Opinion
Worth of a nation
Zoheret Cohen
Published: 17.08.08, 16:11
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15 Talkbacks for this article
1. We should be proud of them!
EM ,   Ra'anana   (08.17.08)
We should all be extremely proud of Arik Ze'evi and all of our Israeli sportsmen who trained hard and at great personal expense just to get there. Just being selected to participate in the Olympics is a terrific honor! They represented the best side of our society...and deserse our applause and gratitude....medals or not.
2. what a great article-opinion. agree100%
svietka   (08.17.08)
3. WOW !!!!!!
DAVID ,   JUDEA   (08.17.08)
Like they say right on the kisser. Finally someone with common sense and getting to the point , most likely it will go on deaf ears , Israelis in general have a very poor learning curve.
4. Pitiful Self Image
Rafi ,   Hadera   (08.17.08)
The self image of secular Israel is so pitiful that it needs a handout of cheap recognition by some imbecilic soccer competition or than analphabetic Eurovision. This piiful self image is the spiritual source of our across-the-board (Lukud-Labor-Kadima) defeatism and loss of national deterrance power. The only thing that will save this country is a return to Torah pride. The proof? You can find the grandchildren of Herzl and Ben-Gurion in the USA, together with Olmert's kids. We as Jews have everything to be proud of.
5. So True!
Ely ,   Pardes Channa   (08.17.08)
THIS WILL ONLY HAPPEN WHEN WE REALIZE THAT WE ARE A SPECIAL JEWISH NATION, GIVEN THE LAND OF ISRAEL FROM G-D HIMSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6. Right on, great article!
Moshe ,   NY   (08.17.08)
7. No Offense .....
Terry ,   Eilat, Israel   (08.17.08)
But this article has the intellectual level of a T.V. reality show. I guess "dumbing down" is a real phenomenon.
8. for an Israeli getting to the olympics is an achievement
zionist forever   (08.17.08)
All the countries with serious medal contenders at the olympics spend millions on their olympic squads and they enter in many more events than Israel. Israel doesnt invest big sums of money in its athletes just being an olympic standard athlete in Israel is the same as a bronze medal for most other countries and getting through the first couple of rounds is like a gold. The Americans and chinese can compete on how many medals their people come home with, Israel should just be glad it has people there and a medal should be considered a bonus not an expectation.
9. Zoheret, stop lecturing us.
Tahl ,   Israel   (08.17.08)
I don't like the lecturing, righteous attitude emanating from this article. I never heard anyone claim that "our national worth" is measured by olympic medals. You are exggerating. Yet, there is absolutely nothing wrong in expecting our athletes to bring medals in the olympics, to boost our national pride. There is also nothing wrong in being disappointed when they fail to do so. No one said this is a national tragedy, no said this is the end of the world. But it is certainly disappointing! Granted, olympic medals are not as important as improving our country from within. But there's no contradiction here. Olympic medals are still an excellent way of promoting our image to the world, and show people that we are much more than some county in a continuous war. They also provide wonderful instant gratification, and don't underestimate that. The whole idea behind sports is to provide instant gratification, in order to put aside the daily problems. When Gal Friedman won the gold in Athens, it did wonders to our country. People were happy and proud. We want to feel this way again. And I've got news for you: every country in the world feels this way about sports! Everybody is very proud of their champions. The Americans, who have already won so many medals in past olympics, went out of their way to celebrate Phelp's amazing record. When Turkey's football team reached the Euro semi-finals, all of Turkey was in frenzy. So was Croatia. England adores their national football team, and can't accept failures. Even Syria elevated their olympic gold winner decathelete Rada Shua as a goddess. Everybody loves to be represented by a winner. This is the beauty of sports. Your righteous lecturing is inappropriate.
10. Tahl: Your righteous lecturing is inappropriate.
Jameel @ The Muqata ,   Shomron   (08.17.08)
The operative word here is "firgun" When newspaper headlines scream "“No medal for Arik" -- you honestly believe that's justified? Kudos to those on our team. Kudos that we participate. We win, great, we lose, big deal. I'm much more concerned over serious issues, not how many medals we won, or if Tzippi Livni ranked in Time magazine. I'm concerned that our country should be run by upstanding individuals, not the corrupt bunch of thugs currently in the government. It's all an issue of priority, which I think was the point of this article. If you think newspapers should humiliate our athletes, then do something more productive with your life, like run for your vaad bayit.
11. Nice Article
Andrés Fernández ,   Colombia   (08.17.08)
I liked your article, I am a colombian that soon will travel to Israel and is very nice to find thoughts as that one inside this article that aplies not only for Israel, but for all the countries around the world, specially, Colombia.
12. This article is about anxiety;
shrinkDave ,   miami usa   (08.17.08)
When people are told how they are supposed to feel, we should understand (not feel) that the article is about the author's anxieties, and that he/she is writing to reduce those anxieties. Some readers' anxieties may be reduced because of the article; for others, it may produce a conflict, because they may not feel the way they are "supposed to" according to an article in a mainstream publication. This illustrates the power of the media to modulate the masses' feelings. Once upon a time, the media was used for information about world events. This article is an example of an article being used for anxiety reduction.
13. Jameel
Tahl ,   Israel   (08.17.08)
I couldn't care less what the newspapers say. Still, "no medal for Arik" is not humiliation. It is mere disappointment, because he was a candidate for a medal. Even Arik himself is very diappointed. And there is no contradiction between being very proud and "firgun" of someone (I am very proud of Arik), and being disappointed as well. Just like if you have a kid who regularly gets excellent grades, and suddently brings a 60 on an important test - of course you love him very much, but still feel somewhat disappointed. Disappointments are healthy. Without diappoinments, you'd never get any achievements. We've been to this "participation" experience in enough olympics, it's time to step it up a notch. This "win, great, lose, big deal" attitude is a sure recipe to only lose, as proven in our experience. We expect medals, just like fans in all countries with resources to invest for the olympics, expect medals. Your point about who runs the country is important, but completely irrelevant to the topic. I have more to respond, but I don't want to repeat myself. Instead I'll send you to read all of my previous post again.
14. Tahl
Marilyn ,   USA   (08.17.08)
I think that every athelete who gets to be able to go to the Olympics and compete is already a winner. With Michael Phelps, it is more like an underdog story. I think that kids with ADHD are told early on that they are failures. So for him to be able to suceed, it is a source of inspiration for us.
15. Israel itself is a triumph
Gee ,   Zikron Yaakov   (08.19.08)
Our existance after all those centuries. In the face of worst anti-semitism that world has ever seen is cause for pride and celebration. As for the Olympics, I could care less. After '72 I have not watched a single event or even a minute of them.
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