7 responses so far ↓

• 1 Patricia Nell Warren // Mar 1, 2010 at 2:50 am

  The logo was actually meant to refer to an inukshuk that was given to the city of Vancouver and has become emblematic of the city. And that one does have two legs.

  But the logo has been widely controversial, almost from the beginning, with the comments by Peter Imiq being only part of the problem. Canadian artists, some of whom participated in the design contest for the logo, comment on a Canadian Design Resource page that gives different angles of the controversy

  http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.canadiandesignresource.ca/officialgallery/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/van_2010_logo.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.canadiandesignresource.ca/officialgallery/logo/2010-winter-olympic-logo-ilaanaq/&h=365&w=410&sz=38&tbnid=SisjLylbYOchuM:&tbnh=111&tbnw=125&prev=/images%3Fq%3DCanada%2BOlympic%2Blogo&hl=en&usg=__bad9IkS7SHke4LFGv19oW3R2q5A=&ei=vW2LS_OFEYSqtgPljJ2oAQ&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=9&ct=image&ved=0CCYQ9QEwCA

  As one designer put it, these traditional stacks of rocks represent Arctic native culture, not the native cultures of British Columbia or the Vancouver area. She pointed out that a totem pole would have been more representative of the Vancouver area — especially given the fact that the Olympic organizing committee went to such trouble to include the tribes native to that region.

• 2 Madeleine // Mar 1, 2010 at 3:03 am

  Wow, you really do like stirring up shit. Mark of a great journalist.

• 3 Kirk // Mar 1, 2010 at 8:55 am

  I actually found it interesting and also not offensive that Cyd chose to link to another site’s story on possible interpretations of the logo. It’s really a story about co-opting another culture’s symbols without taking the time to learn what they really mean. Kind of like when dudes get kanji tattoos that they think mean one thing but really need another.

  There’s also nothing wrong with journalists or others “stirring up shit.” Where would, for an example off the top of my head, gay activism be without people stirring things up? And without activists’ friends in the media raising the issue further? Happy stories are good, too, but informative ones that have us take a look at another culture that may be getting taken a bit for granted are also interesting.

• 4 Madeleine // Mar 1, 2010 at 11:12 am

  I think posting an article criticising the Olympic logo one day after the games seems rude. One expert opinion is not enough to convince me this symbol means something else. I think it’s an interesting topic to open up, but I found this article to be like others Cyd has posted that seem to just put something controversial out there to get an emotional response from people. Well, you got one from me, so congratulations. It seems to be just about provoking people, whether it be criticising the logo, mocking the Canadian “Own the Podium” campaign, calling an article “Lame closing ceremonies” before one has actually watched them just to get people to comment.

• 5 Cyd Zeigler jr. // Mar 1, 2010 at 12:41 pm

  Madeleine, give me a break. If I’d found it two weeks ago, I would have posted it then. My partner sent it to me yesterday and I posted it. You’re being waaaaaaay too sensitive here.

  And Jim’s “Lame closing ceremonies” title was just a goof, as he said in the first paragraph of his post!

  BTW, I looked at your blog and I think you’re awesome!!!!! Our “podium” and “ceremonies” posts on here were all in good fun. We love Canada and Canadians - but we also have opinions and, like good columnists, we’re not afraid to share them (even if we do so from time to time in hyperbole).

• 6 Madeleine // Mar 1, 2010 at 1:01 pm

  Well thanks for the compliment, and I guess I am being a little emotional. There were just a number of things on the site recently that hit a nerve, so lets just say it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

• 7 Russell // Mar 5, 2010 at 2:53 am

  I’m actually half Ojibway Indian (other half Seneca) and I know the exact meaning of an Inukshuk.

  Inukshuks were placed in the arctic as guideposts to Native settlements to keep their hunters from getting turned around and lost (white snow against a white sky can be very disorienting, especially in a storm). They were basically a way of saying, “There’s a warm bed to sleep in this way.”

  Anything else you hear or have had collected are just romanticisms gathered over the centuries. I thought it was a very appropriate symbol for the games.

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