Do you like watching the Paralympics?

[OhEsEcks]

there's still the argument about him not getting cramp or injuries to the lower part of his legs which able bodied athletes have to endure and ask if that is fair.

There's also the amount of energy that is expended just to stay upright on prosthetics. Never mind the forces exerted on the amputated limb where it fits to the prosthetic and how that load bearing is distributed across the stump. I imagine the blades give him an advantage, but when you take into account all that he's at a disadvantage with by not having a physically attached limb and all the musculature and skeletal requirements for the most efficient use....

Now if he had a prosthetic which was bonded/moulded into where the bone was cut giving him back his skeleton and hydraulics and motors to replace the functions of muscles, tendons and joints. That would be a different story.

 

[StriderX]

Watching the wheelchair racers crash is always amusing, but other than that. No.

Watching athletics (and all the other stuff) is about watching what the human body can do when pushed to its very limits. Watching the disabled mob feels like a some sort of right on moral duty, hence why I avoid it like the plague

Iron man world championship is more pushy.

 

['Harry]

Yes.

They have the right to compete, and I fully appreciate the effort they put in.

 

[Richdog]

So you started this on the knowledge it would never be a discussion? Were you looking at an opportunity to derail it when your own beliefs in your OP were questioned? Seems a bizarrely defeatist attitude to have...

Where did I even remotely say that I did not expect discussion? Of course I expected it, i've been using forums for a good while now. You do talk a load of rubbish, pseudo old chap, and signing every post with your name a smiley doesn't change that.

Considering its you that have such 'natural' hang ups, perhaps it might be easier to look into your own upbringing than anything evolutionary. We play sports to be at our physical prime, whatever that means, I just dont think its evolutionary to find such things distasteful as you imply...

Far more an issue within yourself than anything to do with the general human psyche - otherwise why would we have the Paralympics in the first place if that view was innate in all of us?

My upbringing was fine, I went to school and university with disabled people (wheelchair bound, not mutilated)... never a problem for me That you even raise that issue is frankly amusing.

If you can't understand how seeing someone severely disabled or mutilated can inherently be psychologically discomforting to some people, then you clearly lack a grasp of the fundamentals. I'm not saying anything about thinking less of anyone with a disability, i'm just talking about the emotional and in some cases physical (if extreme enough) response that seeing an extreme disability can bring.

 

[estebanrey]

Hardly, it can also be seen as the time when science and technology bridges the gap.

Some day all Paralympians will be equalled to Olympians, i think it would quite a nice day, really is no need for pessimism.

Eh? It's nothing to do with pessimism, I said earlier the winner of the Paralympic 100m deserves the same amount of respect and plaudits as the winner of the 100m men's able bodied race.

Which is why I don't understand why he isn't content with being the best Paralympic runner.

 

[Yaayuh!]

Yes.

They have the right to compete, and I fully appreciate the effort they put in.

This!

And i'm always up for a laugh.

 

[Rameses]

The problem is at your end.

Indeed.

If you feel awkward or uncomfortable about watching it, then don't, but don't assume finding others who feel the same somehow validates your uncomfortable feelings about it, as Magnolia rightly put, the problem is not the Paralympics but simply you.

 

[StriderX]

Eh? It's nothing to do with pessimism, I said earlier the winner of the Paralympic 100m deserves the same amount of respect and plaudits as the winner of the 100m men's able bodied race.

Which is why I don't understand why he isn't content with being the best Paralympic runner.

Perhaps because he wants to be deemed as "normal", considering its mindset that happens to be quite prevalent, i don't see how Paralympians would be excluded from its tendencies.

Hell anyone who used to have limbs or eyesight or whatever, will always try to regain their past usefulness, after all why not just not get prosthetics if you were content being limbless?

Another thing is that when there are two groups, one is always going to take precedence (the first one to exist more or less) over the other and maybe this person just wants the same attention.

Society is a fickle business.

 

[Richdog]

Which is why I don't understand why he isn't content with being the best Paralympic runner.

I guess running in the regular olympics also brings much greater fame and fortune in your career than the Paralympics.

 

[ps3ud0]

Where did I even remotely say that I did not expect discussion? Of course I expected it, i've been using forums for a good while now. You do talk a load of rubbish, pseudo old chap, and signing every post with your name a smiley doesn't change that.

