New Olympic sport: Destroying Western Civilization

 

You’ve probably heard about the latest attack on Christianity.  Why the organizers of the Olympic Games felt the need to do so is much more interesting than what they actually did.  (emphasis mine):

Paris 2024 organizers apologized Sunday to Catholics and other Christian groups angered by a kitsch tableau in the Olympic Games opening ceremony that depicted Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting.

The segment, which recreated the Biblical scene of Jesus Christ and his apostles sharing a last meal before crucifixion, featured drag queens, a transgender model and a naked singer made up as the Greek god of wine, Dionysus.

Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. [The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance,” Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps said at a news conference. “We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”

Again, what on earth does this have to do with the Olympics, or about the host country of France?  Why do this?  The organizers say that they were using the platform available to them to promote tolerance of LGTB issues.  I don’t see how this could possibly help bring people together.  This comes across less like Op-Ed and more like vandalism.  Of a church.  Surely the LGTB organizers understood that Christians would view this as an attack on their religion.  Which, surely, is exactly why they did it.

But if they were unsure, and they wanted to find out if this sort of thing might possibly be viewed as an attack, they could have performed a similar skit mocking Mohammed and Islam, and see how that was received.  I suspect the criticisms would have been explosive.

Amazingly, a leader of an LGTB organization in France felt that they didn’t go far enough:

“We know in the LGBTQ community in France we are far from what the ceremony showed. There’s much progress to do in society regarding transgender people. It’s terrible that to legally change their identity they are forced to be on trial,” Inter-LGBT president James Leperlier said. 

“If you saw the opening ceremony last night you’d think it was like that normally, but it’s not. France tried to show what it should be and not what it is.”

So when he thinks of the ideal, of what France should be, he thinks of trans-sexuals in body paint pretending to be Jesus Christ.  His ideal world must be quite a place.

Photo ID: 1813978943. From JessicaGirvan via Shutterstock

Martin Luther King had a dream of a world where his children would be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin.  I’d rather live in Rev. King’s world.

The difference, of course, is that Rev. King was a Christian who wanted us to live up to the ideals of Western Civilization.

The modern left is a radical movement which seeks to destroy Western Civilization, by whatever means are available to them.

Obviously.

There’s just no other way to take this stuff…

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  1. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    Dr. Bastiat:

    The modern left is a radical movement which seeks to destroy Western Civilization, by whatever means are available to them.

    Obviously.

    There’s just no other way to take this stuff…

    Exactly. The “woke” movement is filled with fake work titles so most paid “jobs” must be in education and media. When DEI enters the real workplace picture we get disasters like  Bud Light and Boeing. Or maybe even the Secret Service. This is the NEW Left that has chosen Kamala Harris to lead in America.

    • #1
  2. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Dr. Bastiat:

    Why the organizers of the Olympic Games felt the need to do so is much more interesting than what they actually did.  (emphasis mine):

    Paris 2024 organizers apologized Sunday to Catholics and other Christian groups angered by a kitsch tableau in the Olympic Games opening ceremony that depicted Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting.

    The segment, which recreated the Biblical scene of Jesus Christ and his apostles sharing a last meal before crucifixion, featured drag queens, a transgender model and a naked singer made up as the Greek god of wine, Dionysus.

    Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. [The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance,” Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps said at a news conference. “We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”

    Again, what on earth does this have to do with the Olympics, or about the host country of France?  Why do this?  The organizers say that they were using the platform available to them to promote tolerance of LGTB issues. 

    Instead, they gave me what I didn’t need: another reason to despise the French. That wasn’t the goal? Tough.

    “If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”

    Liar.

    • #2
  3. Brian Watt Member
    Brian Watt
    @BrianWatt

    After watching what portions of the opening ceremonies I did, I have absolutely no interest in watching the Olympics. I have much better things to do with my time.

