The Olympics are on; the world yawns

The Olympics are on, and I'm not watching. I'm typing on a computer keyboard instead. Of course, it is only the winter Olympics.

The Olympics lost their idealistic glow long ago at Munich, when the world discovered that nothing is pure and simple; nothing exists without political influence; international camaraderie has its limits. Much of the pre-games coverage has dealt with the inadequacies of the hotel accommodations for the media and with the threat of terrorism. Few, other than other media personnel, care that much about their hotel accommodations. But the threat of terrorism should concern everyone.

Sochi lies in a strife-torn region, where terrorist groups plot and plan. But where on earth is there not the threat of terrorism? Even the Atlanta Olympics and the patriotic Boston Marathon were marred by a terrorist bombings. Olympic security has been clamp-down tight ever since the Munich tragedy, and every large gathering of people anywhere in the world now must take extreme precautions against terrorism. That is the world we live in. The most serious question this year may be whether any world so battened down for security and so worried about terrorist threats can maintain the Olympic tradition.

Whether terrorists strike at Sochi or not, the question will remain relevant.