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February 22, 2002

god bless the USA

One of the interesting things about living in a foreign country is being able to see how your own country is perceived from the outside. This becomes evident by watching European TV coverage of the Olympics.

I know that part of the Olympics is expressing some sort of national pride, why else would they have athletes represent their countries? But the Olympics should be about celebrating the finest athletes in the world; finding joy and (and amazement!) in the pinnacle of the human body, mind and spirit. It should also be able to bring countries together, something that these games have been struggling to do, with all the whining and complaining about the officiating and judging.

The Olympic coverage varies from the 3 stations that carry it here. The BBC is relentless in showing mostly Brit athletes and Brit-dominated sports (which means showing ALL of the curling competitions, live). I hardly watch their coverage even though its in English, cause its pretty boring, and the announcers tend to talk just a bit too much. The German public TV station just shows this main shared-feed, doesn’t have any commentary or interviews. I watch this when I just want a sort of bare-bones experience. Then there are the Dutch channels.

I have gotten into the habit of watching "Olympic Breakfast" on Dutch TV, which recaps the previous day's events. It’s a very polished show, with lots of highlights, interviews and clips. The core of the show features the main host and guests seated around a large breakfast table piled with breads, orange juice and coffee, and the day's newspapers. There is even a chef off in the wings shown every so often preparing an omelet or strawberry parfait. It's all very cozy. Of course I can't understand a word (ok, maybe a few words) of it unless they are interviewing an American, but I still find it an enjoyable show. Although they cover speed skating heavily, they also include all other sports. They even delight when another country wins a gold, even in speed skating!

The other day they visit downtown Salt Lake City and do a man-on-the-street type segment, to see how the townies feel about the games. A man in a Dutch accent off camera interviews some jolly Salt Lake City natives, all saying how wonderful it is to be host. During an interview one woman joyfully boasts: "God Bless America!" as her friends behind her selling star-spangled t-shirts yip and cheer with delight, while without missing a beat, the Dutch broadcaster asks: "and why should God bless America?" as if this is just a normal question. And, well, it is a normal question, why should God bless those 50 little states and not the rest of the world? It's not something you would get from an American broadcast, and it is rather refreshing to hear. The woman seemed a bit flustered at the question, and she barked back some more song lyrics, half-heartedly at first, but stronger towards the last: "because…its…uh, the home of the free and the land of the brave??"

Sure, sure it is.

Posted by shannon at February 22, 2002 11:06 PM

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