    • #3
  4. Susan Quinn Member
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    I feel so bad for my Christian friends. The display was disgusting. That they would deny that it was an attack on Christianity is even more disgusting. Just remember: for those of us who embrace the Jude0-Christian tradition, we are arm-in-arm with you.

    • #4
  5. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    This started during the French Revolution:

    During a one-year period known as the Reign of Terror, the episodes of anti-clericalism became some the most violent of any in modern European history. The new revolutionary authorities suppressed the Church, abolished the Catholic monarchy, nationalized Church property, exiled 30,000 priests, and killed hundreds more. In October 1793, the Christian calendar was replaced with one reckoned from the date of the Revolution, and Festivals of Liberty, Reason, and the Supreme Being were scheduled. New forms of moral religion emerged, including the deistic Cult of the Supreme Being and the atheistic Cult of Reason, with the revolutionary government briefly mandating observance of the former in April 1794.

    Just my own take on things, but I would say the modern Marxist, socialist, communist totalitarianism, anti-religious mindset was established at that time. These later movements sprang from the French Revolution.

    • #5
  6. Andrew Troutman Coolidge
    Andrew Troutman
    @Dotorimuk

    It’s hard to mock them back. They are so _____ ridiculous to begin with.

     

    • #6
  7. Scott Wilmot Member
    Scott Wilmot
    @ScottWilmot

    This display is Satanic. Full stop. Satan mocks Christianity with the use of the word transgender.

    Today at mass, we heard the story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes from the Gospel of John. This of course is a foretaste of the Eucharist – when by the power of God, the bread and wine become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. The word we Catholics use to describe this miracle is transubstantiation. It is the only true trans action -whereby the “accidents” of bread and wine remain (taste, look, feel, etc.), and yet the substance is changed.

    This cannot happen to these mentally disturbed people. They have been fed a lie by Satan. They may change some of their “accidents” (add/remove body parts), but the original substance remains.

    It is mockery and blasphemy. It is Satanic. May God enlighten them and have mercy on their souls.

    • #7
  8. Scott Wilmot Member
    Scott Wilmot
    @ScottWilmot

    This is the civilization and culture these demons wish to destroy. Only a deep belief in the Truth, Beauty, and Goodness of God can produce this.

    • #8
  9. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group.[The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance,” Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps said at a news conference. “We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”

    They have earned the gold for lame apologies.  Even the Russian judge awarded a 10.

    • #9
  10. David Foster Member
    David Foster
    @DavidFoster

    The Olypmpic opening ceremony is an indicator–but only one of many indicators–that Western civilization is clearly in a crisis of lost cultural self-confidence.  This loss is the real subject of Arthur Koestler’s 1950 novel of ideas, The Age of Longing.  I just posted a review of this book (an update from earlier posts) 

    Sleeping with the Enemy

     

    • #10
  11. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    “But if they were unsure, and they wanted to find out if this sort of thing might possibly be viewed as an attack, they could have performed a similar skit mocking Mohammed and Islam, and see how that was received.  I suspect the criticisms would have been explosive.”

    They don’t have the guts to mock people who are more than ready to show their offense…unlike the Jews and Christians who are the people of our Western Civilization. I almost turned it off. My wife convinced me to continue watching. As a result, I got to ponder the relevance of two boys and a girl having a “threesome” encounter at a library and what that had to do with a competition to determine the greatest athletes in the world.

    However, eventually, I did get to marvel at a spectacular production performed outside under horrible weather conditions ( and laughing at Peyton Mannings’s protestations, “Hey, I won the Superbowl in worse rain than this!”) without ever having one single practice run.

    Today’s producers and directors always make us suffer because of their political correctness. I have to admit, the suffering was worth it because listening to Celine Dione in her disease-racked body sing the final song so beautifully brought tears to my eyes.

    • #11
  12. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    Percival (View Comment):
    But if they were unsure, and they wanted to find out if this sort of thing might possibly be viewed as an attack, they could have performed a similar skit mocking Mohammed and Islam, and see how that was received.  I suspect the criticisms would have been explosive.

