Security gaps and safety hazards at sport mass gathering events
Today’s highly developed sports culture has its origin in the ancient world where the term panem et circenses stood symbolically for abandoning attention from political and social problems in favor of silly entertainment to make the mass feel well.
Did we overcome this ancient perception in our modern world?
Jeremy Armstrong and Beth McCloughlin recently published an article in Mirror criticizing the precautionary measures of the Olympic Games in Rio this year. The construction period of this huge spectacle started in 2013. Three years in which eleven (!) people has died — officially.
It’s not just workers who lost their lives due to bad labor conditions while construing massive buildings for the Olympic Games, but also athletes are affected by long-term damages. A new study shows that 40% of former NFL players suffer from brain injuries. Secondary diseases have to be taken seriously!
But in my opinion the most devastating threat in nowadays sport culture is the fear of terrorist attacks. Especially soccer creates a conscience of identity that goes hand in hand with the concept of the nation. Ironically enough, the concept of the nation is often responsible for hatred of foreigners that culminate in an exorbitant sense of nationality. This directly leads to riots between competing fans of the playing teams. As if that weren’t enough, soccer games recently became a popular target of terrorist attacks, especially Paris, France. Isn’t it unjustifiable and irresponsible to realize the EURO 2016 in France when having taken the risk of terrorism into account?
So, did we overcome the ancient perception of panem et circenses in our modern world? Certainly not! Many people all over the world may have the chance to forget about their own problems through organized sport mass events for a while, but one shouldn’t forget about the political strategy behind and one should really keep in mind that the realization and holding of those events not only solve some, but bear various problems for consumers as well as for athletes and workers.
Should we attend or view such sport mass gathering events?
Some would argue that we should affront dangers like potential terror attacks and that we must not be discouraged, but I think, that we shouldn’t support those sport events. Mass sport gathering events are cause and effect of a political strategy. On the one hand those events turn us away from what’s actually going on on earth, on the other hand they create new conflicts.
Should we really accept undesirable working conditions, hazardous risks to health and the disadvantageous threat of terrorism? Is it worth to waste a lot of resources for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022? Who profits from broadcasting Formula One racings and why the hell do we forget about our environment and sustainability way too often?
