The GOAT

The spectacle of the Olympics, invented by Adolf Hitler, ended today, all 329 events of them (or it, depending on your grammar preference). News media are giddy, telling us the U.S. has "medal supremacy." In this calculus, supremacy is determined by total medals - gold (first place), silver (second place) and bronze (third place). If you count only gold, "we" are tied with China at 40. We, though, being us, count all medals, giving them equal value. 

So we are supreme, in our calculus of what constitutes supremacy. I have a different calculus - still counting all medals as equal, but comparing the U.S. medal total with all other countries who won medals. With 329 events the total of medals awarded is 987. The U.S., with 40 gold, 44 silver and 42 bronze, won 126 medals. Out of 987, "America" won 126, a supremacy of 12.7659%. The medals were won by 84 countries, with Ireland winning 4 gold, and Grenada, the tiny island so triumphally invaded by Ronald Reagan in 1983, won two bronze medals - in the decathlon and javelin throw. No one from the supreme U.S. won a medal of any kind in these two manly events.

Not so supreme, it would seem, unless you figure it our way, or at least what the news media say, even NPR. One might wonder why it is so important for the U.S. to be supreme in anything, a position of unquestioned authority, dominance or influence. I suppose, in linear, Western, material superficial calculus supremacy is the meaning of life. Be the greatest, maybe greatest of all time. We now have an acronym for greatest of all time. GOAT. Kinda dumb, but it's the meme of the moment.

But supremacy is what we need, and by God we have it! That is, if God exists. If we are supreme in the Olympics, then we are supreme in all ways.

We are supreme in sponsoring genocide in Gaza. We are supreme in melting the Polar ice caps. We are supreme in overthrowing democratically elected governments. We are supreme in polluting the Earth with plastic. We are supreme in corporate corruption. We are supreme in weapons manufacture and its accompanying supremacy in gun-running. 

We are supreme in mass shooting. We are supreme in homelessness. We are supreme in nuclear warfare. We are supreme in demagogues, grandstanders, charlatans, crackpots and crooks. We are, er, tied for supremacy in religious fanaticism. We are supreme in garbage. We are supreme in debt. We are supreme in the color white, especially "white" skin.

So, as we celebrate our supremacy, let us not forget the many ways in which we are supreme. We are truly the GOAT. I wonder for how long.

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Here's a song. Here's another. Neil Young. Supposedly the greatest band of all time. Or is it this band? Or this? Maybe this band.

Here's the PBS story about the 1936 Olympics. A selection of books on the topic can be found here.