Go World?

Posted by Lorren on August 24, 2008

For the last 17 days, I’ve been enjoying the Olympics as much as the next person. I’ve enjoyed watching Shawn Johnson and Nastia Luiken get their golds, felt down when the American relay racers dropped their batons, and cheered on Michael Phelps through his 8 golds. Since I’ve been using Tivo to watch the whole thing, I skip over most of the commercials.

But I’ve been pausing to watch some of the Olympics commercials. I really like the Johnson and Johnson’s commercials, where the athletes thank their moms for taking them to the pool to practice, or athletes play with Johnson and Johnson’s bubble bath in the tub after they work out, but there’s one commercial campaign that I just don’t get. Visa’s “Go World” campaign.

I do like some of the commercials. It was cool seeing Kerri Strug make her vault with one good ankle again, and I’m not even sure if I remember the Olympics where the runner falls and his dad helps him finish the race, but it was cool seeing that moment again too. It’s just the whole “Go World” nonsense that bothers me.

I’m an American. I root for the United States first. And if the US isn’t competing, I’ll root for someone else. Sometimes I’ll root for Australia, because I just love their country so much and if I ever had to leave the US, that’s probably where I’d be headed. I rooted for the guy from Togo who got the first medal ever for his country in white river kayaking. I never even knew there was a country of Togo until he was competing… at first I thought they were talking about Tonga (I used to go to school with someone related to the king of Tonga). I’ll root for the amputee swimming in the open water swim…

But Go World?

I think that it’s only natural to want a little friendly competition. I want the US to win. No, I don’t want plantar’s warts to grow on the feet of the Chinese, or for anybody to get hurt, or even for the Americans to cheat to win. I want everybody to do their best, but I’ve been cheering loudest when my country wins.

Competition, when you compete without cheating, is good for us. It helps people become better. All those kids entering their senior year trying to get all A’s competing for valedictorian… it’s good for them. They study harder because they want to win. The kids spending hours upon hours studying for the spelling bee… they learn to spell better because they are competing. The Olympic athletes… they are healthier because they practice hard because they are competing. We watch them and are inspired by their efforts.

Not all countries are created equal. I’m sure that the athletes are very nice people, but Iran has a terrible dictator for a leader. Same with North Korea. I’m not rooting for them to lead the medal count. Go USA!