Belle of Liberty

Letting Freedom Ring

Saturday, July 28, 2012

The Socialist Olympics

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games opened in London last night with a mixture of the fun – James Bond escorting Queen Elizabeth II to the opening ceremonies via a parachute jump Using a film clip and stunt doubles of course) and Mary Poppins nannies descending down into the stadium – and the bizarre – a tableau changing from the pastoral English countryside to the Industrial Revolution to a tribute to the National Health Service, England’s socialist health care system.

According to the Associated Press, the ceremony was “a celebration of free healthcare, the trade union struggle, the battle for women's rights and a fleeting lesbian kiss: the Olympics opening ceremony Friday did not shy away from weighty social issues.”

Apparently, Americans (unless they were in London) got to see none of this, even though America’s National Broadcasting Company sponsored the televised event.  Initially, various website ran the James Bond clip, but were forced to take it down due to copyright issues.  The American television audience only got to see it on taped delay, and some say not at all, that the International Olympic Committee decided America didn’t deserve to see the opening ceremony.

The opening ceremonies were produced by Oscar-winning British director Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”), known for his socialist leanings.    Alastair Campbell, communications chief to former British Labour prime minister Tony Blair, responded on Twitter: “Brilliant that we got a Socialist to do the opening ceremony.”

Perhaps Campbell thinks it was a brilliant strategy, but the Olympics is a rather strange venue for a Socialist message, with dancing Socialist health care nurses, no less.  Strange because the Olympics are all about handing out gold, silver and bronze metals to winners, to the best, to the successful.

Does the International Olympic Committee, who clearly approved the opening ceremonies and blacked out America from seeing it (guess it was no loss except for the bit about Queen Elizabeth and James Bond), intend to hand out participation medals to all the thousands of athletes, particularly those who come in dead last?

The pastoral setting doesn’t bear too close examination, by the way.  Peasants of that time period were legally bound to live in their communities.  They couldn’t move unless the receiving community decided they weren’t going to be a burden on the town.  Peasants moved to the industrialized cities in order to find work, so they wouldn’t starve.  The fuliginous environment may not have been very pleasant, and certainly unsanitary given the times.  London became crowded and dirty and the very poor were in dire straits.

Eventually, Britain straightened itself out.  The Poor Laws were finally abandoned in the 19th Century.  Mass production did provide jobs and affordable goods.  England’s economy strengthened, and then along came the Socialists, agitating the poor in order to hijack an economy they had not created.

Violence and intimidation are the key to Socialist strategy.  For them to stage their drama in the midst of competition, fair play, and good sportsmanship is contrary to the principles of the Olympics; it’s an oxymoron.  Equality is not a component of the Games.



People view the Olympics to watch winners, not sore-loser Socialists.


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