I always root for Americans
at the Olympics. I’ve never heard of most of the American athletes at these
Winter Games, but I want them to beat other athletes I’ve never heard of, who
happen to come from other countries. The German TV commentators we are watching
root for German athletes. The Berlin paper writes about every German athlete
who does well. It’s a crude but harmless form of nationalism that infects people
across the world.
The modern Olympics were
conceived as a way to reduce nationalism, to promote peace through sport. They haven’t
worked out that way, but nevertheless every two years the opening Olympic
ceremonies hopefully proclaim the ideal of world unity.
The opening ceremonies at
PyeongChang in South Korea last Friday were marked by spectacular special
effects under the title “Peace
in Motion”. Peace is particularly important in Korea, whose Cold War
division constantly threatens to explode into war. The South Koreans decided to
make peace the symbol of these Winter Games, with dramatic images
of white doves everywhere. Lee Hee-beom, president of the PyeongChang
Organizing Committee, said,
“We hope that the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 will spread that
message of peace around the world in the coming weeks.”
The decision by the two
Korean governments to field one slate of athletes was an unexpected effort at
unity through sport, the most hopeful sign in decades of a possible reduction
in hostilities. Athletes from North and South Korea carried a specially
designed “unification
flag”, displaying the entire Korean peninsula as one unit. Four Korean
singers covered John Lennon’s ode to peace and unity, “Imagine”.
Olympic symbolism can only
temporarily obscure reality. A half century of Korean division and the wild
threats to world peace made by the North Korean dictator will not disappear
because North and South Korean women play some ice hockey games as one team.
South Korea’s President reacted
hesitantly to the invitation extended by North Korea to visit the North for
talks after the Games. In a poll
last week in South Korea, only a minority approved of using the unification
flag.
Outside of the Olympic
venues, the world is bitterly divided. The Cold War between the communist East
and the democratic West is only a memory, but a new cold war is developing
within Western democracies between a resurgent populist right and the
democratic center. Democratic norms long thought to be beyond criticism are
being repudiated by extreme conservatives with increasing popular support.
Right-wing parties with fascist overtones are challenging democratic structures
across Europe.
While Americans might come
together for two weeks to root for our athletes in PyeongChang, after the
Olympics are over, we will return to an angry partisan political confrontation
at home. Negative feelings about the other political party have been growing in
the US for a long time. The proportion of both Democrats and Republicans who
feel “very negatively” about the other party has tripled
since 1994. A majority of voters from both parties believe the policies of
the other party are a threat
to the nation. Most Americans recognize these tensions. Two-thirds of both
Republicans and Democrats say the conflicts between partisans are “very strong”,
a significant
increase over the past 5 years.
It would be wrong to
characterize our division as right versus left: triumphant conservatives in the
wake of Trump’s victory are attacking the American middle. Led by Trump himself
and cheered
on by what used to be a weak and mostly despised right-wing fringe of KKK
fans, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists, conservatives are assailing our
fundamental democratic institutions: a free press, law enforcement, higher
education. A Fox News poll last August showed that two-thirds
of Republican voters believe the news media are a bigger threat to the US
than white supremacists. Most Republicans believe that American universities
have a
negative effect on our country.
Trump’s constant vilification
of our nation’s basic structures and his demonization of anyone who does not
support him contribute to the growing partisan divide, but are not its major
cause. American conservatives have been drifting into opposition to the society
we live in for years. Trump’s labeling Democrats as “un-American” and “treasonous”
for their opposition to his policies merely echoes the name-calling of
prominent conservatives like Ann
Coulter and Alex
Jones, and publications like the National
Review and Breitbart News. Those ideas used to be on the wacky fringe of
American politics, along with Nazi worship and white nationalism. Trump has
brought them into the White House, and he uses his speeches and Twitter account
to push this polarization ever further.
Across
the country, extreme rightists have become louder, more visible, and more
demanding. A report from West Point showed how violent
attacks by the far right have increased since 2000.
America has become a
battleground. Our political leadership deliberately stokes the fires of
partisanship and hatred of all those “others”. Building walls is more important
than building roads.
Olympic nationalism will
temporarily cover up the war among Americans. We can not hope to be a great
nation if we are so divided against ourselves.
Steve Hochstadt
Berlin, Germany
Published in the Jacksonville
Journal-Courier, February 13, 2018
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