Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Olympic spot


Female Chinese diver He Zi won a silver in the women’s 3-meter springboard at Rio but what brought the tears was what happened afterwards. Boyfriend and fellow Chinese diver Qin Kai approached her, got down on one knee and proposed, flashing a ring as he did so. She gave him the nod for a yes.

A real aww moment, one would think, but I wonder.

Public wedding proposals have always disturbed me, whether they be at a basketball match, the Olympics or wherever.  Youtube abounds with such moments, including a few where the answer was "No."

Apart from my feeling that such a moment, intensely personal, should be private and not turned into a public spectacle, it also smacks of controlling behaviour. Does the proposer feel that asking before the eyes of the world aids his chances of a yes? Does the proposee feel pressure to say yes because she does not want to humiliate the proposer before perhaps billions? Or does she say yes for the cameras and later quietly call it off?

If I had won silver at the Olympics and my gf took away my moment by proposing in front of the cameras, I would be less than ecstatic.

What do others think?




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