The disgusting Olympic opening ceremony should be answered with a boycott, not only of the games but, more importantly, of their sponsors.
One does not have to be Christian to be offended by the opening ceremonies in Paris. One can be a practicing member of one faith and still show respect and honor to those who practice a different one. Over the past few decades, we have seen that Western culture is a one-way street. You can attack or belittle Judaism and Christianity freely in any format (remember the Book of Mormon on Broadway?). Islam is de facto off-limits due to the reduced life expectancy of anyone who attacks it, while trans, gay, etc., are off-limits due to the left’s selective sensitivities.
The opening ceremony of the Olympics has traditionally been a big-ticket production that serves two purposes: introducing the athletes by country and putting on a show that reflects the host nation. The 2012 London Olympics famously had James Bond and the Queen apparently parachute into the stadium; the Queen’s actual entrance led to enormous applause from all assembled. The show also gave tribute to Mr. Bean, who had dreams of Chariots of Fire. The entertainment was wholesome and not directed to hurt any individual or group.
Not so the events in Paris. The production was intentionally made to make fun of Christians as well as present sexualized material inappropriate for children viewers. These actions were planned well in advance. The director of the production is Thomas Jolly, who is described as a friend of Emmanuel Macron, the French president. If Mr. Jolly had secretly sprung his radical production on the world, then one could direct his ire solely towards him. But we live in the age of committees. Since the opening was not performed in a stadium as it generally has been, there was a need for infrastructure such as bridges and river embankments. Whatever Mr. Jolly planned was presented to the funders as well as the city planners and police for their approval. I am sure that President Macron knew of the intended slur of Christian values and the presentation of morally repulsive scenes in the performance. As Mr. Macron has never had the responsibility to cover his child’s eyes when something inappropriate came across the screen, why would anyone expect him to do the same for his fellow countrymen or viewers throughout the world?
On this site, there has been a call to boycott the Olympics due to its disgusting opening ceremony. That is a good first step, but one has to go after the funding of the games. The Olympics are big business, and companies pay huge sums to have the five rings next to their corporate logos. One might argue that the companies had no warning that Mr. Jolly intended to insult things near and dear to Christians throughout the world, but that argument is specious. A Mississippi-based company has already pulled its advertising in light of the performance. Any company that wishes to issue an apology or a formal statement that the events that transpired Friday night on the Seine do not represent the values of the company is welcome to do so. As of the time of this writing, I have not heard of Coca-Cola, GE or any of the heavyweights having denounced the lewd and crude performance. A list of sponsors can be found here.
Corporations used to stay on the sidelines of the culture wars. They understood that it was good business to keep quiet and continue selling products to anyone who would buy them. Then we saw with Bud Light and others that they actively threw their lot with the woke crowd. One thing that the left never understands is that all of their noise and control of media does not make them a majority. The silent majority goes about their lives and business, but those who have spare time scream about DEI, trans, Palestine, and other lefty pieties. Anheuseur-Busch has still not recovered from the boycott of Bud Light and other brands. They tried some macho ads to get normal people to come back to their product. They lost their perch as the number one beer and have not regained that position. Disney has lost hundreds of millions from its moral preaching, which has replaced good movie-making. If you want to join the culture wars, just know that you will lose over half of your market based on that choice. Make good products and don’t offend the customers. Not very difficult.
The Olympic opening could have been good, clean, and fun for the whole family. It had absolutely no requirement to attack the religion that has given France and Europe most of its history and values. It also did not need to show risque scenes so as to please Mr. Jolly’s constituency. But the “march through the institutions” has taken another scalp in the form of the formerly pristine Olympics. When, in the past, athletes only met at these events and the power of the East and West were put to test, I used to watch the Olympics as much as possible. But today, we have LeBron James, who took a knee against his country’s flag, being the flag-bearer for the United States, and we have American companies funding anti-Christian propaganda. The athletes meet many times a year either through international competitions or during their normal life in, say, club soccer or on the tennis circuit. The excitement of the Olympics has dimmed as professional leagues are more exciting. There are a few sports, like swimming and gymnastics, where the Olympics are still the premier venue.
Mr. Jolly thought he would shock the world with his crude production. When the world stops buying Olympics-associated products and sponsors abandon their support, Mr. Jolly will not have the last laugh.
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