My upbringing was fine, I went to school and university with disabled people... never a problem. That you even raise that issue is frankly amusing.

I see your ego doesnt allow you to see past a point without feeling its a personal attack. You questioned if your reaction is anything to with evolution, my conjecture is that its not and its far more close to home. I think its a valid point, amusement or not, that perhaps you need to investigate more before assuming its an external force...

I dont need to know about your life. I dont fancy you and Im disgusted by the thought (its evolutionary Im afraid, all about identifying poor genes )

If you can't understand how seeing someone severely disabled or mutilated can inherently be psychologically discomforting, then you clearly lack a grasp of the fundamentals. I'm not saying anything about thinking less of anyone with a disability, i'm just talking about the emotional response that seeing an extreme disability can bring.

When its put in the context of the Paralympics as youve packaged it, then no

ps3ud0

 

[cu3ed]

If you have a problem watching it, its jsut your not used to view disabled people in general, kinda normal to feel that way, I bet if you watched the Para Olympics intently you would feel a lot more comfortable about watching them by the end of it.?

Personally theirs something amazing about watching how the body can adapt so radically to any given situation.

As great as the C4 ad campaign his given it, I still think the Canadian one champs it..much in the same vain, but all done in a single take etc.

 

[Nexus]

I found the Channel 4 Paralympics advert to be more inspiring than anything to do with the Olympics. It's just a cool video + good music,

I'm not in any way disabled, but I almost see their achievements as greater than able bodied athletes... and can definitely see them as being more inspiring to disabled people than able bodied athletes are to anyone.

I agree.

Obviously companies have spent millions on their Olympic tie-in advertising and I think Channel 4's above advert for the Paralympics is the best one out there and its not even for the able-bodied Olympics.

I don't usually watch too much of the Paralympics but Channel 4 has been doing such a good job of introducing all the sports and the athletes that I will certainly be watching. Not to mention, we also look to have a great team with a number of injured servicemen making up that roster.

I think Paralympic Athletes really deserve the respect because of how much effort it takes to overcome their disability to train and compete.

 

[cm1179]

lol @ the obvious fact that the OP needed to create this topic to try and console himself with the fact that others may agree with this strange view.

 

[Richdog]

lol @ the obvious fact that the OP needed to create this topic to try and console himself with the fact that others may agree with this strange view.

I don't need to console myself with anything (that would indicate I feel guilty or bad about something, no?), I was just curious as to what others felt. Nice try though.

 

[Collider]

I think its a bit odd to have a problem with watching that sort of sporting event because it is not one event. There are loads of different sports and the achievement in some of them is as good if not better than in able bodied sports. I don't imagine many able bodied riders can do what Lee Pearson does, for example.

I wonder what people who have a problem with it or find it funny are really laughing at or having a problem with? What is 'normal' the guy who wins a gold medal with artificial legs or the guy on the sofa laughing at him?

 

[Hitman_Leon]

A collection of opinion from both sides and some bordering on harsh criticism, some gushing praise.

Disabled sport is not about anything other than the same principles that drive able bodied people to take part and compete, drive to better one's self and enjoy the sport.

It's a terrible thing to envy the way people can walk without any support or aid because envying something so natural is a natural but stressful by-product of disability.

So doing away with the envy the disabled person instead competes at their own level with others of similar physical characteristics. This in-turn creates admiration from some non disabled which further negates any feelings of inferiority on a physical front that the disabled person may have had. The real kicker to hear from an able bodied person is "I don't know how you can do this, I would not be able to carry on", that makes sport and everything a disabled person fights to achieve worth something more because it tells them they have heart and tenacity.

In the end though the most important thing is simply the sport.

 

[Hitman_Leon]

As for the Olympics in general aside from the rowing and cycling; I don't particularly enjoy any of the events of the summer games, able or disabled.

Winter Olympics for me.

 

[Aedus]

The limbless swimmer was hard to watch

Was his name Bob?

 

[Squark]

I feel somewhat squeamish watching paralympic events, especially events with amputees.

I really don't know why and I don't think I should feel that way, but at the minute I do.

I do have a great respect and admiration for the competitors though, overcoming their physical adversity in order to compete to be the best.

 

[mmj_uk]

I sometimes watch it but I think it is stupid when you have someone with a minor disability smashing records and destroying the others who have severe disabilities.

If it gives disabled people hope and something to look forward to though I'm not going to protest against it.