Response to ‘’Fool’s gold’’ by Cristopher Hitchens.
Christopher Hitchens is wrong in his article Fool’s Gold where he attacked strongly international sports events and the passion that people had for sports. Writing a pamphlet against sports with such unfairness is revolting. Hitchens did not notice any good effects of sports in his article. He focused only on the negative sports events to argue that it “bring out the worst in human nature” (below the title), and is entertaining people from more important subjects such as global warming, economical crisis, and wars.
Hitchens begins by giving the example of “the bus carrying the national soccer team of Togo” (Paragraph 1) that has been shot by rebels in Angola, killing three people, to show how violent can sports events be. He also gave the example of the soccer game between Egypt and Algeria (members of the Arab League) “that led to a widespread violence, and diplomatic quarrel” (Paragraph 8). In fact, he insists on the negative effects that international competition can have on two countries that have always been in peace.
Cristopher Hitchens mentioned the example of the winter Olympics in Vancouver when Canadian officials refused to let athletes of the others nations to ski on the mountain where the competition would occur. In order to let their athletes have the best of it. The author quoted the Canadian chief athletic officer Max Gartner who claimed that “We’re the only country to host two Olympic Games (Montreal in 1976, and Calgary in 1988) and never won a gold medal at our Games” (Paragraph 4). This example shows what people are able to do to satisfy their hunger for victory, resulting from “a lack of sportsmanship” (Paragraph 5). The author attacked the passion that people have for sports and all the attention that sponsorships and newspapers have for it. Hitchens is against its high marketing level and its strong presence in newspapers during time of crisis. He claims that it entertains people from