    It was the American, Steven Spielberg, who created this show.

    • #12
  13. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    cdor (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):
    But if they were unsure, and they wanted to find out if this sort of thing might possibly be viewed as an attack, they could have performed a similar skit mocking Mohammed and Islam, and see how that was received. I suspect the criticisms would have been explosive.

    It was the American, Steven Spielberg, who created this show.

    Not the part I quoted, but I agree with it too.

    Spielberg? That I didn’t know.

    • #13
  14. Steve Fast Member
    Steve Fast
    @SteveFast

    I thought the Olympics were mostly a thing of the past. Didn’t they have a massive bribery scandal about awarding host cities a decade ago or so? Who can take an organization seriously when its vice-president is Dick Pound?

    I lost interest when the doping became pervasive.

    • #14
  15. EODmom Coolidge
    EODmom
    @EODmom

    Percival (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat:

    Why the organizers of the Olympic Games felt the need to do so is much more interesting than what they actually did. (emphasis mine):

    Paris 2024 organizers apologized Sunday to Catholics and other Christian groups angered by a kitsch tableau in the Olympic Games opening ceremony that depicted Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting.

    The segment, which recreated the Biblical scene of Jesus Christ and his apostles sharing a last meal before crucifixion, featured drag queens, a transgender model and a naked singer made up as the Greek god of wine, Dionysus.

    Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. [The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance,” Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps said at a news conference. “We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”

    Again, what on earth does this have to do with the Olympics, or about the host country of France? Why do this? The organizers say that they were using the platform available to them to promote tolerance of LGTB issues.

    Instead, they gave me what I didn’t need: another reason to despise the French. That wasn’t the goal? Tough.

    “If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”

    Liar.

    People “take” offense. They didn’t offend. It’s “people’s” problem. 

    • #15
  16. David Foster Member
    David Foster
    @DavidFoster

    I’d suggest that even if there were no religious implications, the show would still be  a mockery of one of the great achievements of our civilization.

    Writer Devon Eriksen said that things like this are driven by narcissism. I think this is true, but nihilism is also an important factor. 

    • #16
  17. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    EODmom (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat:

    Why the organizers of the Olympic Games felt the need to do so is much more interesting than what they actually did. (emphasis mine):

    Paris 2024 organizers apologized Sunday to Catholics and other Christian groups angered by a kitsch tableau in the Olympic Games opening ceremony that depicted Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting.

    The segment, which recreated the Biblical scene of Jesus Christ and his apostles sharing a last meal before crucifixion, featured drag queens, a transgender model and a naked singer made up as the Greek god of wine, Dionysus.

    Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. [The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance,” Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps said at a news conference. “We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”

    Again, what on earth does this have to do with the Olympics, or about the host country of France? Why do this? The organizers say that they were using the platform available to them to promote tolerance of LGTB issues.

    Instead, they gave me what I didn’t need: another reason to despise the French. That wasn’t the goal? Tough.

    “If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”

    Liar.

    People “take” offense. They didn’t offend. It’s “people’s” problem.

    The non-apology, apology.

    • #17
  18. EODmom Coolidge
    EODmom
    @EODmom

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    I feel so bad for my Christian friends. The display was disgusting. That they would deny that it was an attack on Christianity is even more disgusting. Just remember: for those of us who embrace the Jude0-Christian tradition, we are arm-in-arm with you.

    But they are physically attacking Jews everywhere else.  It’s civilization they want to destroy. 

    • #18
  19. David Carroll Thatcher
    David Carroll
    @DavidCarroll

    Per news report.

    Anne Descamps spoke about it on Sunday.

    “Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. (The opening ceremony) tried to celebrate community tolerance,” Descamps told reporters.

    Delusional?  Or insane?  You decide.

