Olympic Opening Ceremonies and the Death Throes of a Civilization
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Photo Credit: Issam Rimawi/Flash90
I don’t think I was the only American weirded out on Friday by the bizarre “dancing nurses” segment at the opening ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics. There were lots of children wriggling in hospital beds, and seemingly hundreds of nurses prancing around dressed in the garments of yesteryear. It wasn’t clear what the artist was trying to say – and then the letters “NHS” burst out in glittering lights on the field.
Oh. This is about the National Health Service.
[Pause.]
????????????
That realization was paired in my mind with the International Olympic Committee’s refusal to commemorate the 11 Israeli athletes killed by Yasser Arafat’s terrorists in Munich in 1972. The IOC’s position is that it doesn’t want to “politicize” the games.
That position doesn’t hold up so well considering that 9/11 was commemorated at the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. In 1996, at the Summer Games in Atlanta, the IOC had a moment of silence at the closing ceremony for the victims of the Olympic Park bombing.
In 2010, at the Winter Games in Vancouver, there was a moment of silence during the opening ceremony for Georgian athlete Nodar Kumartashvili, who had died in an accident on a practice run just before the games began.
So in recent years, the Olympic authorities have commemorated the death of an Olympic athlete and the deaths of others in terrorist attacks, with a moment of silence each time in an opening or closing ceremony. And guess what? Last night, in the Olympic stadium, the victims of the 7/7 terrorist bombings in the London subway in 2005 were commemorated as part of the opening ceremony. Granted, it was hard to catch; a photo montage was projected into the stadium during a lull in the prancing and acrobatics, but there was little narration to call it out. I didn’t even notice it, and had to be told about it afterward by others who had seen it.
It is jarring to think of passing references being made to the victims of terrorism, sort of as part of the entertainment, during an event-palooza dedicated to performance and revelry. The reason we usually have authorities solemnly asking for a moment of silence, at a carefully separated, showcased point in the proceedings, is that that’s what is appropriate for commemorating tragedy and sorrow.
But it was clearly important to the British planners to mention their dead from the 2005 terror attack in the opening ceremony. So they did it. For forty years, including this Olympics, no one has incorporated a commemoration of the 11 murdered Israeli athletes into an official Olympic ceremony. Yet Olympic authorities have been assiduous about commemorating others. Their relentless, determined failure to commemorate the Israelis in the same way is a failure to acknowledge the common humanity of Israeli Jews.
The opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympic Games couldn’t have been more stuffed with politics if it had been a bell pepper. The Republic of Taiwan was required to march as “Chinese Taipei,” although of course that is not what the Taiwanese call their nation. There is no nation of Palestine, yet athletes walked under a “Palestinian” flag and were announced as “Palestine.” The “quirky” performance segment of the ceremony involved numerous references to political events in the history of Great Britain, including, of course, the paroxysm of pagan worship, complete with cavorting women, for the National Health Service. It was a really, really political night; if a commemoration for the murdered Israeli athletes might have been “political,” that would only have guaranteed that it would fit right in.
Watching the ceremony last night, I had a profound sense of sadness for the hollow revelry. There was no dignified memorializing of the greatness, uniqueness, and courage of Britain’s past. There was “irreverent, idiosyncratic” entertainment, and a very long segment of writhing self-abasement before the shibboleth of socialized medicine.
We seemed to be looking last night at a moment frozen in time before a great upheaval, like the last days of lingering sunlight before World War I. A civilization based on entertainment and ritual political worship is headed for a fall. But then, a civilization that singles out some humans, like Israeli Jews, to show less care for – less solidarity with – is a weak and unsustainable one. Nothing else will go right with it.
tell a friendAbout the Author: J.E. Dyer is a retired US Naval intelligence officer who served around the world, afloat and ashore, from 1983 to 2004.
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The International Olympic Committee’s refusal to commemorate the 11 Israeli athletes killed by terrorists in Munich in 1972 because the IOC doesn’t want to “politicize” the games doesn't stand up to its actions.
Ellen there were tribute cereomonies honoring the Israeli Athletes although not part of the official ceromonies. Some people are NOT cowards and don't bow to the current PC far left attitdues about Israel. http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2012/07/french-swimmer-stuns-olympic-games-with-a-silent-tattoo.html Also: http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2012/07/french-swimmer-stuns-olympic-games-with-a-silent-tattoo.html
Sorry, I posted the same link twice. Here's the other one I meant to post. The Italian Olympic team held a moment of Silence for the murdered Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics.http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/07/italian-olympic-team-holds-moment-of-silence-for-israeli-victims-of-munich-massacre/
Sir, stop living in your past. There is a reason we are "TRYING" to evolve into more civilized humans.
Who will pay your tuition fees for York? So far, the Jews and Christians built that school. Where in the Koran are civiilized beings? The ones that marry nine year old girls? The ones that stone woman for 'looking' at a man? The ones that go to heaven for killing non-believers? Bring it on my dear, you too will wear a Burkah if you support Sharia law and you too will be a slave unto your husband.
This by far the silliest thing I have read here in recent months. I can only say…"you first…lol"
There are numerous discussions in the Talmud about nine year olds — or younger — getting married off by their fathers, with no choice on the part of the girl. It is explicitly permitted by the Torah. Furthermore, the Torah itself contains narratives where entire populations of non-believers are killed.
Fortunately we don't do any of that any more. Most Muslims don't want to, either.
I truly believe that WAS the Queen jumping out of the helicopter. I also believe that Olympic politics are clean, and that a second Obama administration will be even better than the first.
Dujani…do you honestly believe we ought not remember our past? Further, if this is civilized, I for one want to be 'un-civilized' and I completely understand where you are coming from…you obviously believe in 'evolvution'! Thanks, not a chance. But, God bless you dear.
Absolutely agree…
So true..I won't watch anything to do with this corrupt organisation.
"But then, a civilization that singles out some humans, like Israeli Jews, to show less care for – less solidarity with – is a weak and unsustainable one. "
I agree. And ironically it is the UK's National Health Service, along with a somewhat different health system in Israel, that are some of the best examples of a society caring about all of its citizens, not allowing only the well to do to have access to health care.
Unfortunately, most of the Republican Party in the US wants to keep the US in such a week and unsustainable condition.
Many have proclaimed the death of nations and civilizations. Back in 1967, the Broadway musical "Hair" proclaimed the US to be a "dying nation" thanks to the Vietnam war. I suspect that this essay will be as accurate as the authors of "Hair".
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