Opening Ceremony

[proserpina65]

On 7/26/2024 at 11:49 PM, NUguy514 said:

And why is it stupid for the athletes for the next host country to appear at the end?  They've been doing this for as long as I can remember (although I, of course, forgot today).

They've only been doing it since the last Summer Games in Tokyo so I guess you haven't been watching for very long. Unlike me - I've been watching since Munich in 1972.  It's stupid because it's unnecessary and confusing.  New isn't always better and this is the perfect example.

On 7/27/2024 at 12:11 AM, Misslindsey said:

I thought I was the only one that disliked Bejing '08 Opening Ceremony. Honestly London 2012 is probably my favorite. I too, liked that Paris tried to do something different. There were parts I enjoyed and parts that were underwhelming, but that is pretty much what I think of most of the opening ceremonies. I tend to prefer the closing ceremonies over the opening ones.

I found the Beijing one underwhelming.  I think the best opening ceremonies were Barcelona and Lillehammer.

 

[NUguy514]

38 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

They've only been doing it since the last Summer Games in Tokyo so I guess you haven't been watching for very long. Unlike me - I've been watching since Munich in 1972.  It's stupid because it's unnecessary and confusing.  New isn't always better and this is the perfect example.

Congratulations on having watched the Olympics for so long, but you know what?  I may have misspoken, but you don't need to be condescending about it.  Just because you don't personally like this change, that does not make it stupid, unnecessary, or confusing, especially since the order always changes based on the host country's language.  It's an inconsequential thing to get worked up over.

[Demian]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

Unlike me - I've been watching since Munich in 1972.  It's stupid because it's unnecessary and confusing.  New isn't always better and this is the perfect example.

You really want to reference Munich? Wow. That's certainly a choice.

[surfgirl]

After thinking about it overnight, I still liked the boat parade, but still would have liked to see the athletes walk into the stadium too (I think they did yes?). As someone else said, all the other entertainment was not that different to what we'd normally see at an opening ceremony, it's just that instead of being confined to one location, all the pieces were done in a variety of locations. I thought the masked dude was a solid play on Les Mis type history, and I really liked the horse riding across the water. I cannot comment on the usualy speeches and opening remarks because NBfuckingC cut away and just gave a quick recap clip of that. The torch lighting was the only thing I wish was more central to the stadium or the Eiffel Tower, but I think they are trying to spread the Omympic love around the city center, as opposed to having it all concentrated around the stadium. They've also put thought into making it a more environmentally friendly Games and perhaps spreading things around is a way to spread lasting improvements to various parts of the city. I give them a 10 for innovation and risk taking because it's fucking France, they are innovative and creative as hell. 

One thing I really appreciate is that fine jewellery house, Chaumet, created the medals, and each medal has a piece of iron from the Eiffel Tower in the center. (it's the dark gray colored pentagon in the center of one side of thr medals)  That's pretty damn cool IMO! 

Edited July 28 by surfgirl

[annzeepark914]

27 minutes ago, surfgirl said:

One thing I really appreciate is that dine jewellery house, Chaumet, created the medals, and each medal has a piece of iron from the Eiffel Tower in the center.  That's pretty damn cool IMO! 

This has got to be one of *the* most exciting bits of info' re: the Paris O's, IMNSHO. Olympic medals are already special, but these medals have a piece of history in them. 

[Browncoat]

Apparently the ceremony made an impression on me, as I keep thinking about it.  Either that or I have no life.  (Probably the latter.)  My latest thoughts -- about the entertainment along the banks of the Seine, and even the fashion show on the bridge -- who were those for?  Surely the athletes in the boats couldn't see up on the bridge?  Did the can-can dancers just keep dancing for the entire parade, or just for a select couple of boats?  I doubt Gaga did that routine more than once.  Did the boats that came through as it got dark just get a non-scenic boat ride along the river?  And if you were an in-person spectator of the boat parade, did you just miss everything else (unless you were situated for one of the entertainment segments)?  

 

[Chaser]

I’ve seen a few comments from spectators who left because they couldn’t see anything. Whoever said it was for the TV audience was accurate. The athletes only saw bits of the performances and didn’t even see the torch ceremony. 

