LONDON OLYMPICS OPENING: FILTH, NIGHTMARES, SICKNESS, STENCH

              (from letters to blog)
To Chris,

     I most liked the Bj and the Shanghai Special Olympics for massive, coordinated music and activities.  Both were spectacular.  The Barcelona one is more difficult to recall, but I think it occurred during the day; it was brighter, tho I do not remember much.  The London one, OK the importance of children's literature, the Mary Poppins, etc.  OK.  True, the industrial revolution may have begun in Britain, but do you need to include the stench of the industry?  I assumed the smokestacks would transform into cannon for WWI.  I just felt it missed something.  And the music, BORING.  The only exception was the finale, with McCartney singing "Hey Jude" and getting the athletes involved.  It was a simple song, one where many knew the lyrics, and many could sway and sing.

      On the bright side, there were no terror attacks.  And it did not rain.  The lighted boat with Beckham reminded me of boats on the river in Shanghai. 
      And some of the dance routines!  Ok some people are fat, ugly, and crippled.  Yet, in a setting that glorifies the body - strength, endurance, training - why not have pretty dancers?  Some of the gals dancing made me look skinny.  "Stronger, faster, higher" was once a motto of the games.  These are never enough to live by - some disabled people are terrific, some fat folks are wonderful, some ugly people are great - but in the festival that glorifies the body, why not have dancers who are more attractive?  And then why spotlight the ugliness of the industrial revolution?  Show how it improved life.  Made things easier.  Reduced the mortality rate, the number of deaths in childbirth.  Instead the London opening highlighted Nightmares.  Ugliness.  Sickness (and the National Health Service)?!  And political correctness ruined even the historical aspects of the program.  In the 19^th century the vast majority of those in the UK were white people.  How many high-hatted Blacks or Asians resided in Britain in the 19^th century.  But to be politically correct, the camera had to show a “pretend” history of Asians and Africans in a multicultural UK in the 1850s.  It is all pc bs.  And why not show how British imperialism actually helped develop some other nations round the world?  That the Olympics are an example of “Western Imperialism,” western values that spread through the world.  But, that would be politically incorrect.  So instead, the program emphasized filth, stench, and sickness.  How Britain has fallen.
     The motto of the Olympics used to be "faster, higher, stronger."  But this is in conflict with the egalitarians who produced the London Opening Ceremony.  They despise the word "best."  So their ceremony did celebrate "slower, lower, weaker."  Once again - how Britain has fallen! 

     Instead, why not mention the British schools where football began?  Where rugby started?  Cricket?  Indeed, even the notion of fair play?  And even attempts at reviving the ancient Olympic Games?  Britain was once Great.  Perhaps if it can shed its politically correct, egalitarian ideologues, it might become Great Britain again.

  ---------Hugh Murray

To all from Chris,

   What do you think of yesterday's opening ceremony at London Games?

    I think it's only OK. I like the fist several parts, which showed to us the British history in modern time---how the traditional way of life was challenged by the Industrial Revolution, how this revolution finally changed not only Britain but the whole world as well. I like the part when protesters holding bands and slogans for the rights of workers, feminism movement, etc. They showed us a picture of history that's created/pushed forward by all the people, not just those engineers and early capitalists but people living at the grassroots level, they stood up for their rights and with their struggle, the world is a better place. And also, the National Anthem of G.B, " God Bless the Queen", they sang high of the Queen but also sent her a message that she should not break the rule of law--" May She Defend the Rule of Law", as part of the lyrics. I also was amazed at how they recreated the Olympic Cauldron, when most other countries were struggling for a better idea on how to light the fire, they redesigned the fire and this i think is a major breakthrough. The Cauldron is a flower made of all the participants to the Games, a flower of world that each country is part of....These above is what I truly like.

But, I think they were stupid in showcasing British movies, famous songs, hip-hop dances, raps, social networks and the man who brought us" world wide web", These had nothing to do whatsoever with Olympics and its spirit. They chose the wrong things to boost. The US has Hollywood, the center of movie-making, the US is the birthplace of those music/dancing styles, Americans first invented computer and Internet; Social Networking tools like Facebook and Tweeter were also brought to this planet by Americans---but the Britons are showcasing these as if they were the inventors.  To make matters worse, it's boring so talk about songs/movies/dances at an Olympic opening ceremony, and they spent a huge part of the time on something they were not that closed related to, and they did it badly.

The Queen made a big "entrance" with the short vide-clip, but the final part of it, the Queen jumped off the helicopter to the Stadium, that's just ridiculous. It does not go well with the beginning part of that video where the serious-looking Queen living in quite a serious/solemn/majestic palace...how can such a woman(86 yrs old) suddenly jump down on the Stadium from the helicopter? Is this the British style of being humorous? So humorous that even the Queen is part of the "joke"?

In general, it's in no way even comparable to the Beijing Olympics. In our opening ceremony, we showcased our traditional culture. Important representatives are the brushes (we use in calligraphy and painting), paper-making procedures (we invented paper), Chinese Tai-ji, Confucius' Analects, the spectacular drum-beating served as the last 10 seconds countdown of the Games, and also a HUGE welcome to all the visitors; Chinese characters demonstrating the spelling of the word "peace" of different period in our history, and "peace" is exactly what the Olympic Game is all about; the magnificent fireworks play;  the theme song " You and Me",( do the Britons even have a theme song for the Olympics?)  the slogan " One world, One dream".(theirs is "our moment to shine" ???)  ... We demonstrated so many aspects of not just our culture, our country but also the Olympic dream/spirit, too many to name but a few.

The Britons showed the children's dream, the nightmare with fairy tales, they boosted their national health system...They told us their children are taken good care of, and after all the nightmare chaos, they went into dreams again (they may be designed the match the poem read at the beginning). By showcasing those dances, songs, etc, they may want to tell us that the young people in Britain are passionate....But these are just small topics. Don't you agree? Young people are passionate and energetic elsewhere, too.

Let me know what you think of the ceremony.

Chris