Olympic Opening Ceremonies (unfavorable review!)

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Anyone else bothered by them?

I wasn’t home for the beginning, but my husband was. Two of our daughters (ages 9 and 5) wanted to watch them. So he put them on, but ended up shutting them off–they were obscene and inappropriate!! VERY sexually oriented, for what reason I cannot imagine. He was also appalled at the anti-Christian nature of much of the commentary/history. Now, we understand that a “history of the Greek culture” will include their pagan gods. Fine. But a “history of the evolution of man”??? Complete with “man evolves into a logical being”??? Really??? And what’s that got to do with the Olympics??

By the time I got home, the kids went to bed and we watched some of the parade of nations. Bob Costas (I’m sure his writing was approved and/or written by NBC) was clearly political in many summaries of nations! Gimme a break!!!

Saudi Arabia–despite their continuing support of the US actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, their antipathy toward women’s rights is well known. They’ve sent x athletes to these games, and all of them are men.

Sheesh!!

Hope the sports themselves are more watchable.
 
Personally, I thought the opening ceremonies were wonderful! The only thing that came close to being inappropriate was a comment about “lust” while a couple was shown to be frolicking in the water, but this was a commentator statement, not part of the ceremony.

I was very happy to see them honor the importance of new life with the pregnant woman who literally “glowed”.

Also, the ceremonies tried to make allowances for modern modesties with the people made up to be like Greek statues.

The Greeks out did themselves. Good job! :clapping:
 
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kristalyn:
they were obscene and inappropriate!! VERY sexually oriented, for what reason I cannot imagine. He was also appalled at the anti-Christian nature of much of the commentary/history. Now, we understand that a “history of the Greek culture” will include their pagan gods. Fine. But a “history of the evolution of man”??? Complete with “man evolves into a logical being”??? Really??? And what’s that got to do with the Olympics??
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I didn’t think they were obscene, they were introducing different greek gods, like Eros, the god of love/lust.

As for the evolution of man… I’m pretty sure it was the evolution into the logical being part, which is VERY Greek, they gave us math, philosophy, polics, etc.
 
**I didn’t get to watch the opening.
Was the USA team booed when they entered? **
 
No we were welcomed very warmly, and Bob Costas made a remark about how the Greeks disagree with much of our foregin policy, but make sure to make a distinction between American citizens and American government.

We also have the most massive delegation I think I’ve ever seen. 592 athletes.
 
I was touched by the drummers and the nations that were sending women for the first time. —KCT
 
I thought the ceremonies were ok, just the commentators were idiots. They really had nothing interesting to say and I found it was better to watch with the sound off.
 
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kristalyn:
Anyone else bothered by them?

I wasn’t home for the beginning, but my husband was. Two of our daughters (ages 9 and 5) wanted to watch them. So he put them on, but ended up shutting them off–they were obscene and inappropriate!! VERY sexually oriented, for what reason I cannot imagine. He was also appalled at the anti-Christian nature of much of the commentary/history. Now, we understand that a “history of the Greek culture” will include their pagan gods. Fine. But a “history of the evolution of man”??? Complete with “man evolves into a logical being”??? Really??? And what’s that got to do with the Olympics??

By the time I got home, the kids went to bed and we watched some of the parade of nations. Bob Costas (I’m sure his writing was approved and/or written by NBC) was clearly political in many summaries of nations! Gimme a break!!!

Saudi Arabia–despite their continuing support of the US actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, their antipathy toward women’s rights is well known. They’ve sent x athletes to these games, and all of them are men.

Sheesh!!

Hope the sports themselves are more watchable.
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Wow! Your comments really surprised me. I thought the opening ceremony was beautiful!! We watched them with our 6 and 8 year olds. I’m pretty prudish and I didn’t see anything inappropriate in them at all!

In Christ,
Nancy 🙂
 
From an entertainment point of view, the organizers did put on quite a show. Certainly one of the most technically impressive in a long time.

But beneath the surface of the razzle dazzle, a few subthemes bothered me, too.

Though the (brief) treatment of Greece’s Christian heritage was done well, what saddened me was how the pageant implied that it was just another period in the timeline of the nation’s history, on an equal footing with its pagan past and its secular present.

What saddened me further was the climax of the pageant. The pregnant young woman, with exposed glowing pregnant belly (or artificial replica of one), eventually gives birth to…what, exactly? A thousand points of light? 50,000 Celine Dion fans holding up Bic lighters in hopes of an encore? The brotherhood of man? The latest GEICO commercial? What, exactly? Apparently, it could have been taken to mean anything, which means it was really about nothing. Strange.

And what also sort of creeps me out at every Olympic ceremony is the singing of the “Olympic Hymn”, whatever that is. Who are they singing to? Whoever it is, I have a pretty good guess it isn’t our Lord God in heaven.

As for the TV coverage, I, too, noticed the implied terrorist references whenever a nation such as Saudi Arabia was on camera. Nice touch, Bob and Katie. And did anyone else but me notice that when the Palestinians were on camera, they were the one nation that Bob and Katie did not mention by name? Just some remark about Yasser Arafat and then on to the next nation. So much for the Olympic spirit transcending politics.

ParkCityRich
 
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ParkCityRich:
As for the TV coverage, I, too, noticed the implied terrorist references whenever a nation such as Saudi Arabia was on camera. Nice touch, Bob and Katie. And did anyone else but me notice that when the Palestinians were on camera, they were the one nation that Bob and Katie did not mention by name? Just some remark about Yasser Arafat and then on to the next nation. So much for the Olympic spirit transcending politics.

ParkCityRich
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I make a point of never watching Katie Couric on her daily show, due to her liberal bias. I did listen to some of her comentary when the Americans walked in. She and Bob were waiting for the boos and made comment that indeed there was cheering. After that I did what a previous poster did- muted the channel. I liked watching the young athletes smiling, full of anticipation and hope. It gives me hope. I don’t like our reporters.

One thing I did hear before I muted it was a reference to an Iranian wrestler that might take himself out of the Olympics because he had to have a match with an Israeli opponent.

I did not mind the opening ceremony pageant. I didn’t read too much into it though. I also did not watch with children so I didn’t worry about any content. You have to give the people of Greece a lot of credit to have put this Olympics together when they are so close to troubled areas and they are a small country. I continue to pray that all will go well.
 
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