Overall thoughts after a couple days: I think Paris pulled off a few beautiful moments and should be given props for trying to do something so different. I’m happy for those who enjoyed the ceremony. For me, it was missing that Olympic feeling for much of the ceremony. France has some a rich, vibrant history and with this the first really post Covid Olympics I had really high expectations. Perhaps a little too high. I missed the connecting pieces between the art (or the significance of the art in some cases), I was wondering what the athletes were doing, what everyone was seeing, the energy of the audience seemed low. There wasn’t a moment where I was like “I wish I was there”. 

I will say, some of this could have been helped with a strong commentary team explaining some of these elements. Wow, was NBC bad this year.

[baldryanr]

There's something to be said for everyone being in the same place at the same time. It's hard to sustain the energy when they're all spread out.

31 minutes ago, Chaser said:

I will say, some of this could have been helped with a strong commentary team explaining some of these elements. Wow, was NBC bad this year.

People (and not just Americans) may have a split opinion on the various components, but I think almost everyone agrees that Peyton Manning and Kelly Clarkson were horrible choices. 

[Dimity]

9 hours ago, Demian said:

'm thinking the person you're responding to is a troll -- ignore it.  The reference was not to The Last Supper; it was a reference to The Feast Of Dionysus.  (The Smurf representing Dionysus should have been a clue, of course, but how many on the right in the United States are going to acknowledge, or even know about, Greek mythology?)

I was just coming here to say this!  I am going to guess that Greek mythology is about as likely to be taught in US schools as it is here in Canada and most would not be aware that Dionysus is the god of wine and festivity.  Based on my visits to Paris in my university days this choice seemed appropriate!

[ebk57]

1 hour ago, Chaser said:

I’ve seen a few comments from spectators who left because they couldn’t see anything. Whoever said it was for the TV audience was accurate. The athletes only saw bits of the performances and didn’t even see the torch ceremony. 

Overall thoughts after a couple days: I think Paris pulled off a few beautiful moments and should be given props for trying to do something so different. I’m happy for those who enjoyed the ceremony. For me, it was missing that Olympic feeling for much of the ceremony. France has some a rich, vibrant history and with this the first really post Covid Olympics I had really high expectations. Perhaps a little too high. I missed the connecting pieces between the art (or the significance of the art in some cases), I was wondering what the athletes were doing, what everyone was seeing, the energy of the audience seemed low. There wasn’t a moment where I was like “I wish I was there”. 

I will say, some of this could have been helped with a strong commentary team explaining some of these elements. Wow, was NBC bad this year.

From USA Today via Yahoo

I found this interesting in that it agrees with you (and everyone) about how bad the commentary was, but disagrees about being there in-person versus watching on TV.  This person says it was fabulous being there and not so great on TV.

[Shrek]

2 hours ago, Browncoat said:

 Did the boats that came through as it got dark just get a non-scenic boat ride along the river?  And if you were an in-person spectator of the boat parade, did you just miss everything else (unless you were situated for one of the entertainment segments)?  

 

I was reading about the various parts on the BBC website while I watched it on my ipad & they mentioned a few times that there were giant screens along the route for people watching live to see what was going on further along the route so that it wasn't just where they were that the spectators could see.

[Rickster]

28 minutes ago, Dimity said:

I was just coming here to say this!  I am going to guess that Greek mythology is about as likely to be taught in US schools as it is here in Canada and most would not be aware that Dionysus is the god of wine and festivity.  Based on my visits to Paris in my university days this choice seemed appropriate!

Well, I find it interesting that the apology, at least the version I saw this morning, didn't say "you (mainly American) uneducated idiots! The tableau was clearly a representation of the Feast of Dionysus". Instead, it apologized for the misinterpretation and said how they were striving for a representation of diversity, inclusion, etc.

It didn't strike me as the Last Supper when I saw it, and I can see the Dionysian aspects, but I think it would be naive not to think a visual artist might draw inspiration from DaVinci, who died in France, and allude to the Last Supper, maybe with a wink and a nudge, in his development of the tableau. There were plenty of other allusions in other parts of the ceremony.

[Dimity]

15 minutes ago, Rickster said:

It didn't strike me as the Last Supper when I saw it, and I can see the Dionysian aspects, but I think it would be naive not to think a visual artist might draw inspiration from DaVinci, who died in France, and allude to the Last Supper, maybe with a wink and a nudge, in his development of the tableau. There were plenty of other allusions in other parts of the ceremony.

Agreed but the point is people were up in arms and assuming the blue guy was some weird way to be anti-Christian and mocking when it was nothing of the sort.  Some folk are just way to anxious to go looking to take offense.

