"Olympics safety demonstration video removal" bingo

[Mgjdubs]

Another armchair expert?...

I thought there were some amazing performances on both teams. Just because the general public of the second fattest nation on earth didn't get enough gold to feel good about kicking back on their sofas doesn't make the team a joke.

Slightly OT. I should be clear, I didn't mean to infer that the team were a joke. But I think it has been well documented by experts in the sporting field that in fact, the performance of the team as whole did not meet expectations. I think it was the Chef de Mission who said that he had very real expectations of Australia sitting at number 5 on the medal table from the outset. The general public's expectations were only really in line with the attitudes of the athletes (refer James Magnussen or Steve Hooker's pre-performance interviews as examples).

So that being said, I don't think it's unreasonable for people to be disappointed by the result. If you're going to put yourself in the public eye, as some of these athletes have done, you should expect the criticism of the "general public of the second fattest nation on Earth". Just as a CEO of a company caught up in the business story du jour, or a politician should expect the criticism of people who clearly aren't qualified to do their jobs (on either count) to spread their views around. You might argue that people on this very forum, who aren't necessarily qualified to fill the role of CEO (or any other management role) at Qantas, sit around judging Alan Joyce or Qantas management from the comfort of their 'armchair' or 'J class seat'.

So in response to your condescending and facetious remark "another armchair expert", yes, I will sit in the comfort of my Poltrona Frau armchair and judge away, particularly considering those athletes are funded by the public purse; the purse of which I am obliged to contribute circa 48% of my annual income to (granted, not incurred by regular employment) under the current taxation framework.

As an aside, and to be fair, not all of their performances were bad. I'll cop that one on the chin.

 

[medhead]

That's all well and good. However, you took aim at a line about many inspiring performances. The facts are that line does not specify which performances/athletes were inspiring and there were many inspiring performances. (even if they weren't in the sports of your preference). So, on the topic of the video, criticism of the video on that basis is invalid, IMO.

BTW given Steve Hooker's recent performances and known issues over the last couple of years, I can't imagine why anyone would have expected a gold medal. That being said his performance was outstanding considering everything he has been through.


Sent from the Throne

 

[Mgjdubs]

That's all well and good. However, you took aim at a line about many inspiring performances. The facts are that line does not specify which performances/athletes were inspiring and there were many inspiring performances. (even if they weren't in the sports of your preference). So, on the topic of the video, criticism of the video on that basis is invalid, IMO.

BTW given Steve Hooker's recent performances and known issues over the last couple of years, I can't imagine why anyone would have expected a gold medal. That being said his performance was outstanding considering everything he has been through.


Sent from the Throne

I invite you to point out in which statement I said that there were categorically NO inspirational performances made by the Olympic team. Perhaps I should have been clearer, but I meant to say that, in general, across the entire team, it wasn't really what I call inspiring. Note that this is my opinion.

And while we're debating semantics, it could be argued that 'inspiration' is by definition a stimulus which encourages a particular receiver to act on something, or to feel a certain way. This would mean that 'inspiration' is entirely subjective. So because I feel that saying the performance of the WHOLE team was inspirational, does not mean my argument is invalid. Under this logic, to be sure, I put it to you, Medhead, that your conjecture is entirely invalid.

 

[medhead]

I invite you to point out in which statement I said that there were categorically NO inspirational performances made by the Olympic team.

That's easy. You said that claiming the team performance was inspirational is a joke. That means there was nothing to inspire you in the whole team performance. You then went to qualify that by reference to expectations of performance. Specifically other people expectations, not just your expectations. So your comments don't seem to be based solely on your subjective view. You also focused on expectations for 2 particular athletes, which is not a comment about the whole team. Frankly the lack of gold medals for 2 people is not a valid basis for assessing the performance of the whole team.

What is significant, once you get past 2 people, is the large number of Australians who did place very highly, often in the top 8, across all the events in which they participated. For a team from a country the population of Australia to do that is inspirational.

When that guy said something about the "we brought our olympians home after an inspiring performance in London". What a joke (re: the olympic team), although the paralympians are ALWAYS inspiring, always, always, always.

Slightly OT. I should be clear, I didn't mean to infer that the team were a joke. But I think it has been well documented by experts in the sporting field that in fact, the performance of the team as whole did not meet expectations.

