
You dont have to be an athlete and disabled to be one of life's heroes. Every day, in every place in the world there are disabled people who go about their ordinary lives in extra-ordinary circumstances. Because they are not featured in the greatest freak show on earth doesn't mean to say that they are any less able or deserving but media pressure to feed the troll often means that they are forgotten or ignored altogether because "they" are not sexy or on today's media agenda.
And the same can be said about the able bodied, does being chosen for Big Brother really make you a celebrity, does being in charge of a bank that fails it's investors really earn you a knighthood, there are heroes that you don't hear about amongst the able bodied, Nurses and Firemen, volunteer carers, volunteer charity workers, according to what you say we should ban the Olympics altogether because the Olympians should not get this recognition because others don't get it.
Tomorrow, the paralympians will be forgotten in favour of something else more sexy, newsworthy and capable of commanding huge revenues for investors. That's what I mean by exploitation.
That's where it is wrong. The disabled deserve much more.

They certainly deserve more than being called Freaks for being injured in Afghanistan, developing a crippling disease, losing limbs in car accidents or inheriting an illness.
You keep saying it is a freak show and I say again you cannot have a freak show without freaks so you obviously and by your own words consider them as such.

6 Sep 2012

and you can forget them tomorrow, I for one hope you do, they don't need your views of them, but I won't forget them and nor will many other people.
I said in these very forums before the Olympics began and when the Olympics ended that I wanted to watch them but was more looking forward to the Paraolympics because I consider them to be an even greater achievement of man which is what the Olympics was first started to demonstrate back in Greek times

6 Sep 2012

Sorry Mids, you're obviously not reading my posts in detail, or you are only seeing or cherry picking what you want to see in them.
No point in debating with someone with a fixed opinion and a closed mind so I'll leave it there.

6 Sep 2012

Quote by MidsCouple24
But you could start a campaign to have all Freaks burnt in ovens or locked away out of site, another man tried to do it once and hoped to create a Master Race without freaks.
What an insight into your personality your statement is.

What an insight into the realm of over reaction.
And that attitude is why he succeeded killing so many millions before being stopped
As usual you have overreacted and you don't like anyone pointing it out. But lets pander to your self posted anti nazi rant. OK, so seriously, how many people has Gnv killed based on his own beliefs then?
How many?
The world, and Europe of seventy three years ago is a long way removed from today. Gnv says he admires the paralympians but doesn't feel comfortable watching them. I understand that. It doesn't make him a Nazi anymore than not watching grown up programs like the news makes you a .
Or are you labelling people now?

7 Sep 2012

Quote by Trevaunance
But you could start a campaign to have all Freaks burnt in ovens or locked away out of site, another man tried to do it once and hoped to create a Master Race without freaks.
What an insight into your personality your statement is.

What an insight into the realm of over reaction.
And that attitude is why he succeeded killing so many millions before being stopped
As usual you have overreacted and you don't like anyone pointing it out. But lets pander to your self posted anti nazi rant. OK, so seriously, how many people has Gnv killed based on his own beliefs then?
How many?
The world, and Europe of seventy three years ago is a long way removed from today. Gnv says he admires the paralympians but doesn't feel comfortable watching them. I understand that. It doesn't make him a Nazi anymore than not watching grown up programs like the news makes you a .
Or are you labelling people now?
If believing having the same basic thoughts as Nazis did in the early 1930s did is over reacting then I am proud to over react, back then people spoke of the disabled being freaks and therefore in need of a "final solution" along with followers of certain religions, the insane and infirm. You are right 82 years is a long way removed from today butd Gnv may not have killed anyone, but his views of the disabled as freaks is the same as members of the Nazi party all those years ago, they did go on to do something about it and they brain washed others into thinking the same way as them, history does repeat itself if we allow it to, usually because we don't learn lessons from it. Is it right to call someone by a derogatory name because of thier race, no this country does not accept it, is it any different to call someone a freak because of thier disability ?
I have always labelled everything, if someone is racist I use the label if there was a label for someone who thinks the disabled are freaks I would use it, the only example of a label for that which I know of is Nazi so yes I will label Gnv as having some Nazi ideals the same as they did.
It is a shame people didn't react correctly to the Nazi party before they came to power back in the 1930s, perhaps if people did react and over react history would be different and a shamefull part of our past would never have happened.
Over reacting to me is that of taking OTT action about something, highlighting what someone says in a forum that will have no effect on thier beliefs whatsoever is simply making a statement of my beliefs not over reacting since there will be no reaction to what I say.
Saying a soldier who has been injured defending this country is a freak is something that will always cause a reaction in me but there will be no action taken over what I say, people who agree with me will simply agree as did people who reacted over the rise of the Nazi part, nothing stopped in rising, on the other hand reacting over a Poster of a disabled person, labelling them as Freaks and saying it is wrong to show them on TV could have a reaction in the future.

