One would think that hosting the Olympics would be a happy occasion. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case.


The reasons for this vary, but for the most part, citizens of the areas hosting the Olympics are generally unhappy with just how much being the home of the games costs — and just how little they get in return.


“Each of the past five Summer Olympics and both of the most recent Winter Games have resulted in total costs for the host cities of over $10 billion with the 2008 Beijing Summer Games exceeding $45 billion in total costs and the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics topping $50 billion,” notes the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs.


“The 2016 Summer Games in Rio, which cost the governments and organizers in Brazil at least $13 billion, generated at most $9 billion in revenue, much of which was kept by the IOC and was therefore unable to be used to defray the expenses associated with hosting,” the authors add.


And if you thought that the cities may benefit from tourist dollars, well, think again. Studies have found the tourism income increase to be modest to nonexistent — and in some cases, tourism actually goes down, as people avoid the country hosting the games so they don’t have to deal with traffic and inflated prices.


Given this, it’s no surprise that some protest the games coming to their home country. For example, in France, people plan to protest the upcoming games by pooping in the river.




Why this specific form of protest? According to Screenshot Media, France has done a big PR push in recent months to show just how clean they’ve made the Seine river. To prove this point, French President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced that they would be swimming in the river — hence, people now want to poop in the river. It’s simple, really.




Will they actually do it? Who’s to say, though if there’s anyone I trust to shit all over something, it’s the French. And if you’re interested in participating, the plan has its own website, complete with a countdown timer and a statement proclaiming, “Because after putting us in shit it’s up to them to bathe in our shit.”


Well said.