The bolded bit above doesn't read like it's your subjective view of the performance. More likely your response to the expert view of the teams performance.

Sent from the Throne

 

[Mgjdubs]

That's easy. You said that claiming the team performance was inspirational is a joke. That means there was nothing to inspire you in the whole team performance. You then went to qualify that by reference to expectations of performance. Specifically other people expectations, not just your expectations. So your comments don't seem to be based solely on your subjective view. You also focused on expectations for 2 particular athletes, which is not a comment about the whole team. Frankly the lack of gold medals for 2 people is not a valid basis for assessing the performance of the whole team.

What is significant, once you get past 2 people, is the large number of Australians who did place very highly, often in the top 8, across all the events in which they participated. For a team from a country the population of Australia to do that is inspirational.

The bolded bit above doesn't read like it's your subjective view of the performance. More likely your response to the expert view of the teams performance.

Sent from the Throne

Are you serious? Did I not just say THAT THIS WAS MY OPINION. For the record, and in case you didn't understand the last time I said it, the performance OF THE TEAM AS A WHOLE was not what I would refer to as inspiring - that is my opinion. You don't have to like it. Just because this does not fall in line with your own perception or stand point does not mean it is invalid. The fact that you may disagree with my perception is duly noted. The fact that you say that there were a number of people placed within the top 8 isn't to say that's everyone measure of inspirational (I'll take your word for it, I can't really be bothered to go and quantify this information because I have better things to do). Impressive? Definitely. Do they have my respect for being that committed to something? Absolutely. But inspirational? Not so much for me.

Saying that the opinions of experts cannot shape your expectations or perceptions is, in my opinion, a little bit misguided. Why shouldn't I have faith in the opinions and expectations of people who are such influential stakeholders in the field? Why wouldn't that faith in those opinions, perceptions and expectations shape my own? I don't believe that line of argument is rational.

I am absolutely done with this. There is no way that this will ever contribute anything worthwhile to the other users of this forum. We could go back and forth for an indefinite amount of time and irritate the moderators because it's totally off topic and irritate everyone else. I note and respect your opinion that it was an inspirational performance by all. I am sorry if I have made you feel otherwise. But I don't agree, and the fact that it was included in a Qantas safety video, of all things, is to me, a bit of a joke.

I hope there's no hard feelings here, and if I've offended you, I apologise quite sincerely.

 

[userlame]

I'd rather they'd spent our Olympic budget on a new airport for Sydney.

 

[Cassiel]

I think they changed the safety demonstration video yesterday. I must have copped one of the last screenings on the way up to sydney and QF497 back had the olympians and paralympians replaced with the cricketers. So i guess we get pup and punter until March now.

 

[jdp]

Saw the cricket one tonight - worst safety video yet. The preamble goes on and on before they get to the point and it's just cringe-worthy to watch.

I'm going to stop politely paying attention now.

Qantas - this is embarrassing. What's next - retired politicians?

(Actually I'd probably watch a Paul Keating and Bob Hawke safety video).

 

[eastwest101]

Must..fly wins (I think) with their prediction of 1st Sept, my 31st Dec was a bit pessimistic, everyone else was arguing about the performance of our team - whom would have thought an AFF thread going OT?:shock:

 

[medhead]

The video must be on a progressive roll out as someone was complaining about it on the Qantas FB page earlier this week.

I hope there's no hard feelings here, and if I've offended you, I apologise quite sincerely.

the only hard feeling is that you seem to have ignored the bit where I outline how you are expressing your opinion of the experts opinion of the performance. But then you confirm that is the case anyway, so no, no hard feelings.

Personally the olymupics has only confirmed my long held position of ignoring the commentators and making my own assessment of the performance.


Sent from the Throne

 

[Platinum A332]

Saw the cricket one tonight - worst safety video yet. The preamble goes on and on before they get to the point and it's just cringe-worthy to watch.

I'm going to stop politely paying attention now.

Qantas - this is embarrassing. What's next - retired politicians?

(Actually I'd probably watch a Paul Keating and Bob Hawke safety video).

My money is on Julia Gillard in the next safety video.

 

[markis10]

My money is on Julia Gillard in the next safety video.

In the event of a cabin evacuation, you should move forward together!

Julia Gillard's Moving Forward Remix - YouTube

 

[drron]

QF505 this morning still had the Olympians.