    • #19
  20. EODmom Coolidge
    EODmom
    @EODmom

    cdor (View Comment):

    “But if they were unsure, and they wanted to find out if this sort of thing might possibly be viewed as an attack, they could have performed a similar skit mocking Mohammed and Islam, and see how that was received. I suspect the criticisms would have been explosive.”

    They don’t have the guts to mock people who are more than ready to show their offense…unlike the Jews and Christians who are the people of our Western Civilization. I almost turned it off. My wife convinced me to continue watching. As a result, I got to ponder the relevance of two boys and a girl having a “threesome” encounter at a library and what that had to do with a competition to determine the greatest athletes in the world.

    However, eventually, I did get to marvel at a spectacular production performed outside under horrible weather conditions ( and laughing at Peyton Mannings’s protestations, “Hey, I won the Superbowl in worse rain than this!”) without ever having one single practice run.

    Today’s producers and directors always make us suffer because of their political correctness. I have to admit, the suffering was worth it because listening to Celine Dione in her disease-racked body sing the final song so beautifully brought tears to my eyes.

    They know how muslims respond. They were on it elsewhere at the same time the display on the Seine was going on. 

    • #20
  21. David Foster Member
    David Foster
    @DavidFoster

    cdor (View Comment):

    It was the American, Steven Spielberg, who created this show.

    If that is correct..is there a link?…then it would largely negate Tyler Cowen’s suggestion that  “perhaps the over the top, deviance-drenched modes of presentation are reflecting some longer-running strands in French culture.  La Cage aux Folles?  Le Bal des Folles?  The whole Moulin Rouge direction?  How about Gustave Moreau, not to mention his lower-quality followers?  Jean Paul Gaultier? (NYT, “Fashion Freak Show”)  Pierre et Gilles?”

    Tyler’s post and comments here.

     

    • #21
  22. Henry Racette Member
    Henry Racette
    @HenryRacette

    Human nature is a stubborn thing. We can get past some of our intrinsic biases. We can teach ourselves to be comfortable with people who don’t look like us. We can achieve enough security to tolerate unorthodox behavior that might otherwise be too threatening.

    None of those things require that we reject reality. Our discomfort with people who are obviously not of our local community isn’t based in rationality, but is rather simply a useful reflex. Our fear of change is nature’s way of implementing prudence, but we can talk ourselves out of it with sufficient analysis.

    But any movement that requires that we embrace an obvious untruth, particularly one pertaining to something so deeply rooted in our nature as sex, faces a nearly impossible challenge. And those who enthusiastically take on that challenge are going to tend to be whack-a-doodle.

     

     

    • #22
  23. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    cdor (View Comment):

    EODmom (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat:

    Why the organizers of the Olympic Games felt the need to do so is much more interesting than what they actually did. (emphasis mine):

    Paris 2024 organizers apologized Sunday to Catholics and other Christian groups angered by a kitsch tableau in the Olympic Games opening ceremony that depicted Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting.

    The segment, which recreated the Biblical scene of Jesus Christ and his apostles sharing a last meal before crucifixion, featured drag queens, a transgender model and a naked singer made up as the Greek god of wine, Dionysus.

    Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. [The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance,” Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps said at a news conference. “We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”

    Again, what on earth does this have to do with the Olympics, or about the host country of France? Why do this? The organizers say that they were using the platform available to them to promote tolerance of LGTB issues.

    Instead, they gave me what I didn’t need: another reason to despise the French. That wasn’t the goal? Tough.

    “If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”

    Liar.

    People “take” offense. They didn’t offend. It’s “people’s” problem.

    The non-apology, apology.

    “If I hurt your feelings, I’m sorry that you have feelings.”

    • #23
  24. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group.[The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance,” Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps said at a news conference. “We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”

    They have earned the gold for lame apologies. Even the Russian judge awarded a 10.

    It is just [almost] beyond comprehension that the production designers could not anticipate that the display would show disrespect and offend people. I say “almost” because I continue to discover that some people live in some remarkably thick bubbles that keep them from being aware of what’s going on in the rest of the world among normal people. 

