Triathlon in the Postmodern Era

Long time ago we began speaking of the Postmodern Era, it is impossible to give a date when it started, but the transition from Modern Era is slowed and we have seen it mature over the years.  I even gave a Grand Rounds Conference at SUNY Syracuse (1993) titled: “Medicine in the Postmodern Era.” I like what Umberto Eco wrote about it in “Apostille au nom de la rose.”

“I think of the postmodern attitude as that of a man who loves a very cultivated woman and knows that he cannot say to her "I love you madly", because he knows that she knows (and that she knows he knows) that these words have already been written by Barbara Cartland. Still there is a solution. He can say "As Barbara Cartland would put it, I love you madly". At this point, having avoided false innocence, having said clearly it is no longer possible to talk innocently, he will nevertheless say what he wanted to say to the woman: that he loves her in an age of lost innocence.”

“Thus I rediscovered what writers have always known (and have told us again and again): books always speak of other books, and every story tells a story that has already been told.” ...

“The fine thing about pacts with the devil is that when you sign them you are well aware of their conditions. Otherwise, why would you be recompensed with hell?”

The Jewish said: 
“What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.”

Trump is the metaphor of Nero:

History has blamed Nero for the disaster, implying that he started the fire so that he could bypass the senate and rebuild Rome to his liking. Much of what is known about the great fire of Rome comes from the aristocrat and historian Tacitus, who claimed that Nero watched Rome burn while merrily playing his fiddle. Gangs of thugs prevented citizens from fighting the fire with threats of torture, Tacitus wrote. There is some support for the theory that Nero leveled the city on purpose: the Domus Aurea, Nero’s majestic series of villas and pavilions set upon a landscaped park and a man-made lake, was built in the wake of the fire.

“It would have been seen as very inappropriate on the part of the elite in Rome,” says art historian Eric Varner. “They would have been happy if Nero had built the Domus Aurea out in the country, but to do it here in the city really was an extraordinary kind of statement.”

Tacitus was a member of this Roman elite, and whether there is a bias in his writing is difficult to know. Indeed, Tacitus was still a boy at the time of the fire, and he would have been a young teenager in 68 A.D., when Nero died. Nero himself blamed the fire on an obscure new Jewish religious sect called the Christians, whom he indiscriminately and mercilessly crucified. During gladiator matches he would feed Christians to lions, and he often lit his garden parties with the burning carcasses of Christian human torches. Yet there is evidence that, in 64 A.D., many Roman Christians believed in prophecies predicting that Rome would soon be destroyed by fire. Perhaps the fire was set off by someone hoping to make the prediction come true.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/great-fire-rome-background/1446/

Tacitus did not have internet as a rival, so Nero’s Fake News were not available.  But let see how triathlon lives this postmodern reality full of “fake news” and people willing to believe them eagerly.  How to say things without innocence not using “fake news” is our task.  Trump banned CDC from saying evidence-based or science-based to introduce his “fake news” regarding global warming and other “fake” statements; the same for our governing bodies ruling our sports that do not read scientific journals and continue with same “neronian” politics.  Who would believe that the IOC did not know about the Russian doping? Or the bribes to get the Olympics.  ITU knows about the behavior of the FMTRI selecting international competitors and says nothing about it (see Marcas Mínimas in this blog).  From what I was informed some other Federations have followed the same behavior as the Mexican Federation.  Some members of the ITU were informed to get help from them but complaints were not understood and the behavior from Federations was not a problem (it is like Hollywood regarding sexual harrasment)

To relate our statements to the purpose of our blog, that it is in no way “bitching” about things, lets see triathlon coaching. Toni Minichiello said what we have to say (see previous post):

Remember, effective coaching is about three things; process, environment and relationships. The current award doesn’t even come close on part one; process. They are simply no-where near providing coaches with enough information. Currently it’s like strapping someone into a car for the first time, pointing out the pedals, gear stick and steering wheel before firing up the ignition and leaving them to figure it out. It’s beyond irresponsible. A comprehensive understanding of technical process should be a fundamental foundation stone for any coaching qualification”…

“Where do you start trying to fix it?”

“Understanding. Education. Like everything in life. Governing bodies need to strive to understand what effective coaching is and what it can achieve whilst many coaches, who’ve come through the current system, also need to take a look at themselves”.