Chicago Vs. THE BID

So Obama's in Denmark right now attempting to woo the International Olympic Committee and land the games in his adopted hometown. Despite a little pressure from dark horse candidate Rio de Janeiro, Chicago (with the help of Obama) is slated to win. For the majority of Chicagoans however, this news comes with much trepidation.

With a burgeoning level of debt and already maxed out infrastructure, residents of the Windy City are more nervous than excited for this monumental decision. One of the more visible examples of the stance of local citizens occurred in a local Starbucks. A clever barista set out two tip jars one marked "yes" and one marked "no" and asked customers to weigh in with their tips in regards to the Olympic bid. By the end of the day the "no" jar was overflowing with one's and five's while the "yes" jar contained a mere handful of change.

When it comes to the question of the benefits of hosting the Olympic games, it all depends on the point of view of the one your asking. Is it good for Obama and America? Undoubtedly. An influx of attention and money would surely bolster the flagging American economy as well as give American citizens something to be excited about. Is it good for the Mayor Daley and the long term prospects for the city of Chicago? Probably. This would be Daley's crowning achievement and could cement Chicago's status as a truly international destination. Is it good for the average citizen of Chicago? No way. If Chicago wins the bid, large scale construction will have to begin within months and will not cease for the next SIX years. The loss in productivity will be extremely costly to local businesses and corporations alike.

Additionally, though proponents of the games state otherwise, landing the games has traditionally DECREASED tourism revenues on a whole because no one wants to visit a city that is in the midst of a half decade remodeling. Though tourism revenue spikes sharply around the actual playing of the games, this short lived boon is hardly enough to offset the losses accrued to during the years leading up to the event.

Bottom Line: If the news comes out tomorrow and Chicago wins, expect a good amount of Chicagoans to start thinking about a long term vacation.

Everyone needs to think before they speak.

In the last three weeks there’s been a series of stupid things blurted out in public by various prominent Americans.

First, Joe Wilson yells “you lie” at President Obama during a joint session of Congress. Ridiculous, I know. Isn’t there some sort of procedure to verbally assault the president of The United States of America on live television?

Second, Kanye West drunkenly stumbles on stage during the presentation of “Best Music Video” award to Taylor Swift at the MTV movie awards and slurs out “I'm sorry, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time” C’mon Kanye, this isn’t one of your video girls, treat Taylor with at least a marginal amount of respect.

Third, upon hearing of Kanye’s tirade against Swift, President Barack Obama is heard by ABC news staffers calling Kanye a “Jackass”. Et tu Obama? Your better than that!

Besides being extremely entertaining, these events are all extremely indicative of the times we now live. With the proliferation of information technology and advancement of social networking we now live in a society where real time feedback dominates. Twitter: people transmit there thoughts and feelings on an hourly basis. Blogging: people get a thought in their heads and instantly jump on their computers to tell the world. Literally seconds elapse from thought formation to the proliferation of the information. There’s no second thoughts, no censorship, just information blurted out. Wilson, Kanye and Obama did not think before they spoke. People the world over do not think before they blog.

We as a society need to slow down and think before we say and write things. We cannot afford to blurt out everything that comes to our mind. With that, before I post this, I think I’m gonna sleep on it and make sure this is really what I want the world to read.