7 Sep 2012

It's nice to know that i am a freak !
Whether or not you meant it that way, it still sounds as if you think disabled people are freaks ..... thanks !

7 Sep 2012

Quote by GnV
Well Mids, at least I was honest in my reply although I have to say that you are well short of the mark in your analysis of what I am actually like so far as disability is concerned.
Firstly, I didn't say the disabled are freaks. Far from it.
What I did say is that thrusting disability down people's throat (whether fully functional people or not) can be quite demeaning, for the disabled. If it does little more than just engender pity for the severely disabled, that does disablement and the achievements of the disabled a huge injustice.
Are people watching the Paralympic games because of a genuine desire to encourage achievement and is their handclapping other than 'polite' lip service to these 'poor unfortunates'?
I can't be certain to be honest.
Are they there from some morbid desire to oggle something 'different' on which they can pour their pity? Something akin to 'rubber neckers' at road accidents and those crowsdcrushers pushing their way through the crowd to view the aftermath of suicides in full public view.
Probably.
In that context, it is a freak show and takes away the quiet enjoyment of the achievement by the athlete.
Is the massive media presence and involvement exploiting disablement?
Very probably.
Are the hoi polloi there because they genuinely wish to encourage achievement or are they really there because 'it's the place to be seen' and will improve their 'caring' image.
Most definitely.
You dont have to be an athlete and disabled to be one of life's heroes. Every day, in every place in the world there are disabled people who go about their ordinary lives in extra-ordinary circumstances. Because they are not featured in the greatest freak show on earth doesn't mean to say that they are any less able or deserving but media pressure to feed the troll often means that they are forgotten or ignored altogether because "they" are not sexy or on today's media agenda.
Tomorrow, the paralympians will be forgotten in favour of something else more sexy, newsworthy and capable of commanding huge revenues for investors. That's what I mean by exploitation.
That's where it is wrong. The disabled deserve much more.

I am disabled .... please dont talk for me.

7 Sep 2012

Quote by nellie-mwgc
It's nice to know that i am a freak !

You're not.

Quote by nellie-mwgc
I am disabled .... please dont talk for me.

I don't.

7 Sep 2012

Wow Mids, that's quite a reply for a guy that said only a few weeks ago you were going to ignore me innocent

As usual you have jumped straight in and dont appear to make any sense, in fact you actually contradict yourself!

Quote by MidsCouple24
Over reacting to me is that of taking OTT action about something, highlighting what someone says in a forum that will have no effect on thier beliefs whatsoever is simply making a statement of my beliefs not over reacting since there will be no reaction to what I say.

Quote by MidsCouple24
If believing having the same basic thoughts as Nazis did in the early 1930s did is over reacting then I am proud to over react

Quote by MidsCouple24
Saying a soldier who has been injured defending this country is a freak is something that will always cause a reaction in me

Who said this? Where has anyone called an injured soldier a freak?