    • #24
  25. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    Dr. Bastiat: But if they were unsure, and they wanted to find out if this sort of thing might possibly be viewed as an attack, they could have performed a similar skit mocking Mohammed and Islam, and see how that was received.  I suspect the criticisms would have been explosive.

    A skit mocking Mohammad and Islam would be more relevant as a statement in France, as I understand Sharia law is the de facto governing standard in parts of the country. Celebrate the tolerance those Muslim neighborhoods have for the sexually nonconforming. :)

    • #25
  26. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    David Foster (View Comment):

    cdor (View Comment):

    It was the American, Steven Spielberg, who created this show.

    If that is correct..is there a link?…then it would largely negate Tyler Cowen’s suggestion that “perhaps the over the top, deviance-drenched modes of presentation are reflecting some longer-running strands in French culture. La Cage aux Folles? Le Bal des Folles? The whole Moulin Rouge direction? How about Gustave Moreau, not to mention his lower-quality followers? Jean Paul Gaultier? (NYT, “Fashion Freak Show”) Pierre et Gilles?”

    Tyler’s post and comments here.

    I am wrong. Please accept my apologies. This was why I thought Spielberg produced it:

    I kept seeing commercials with him introducing the Paris Olympics and assumed he was integrally involved with the production.

    But now I am seeing a name: Thomas Jolly.

    • #26
  27. Henry Racette Member
    Henry Racette
    @HenryRacette

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: But if they were unsure, and they wanted to find out if this sort of thing might possibly be viewed as an attack, they could have performed a similar skit mocking Mohammed and Islam, and see how that was received. I suspect the criticisms would have been explosive.

    A skit mocking Mohammad and Islam would be more relevant as a statement in France, as I understand Sharia law is the de facto governing standard in parts of the country. Celebrate the tolerance those Muslim neighborhoods have for the sexually nonconforming. :)

    Yes, it’s more than a little ironic that they choose to mock Christianity rather than some other religion, given the self-congratulatory eagerness with which modern Christian denominations trip over themselves to embrace the queer fringe. Two quips come to mind.

    The first is the illuminating observation of Han Solo when explaining why the tubby little robot should forfeit a chess-like game: “[D]roids don’t pull people’s arms out of their socket when they lose.” Members of some other religion are known to do that.

    The second, and one that adds an additional explanation to the obvious one of cowardice as to why the subversive fringe delights in insulting Christianity but not some other religion is, to borrow a joke about the reason for the affectionate bond between grandparents and their grandchildren: “They have an enemy in common.”

    • #27
  28. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group.[The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance,” Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps said at a news conference. “We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”

    They have earned the gold for lame apologies. Even the Russian judge awarded a 10.

    It is just [almost] beyond comprehension that the production designers could not anticipate that the display would show disrespect and offend people. I say “almost” because I continue to discover that some people live in some remarkably thick bubbles that keep them from being aware of what’s going on in the rest of the world among normal people.

    I think they just do not care. We are the ones who are insensitive to their Godless self-indulged world. It’s our problem, not theirs.

    • #28
  29. EODmom Coolidge
    EODmom
    @EODmom

    Full Size Tabby (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group.[The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance,” Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps said at a news conference. “We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”

    They have earned the gold for lame apologies. Even the Russian judge awarded a 10.

    It is just [almost] beyond comprehension that the production designers could not anticipate that the display would show disrespect and offend people. I say “almost” because I continue to discover that some people live in some remarkably thick bubbles that keep them from being aware of what’s going on in the rest of the world among normal people.

    The insult is the plan and they don’t care otherwise. 

    • #29
  30. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    How absurd is this world I live in. It is only Jews and Christians who believe in the virtue of respecting others for the simple fact of their humanity. 

    I am going back to my vegetable garden. My bell peppers make more sense. :) :) :) 

    • #30
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