Dionysus Would Disapprove of the French Olympics Performance

Dionysus was a Greek god of alcohol, fertility and partying. According to the Greek mythos, he got humans drunk and made them have babies and then he made their fields fertile to feed the babies.

The ancient Greeks are a multifaceted and complicated people. One version of the Greek worship probably had Greeks making love in the fields to ensure a bountiful harvest. One version probably had wine-drinking games between married couples with slightly lewd jokes. Like many popular gods, he had many different interpretations at many different times.

But while being a complicated god, Dionysus loved quality wine and quality... fertility ceremonies, let's say. He would have looked at the French Olympic performance with pure disgust. Even if we presume that the worship of Dionysus was as lewd as some Romans wanted it to be, it would have at least been well done.

So my main objection is not a matter of decency or that the performance was found offensive to the (surprisingly conservative) French middle class. Only that Dionysus would find it offensive because his rituals and songs were not very well done. In the most extreme interpretations of Dionysus, his followers had all the sexual peccadilloes of modern artists but they were devoted to arete and beauty. Having morally flawed artists is nothing new as the ancient Greeks could attest. But having incompetent artists would be unforgivable to Dionysus.