Often the Olympics serve as a showcase for more than just the top athletes in the world. Often the games are used for the government of the house city/country as a massive public relations event where they can exploit the spectacle to cast themselves in a glowing light. Well, this time around what's being broadcasted is not the image of a prosperous Brazil or a thriving Rio. What the world is seeing is the results of decades of neoliberal horrors.
Rio is bankrupt. The city is a disease and crime infested slum where the water is poisoned, the environment is devastated, and the people are largely destitute. What a fantastic microcosm of globalization! The thing is it's not like this wouldn't be the case anywhere else in the world. When the Olympic committee asked who would like the dubious privilege of hosting this year's games Rio raised its hand and the debutant was marched out on the world stage. Unfortunately for her handlers, there wasn't enough makeup to hide the scars on her face left from decades of abuse by the same inhumane global economic system your leaders are trying as hard as they can to perpetuate. Unfortunately, this will have to become the new international standard of beauty.
No matter what part of this worldwide hollow edifice we look at we will find the same examples of mutilation repeated over and over again. This and all future Olympics will just be beauty pageants for the bloated corpses of defunct nation states.
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