Quote by MidsCouple24
saying it is wrong to show them on TV

Where has anyone said this? People have said that they don't choose to watch the paralympics, but thats down to there own choice. I don't watch cricket because I don't like it, does that make me a Nazi too?
At no stage did Gnv call anyone a freak, so why not calm down and stop blasting people as Nazi's.

7 Sep 2012

............GOLD ..
1...China...............70.....60.....53.....183
2...Great Britain.......31.....39.....38.....108
3...Russia..............31.....31.....23......85
4...Ukraine.............27.....18.....23......68
5...Australia...........25.....18.....26......69
6...USA.................23.....21.....27......71
7...Germany.............14.....21.....17......52
8...Brazil..............14.....10......5......29
9...Poland..............10.....11......6......27
10..France...............8.....13.....13......34
World records smashed, new athletes emerging, Pride in Britain rejuvenated, the impossible achieved, words cannot describe how wonderfull these games are and it is not even over yet, as I write this TeamGB are still getting medals, 103 medals was the target and I thought they were being a bit ambitious before the games started, every athlete from around the world is awe-inspiring.
Highlight so far, watching an African runner finishing the 1500 mtrs race 7 minutes behind the rest of the field and finishing to a standing ovation and respectfull clapping from 80,000 spectators.

7 Sep 2012

Quote by flower411

At no stage did Gnv call anyone a freak,

He said it was like watching a freak show.... I don`t see how you can have a freak show without freaks....... It`s perfectly clear what he meant and no amount of wriggling and squirming can change that.
If you are going to quote me flower, please be good enough to quote me accurately.

Quote by On 5/9/2012, I
It's almost like watching a freak show

At no point did I call the disabled 'freaks', so no need to wriggle and squirm here mon petit fleur.
You did manage on 6/9/2012 to quote me correctly so now, it just seems to be more like this, as of old:
the wriggling worm is elsewhere caught hook line and sinker trying it on, fabricating the facts rolleyes

7 Sep 2012

I could accept that saying "it was almost like watching a freak show" was just a bad choice of wording had you yourself not admitted in the same post that it was a terrible attitude, which to me says that you knew exactly what your words implied.
To me there is no other way of interpreting what you said as you felt they were freaks or at the very least looked like freaks or were almost freaks, but enlighten me if you will, what did you mean by your statement if you did not see it as that, and why then would that be a terrible attitude.
Wounded soldiers freaks - if you won't stand behind our troops feel free to stand in front of them or at the very least say it to thier faces.

7 Sep 2012

Right, you have had your playtime, back to topic and stop all the name calling or the thread will be locked.
Play nicely children lol

7 Sep 2012

Jed, "a terrible attitude" was meant to express nothing more than regret at not feeling able to be totally awe-struck when so much of the Country, indeed internationally, there was much acclaim for what was about to unfold.
I think you expressed a similar feeling, albeit in a different way, in your opening post:

Quote by Jed
I just think 15 billion quid could have been better spent on improving the UK and that we wont benefit in viewing them just because they are here.

Sectioning off the disabled from the abled does not sit comfortably with me, for whatever reason.
What would be a real pleasure is to see disabled people pissing all over the abled opposition.
It can and does happen in real life.
Before retirement, I employed a number of disabled workers over a period of many, many years, not because of legislative requirements (my firm was not large enough to be bound by that) but because I saw real talent. Not for reasons of pity or under some misguided 'social' purpose but because the ones I employed were really talented people and in some cases streets ahead of their able bodied colleagues in the work ethic and their technical ability.
I have no difficulty with the disabled. My mother, previously a very able person, was disabled from a freak traffic accident whilst seated on a bus. My work before setting up on my own account brought me into contact with the disabled and organisations for the disabled. My wife, a teacher, taught severely mentally handicapped children.
The disabled are not freaks. Nor are soldiers injured or maimed in the course of their pursuits.
I hope that makes my position clear.