Predictably, the Olympics are bringing out the worst in us

The 2024 Paris Olympics have been an unbelievable sporting event thus far. It’s brought out the very best around the world.

Unless you’re online.

While the athletes and competitions have been stunning – from established stars cementing their greatness like Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky to the emergence of new stars like Léon Marchand and Ilona Maher – it’s been a fantastic first week.

But instead of enjoying the Olympics and becoming immersed in the beauty of athletes taking part in this quadrennial, global celebration of sport, way too many pundits, commentators, and bad actors have instead latched onto whatever they can to fight a culture war entirely of their own making. And it is often in the name of ignorance, falsehoods, and a total detachment from reality.

It started with the “controversy” surrounding the Opening Ceremony, particularly a performance featuring performers in drag. Immediately, bad actors online latched onto a theory that the performance mocked Christianity because it depicted Jesus and Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of The Last Supper.

Of course, this was not the case. The Olympics themselves confirmed that it was an interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus. How ironic that the Olympics, named for Mount Olympus , would have an artistic celebration of Greek mythology. Central performer Hugo Bardin also talked about how important the show was to show “ a postcard of France from 2024 .”

Naturally, those facts didn’t stop those online and in certain political circles from insisting that this was some kind of discriminatory and anti-religious display. Inexplicably, even after being told that it specifically was not a Last Supper parody as in the case of Sage Steele, who simply chose not to believe it.

There were even ridiculous boycotts over the Olympics themselves as if the USA fencing team had a role in designing the Opening Ceremony fine arts. If your Olympic viewing is completely ruined by a 2-minute scene from an art show that you take out of context and run with to an angry Facebook comments section, that’s a you problem.

As Week 1 of the Olympics is coming to a close, the exhaustive culture wars latched onto something even more absurd. After Algerian female boxer Imane Khelif defeated Angela Carini when Carini quit, even more bad actors online immediately latched onto an anti-trans narrative that Khelif was somehow a man.

The “Save Women’s Sports” Avengers assembled in record time latching onto a story that was demonstrably false and easily proven so. Social media brought the boogeyman of “wokeness” into the equation, which just one second of critical thinking would give pause to the thought that a country like Algeria or the Olympics (whose recent hosts include Russia and China) is pushing a woke liberal agenda. An additional second of critical thinking and one more of Google searching would easily find that Khelif was born female, is female, and has always been female.

And yet, everyone from Logan Paul to Sam Ponder to Dan Orlovsky to Pat McAfee couldn’t wait to weigh in on the subject, despite their concerns about this particular Olympic boxing bout not being based in reality.

In the words of Paul after it was pointed out to him that he was spreading information, “ oopsies .”

Orlovsky quickly tweeted and deleted a “protect our daughters” tweet which was particularly absurd, as if an army of female boxers from Algeria had suddenly decided to start prowling the streets of suburbia, looking for little girls to punch in the face. Was it not lost on anyone that this terrible tragedy of someone upset that she was hit too hard in the face happened in an Olympic boxing fight? What’s next? Will Orlovsky have more vague, performative concern tweeting when Matthew Stafford gets sacked too hard this year?

McAfee’s monologue was especially egregious considering he did it on a national television platform. The idea that McAfee could go on his ESPN show, spout false facts, admit to not knowing what he’s talking about, and then continue to opine about it anyway is truly mind-blowing.

McAfee wants to simultaneously be an escape, celebrating the fun of sports while also platforming social and political takes of his own and from the far reaches of Aaron Rodgers’s mind. Nobody was tuning into The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday, waiting on pins and needles for a nuanced take on the genetic makeup of chromosomes, but he happily fanned the flames anyway.

And this is what is so tiring and depressing. We could be having 1,000 conversations about what has been cool and awesome about the Olympics. Simone Biles and Suni Lee and the Team USA female gymnasts. Stephen Nedoroscik as the Clark Kent of the Olympics with his amazing skill on the pommel horse. The epic performances in the pool and on the track from Léon Marchand to Katie Ledecky to Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson. The first medal for Team USA rugby sevens. Xander Schauffele searching for a second straight Olympic gold medal. The biggest stars of the NBA and WNBA looking for another gold. Snoop Dogg became the unofficial Team USA ambassador and the face of the Olympics.

Instead, we are predictably stuck chasing shadows of online conspiracies faster than Usain Bolt and jumping to conclusions in a way that would make Carl Lewis proud. And it’s all entirely based on fictional, unnecessary narratives that only seek to use whatever tool possible to advance divisive, harmful tropes that keep the culture wars at the center of the universe and try to harm others.

And it’s just so predictable. Who’s going to be the social media influencer or politician who’s going to make a show of flying to Paris and attending Khelif’s next bout just to stage a walkout ?

Please, at least for the next week, stop ruining the Olympics for everybody.

The post Predictably, the Olympics are bringing out the worst in us appeared first on Awful Announcing .