The Paris Olympics 2024 is officially underway. This edition of the Summer Games was a return of regular competition after the previous Tokyo Olympics was held under a lot of restrictions, credit to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the Opening Ceremony was supposed to enthrall fans and athletes alike.
Instead, it raised question marks from fans, athletes, and internet personalities across the world. But what could go so wrong that France ended up being questioned about its thought process?
They tried to be different, as in, include everyone in this world. That meant, including transgenders, drag queens, and queers in the entertainment events. It could have been alright so far. But their entertainment events had a lot of direct links with religion, politics, and the world’s situation as of now. A marked difference from what the Olympics have depicted so far.
However, how could so many fans, athletes, and noted celebrities around the world join together to boycott the games? It seems the organizers of the Paris Olympics 2024 punched a lot of wrong buttons. To start with, the political side.
When it comes to politics, France is one of those nations whose past has had a profound impact on the world. So much so, that history books are filled with elaborate explanations and discussions. The organizing committee of the Paris Olympics decided to depict those events and more through their entertainment acts.
They wanted to depict that people of this generation have liberty. But to get to that liberty, a lot of blood has been shed in the past. For instance, the French Revolution. Before heavy metal band Gojira came out to perform, they depicted Queen Marie Antoinette with her head cut off. It was a depiction of her execution, which happened after the end of the French Revolution.
Then as the band performed, red colored streams were sent rocketing into the sky. It depicted the bloodshed caused in the Storme of Bastille, which was one of the most important moments of the Revolution.
Along with this was a video graphic that depicted a hot air balloon flying past the Statue of Liberty. However, the statue was bereft with gunshot wounds. Additionally, a satellite was depicted as flying above them all.
All this likely suggested that the world went from the execution of Marie Antoinette to a time of peace. But is heading into another time when people will have to escape the earth due to the heavy casualties of war. That is if everyone cannot accept each other as how they are.
In terms of accepting everyone however they are, Christianity, which is by far the largest religion in the world has not accepted transgender and queers. To oppose this and to bring acceptance, the Paris Olympics committee staged a drag show during the Opening Ceremony. Queers and drag queens dominated the show.
But as a follow-up to that, the drag queens and queers lined up behind a table. The stage was a depiction of The Last Supper. Evidently, mocking the beliefs of Christianity. That is, queers can also be a part of the world and Christianity should also start accepting them. To make matters worse, they brought in a child to be a part of the drag show as well as The Last Supper rendition.
That was not all as they had a model of a calf built to depict The Golden Calf, as mentioned in the Bible. They also had the depiction of the white pale horse, which according to the Bible, depicts the coming of death. All of these renditions go to show that the organizing committee was openly mocking Christianity.
The world interpreted this as the act suggesting that religion is wrong to not accept those who are different. All of this led to people across the world calling the organizing committee out.
What fans could not fathom was that for the majority of the world who know what the Olympics stand for, this Opening Ceremony was by and large a drastic step away from tradition. That is to show how people across the world can unite together through sports.
Instead, it was a show to mock others who do not accept the different ways a human being can portray themselves. However, athletes, internet personalities, and fans of the Olympics did not expect the organizing committee to take such drastic measures. All in the interest of trying to be woke. In fact, it was revealed later that the director of the Olympics is a queer himself. But he defended his work suggesting it was a celebration of the rights they enjoy.
Enthusiasts of the Olympics feel that if the motive was such, the organizing committee could have done it in a more constructive way. Instead, the backlash coming from every part of the world may have caused the message to lose its importance.
To make it worse, at the Opening Ceremony the Olympics flag was hoisted upside down. It seems, their focus was more on making themselves seen and heard, instead of focusing on doing things the right way. For many across the world, the committee has ruined the experience that they expect from an Olympics Opening Ceremony.
Had they maintained the integrity of the Olympics and stuck to its traditions, the games would have been entertaining to everyone watching. But now, it seems this was a missed opportunity which comes once in four years.
Fans are now eagerly looking forward to the games at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where the excitement is expected to be as high as ever. Fingers crossed.
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