[baldryanr]

1 hour ago, Rickster said:

Well, I find it interesting that the apology, at least the version I saw this morning, didn't say "you (mainly American) uneducated idiots! The tableau was clearly a representation of the Feast of Dionysus". Instead, it apologized for the misinterpretation and said how they were striving for a representation of diversity, inclusion, etc.

The apology says that "if people have taken offense, we are really sorry".  So it's the standard non-apology that's always issued by famous people.

Plenty of conservative non-Americans (including the French right-wing) were unhappy about it too, so it's not just American whining.  People of all stripes are perfectly capable of getting self righteously outraged without the US leading the charge.

[Shrek]

I love that sort of non apology type apology, what it's really saying is "we don't really care if you were offended & had your lickle feelings hurt now f off". 

[Scout Finch]

1 hour ago, Smokeyblow said:

So you didn't actually see it but were offended by it because someone told you to be offended, there really is no hope. If they tell you to jump off a bridge would you do that as well? 

in June one of my favorite YT people, Beau of the Fifth Column (aka Bearded Man in a Shed!) did a video about a guy who wrote to him all pissed off about the whole 'woke' Pride thing and something about a NY subway stop and Stonewall (which, of course, didn't even turn out to be accurate). On top of that, the guy didn't even live in New York. The question Beau asks is, "Who told you to be angry about it?" How does it even remotely personally affect you?

Years ago I began referring to "politically correct" as "respectfully correct" because, really, it just boils down to being a decent human being. It also seems a bit harder to sneer and boast about not being respectful!

 

Edited July 28 by Scout Finch

[StatisticalOutlier]

10 hours ago, Demian said:

You really want to reference Munich? Wow. That's certainly a choice.

Has the Munich Olympics been erased?  If it was someone's first Olympics opening ceremony, that's simply a fact. 

[Smokeyblow]

48 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Has the Munich Olympics been erased?  If it was someone's first Olympics opening ceremony, that's simply a fact. 

Might have been the first televised in color, I say might only because I know that the 1970 Mexico World Cup was the first year that was televised in color.

[Makai]

26 minutes ago, Smokeyblow said:

Might have been the first televised in color, I say might only because I know that the 1970 Mexico World Cup was the first year that was televised in color.

That was in 1968 for both the winter (Grenoble) and summer (Mexico City) games. 

[Is Everyone Gone]

Apparently most of the US delegation went home after they got off the boat. They were soaking and many of them are playing in locales far away from Paris. Probably tired. 

The basketball team is playing in Lille.

[isalicat]

17 hours ago, Is Everyone Gone said:

They didn't really reinvent the wheel.

I don't remember any previous Olympics with drag queens in a portrayal of what clearly evoked the Last Supper, or anything close to that. Hopefully that was a one and done. Yes, I was offended.

[StatisticalOutlier]

21 minutes ago, isalicat said:

I don't remember any previous Olympics with drag queens in a portrayal of what clearly evoked the Last Supper

I wonder how many people came up with that clear evocation on their own.  I certainly didn't.  In fact, when I heard there was a brouhaha about a depiction of the Last Supper (without knowing drag queens were involved), I couldn't even imagine when it might have been, and wondered if it was a frieze on a bridge or something.

[Makai]

I find it telling that all the uproar is over who was featured in the supposed parody and not that a huge religious moment was being parodied at all. I wasn’t offended because I don’t find drag queens to be offensive. 

Edited July 28 by Makai

[Bastet]

17 hours ago, Demian said:

Not every image of people seated on the same side of a table is a reference to The Last Supper. 

Plus there were people seated on both sides of the runway.

[Browncoat]

And there were more than 13 people at the table.

[Quof]

18 hours ago, Demian said:

Not every image of people seated on the same side of a table is a reference to The Last Supper.

See, to wit, the Golden Girls (and every other television show), because they don't want to film the back of the actors' heads, so some one always sat at the counter.   

[surfgirl]

I get the feeling, when reading assorted online reports, that people who are  offended with: depictions allegedly of The Last Supper (despite the organizers saying it was not), LGBTQ participants in the Opening Ceremony, and a reference to the iconic French Truffaut film, Jules et Jim, have been told to be incensed by their operatives on Facebook College, Instagram University, and Tiktok Community College. Art and History have always been messy and controversial, and nobody does both quite like the French! I'm guessing the men who are offended by the above would be quite happy to gawk at topless women sunbathing on the Côte d'Azur. Just sayin'.

[BlackberryJam]

The Last Supper is an artist’s likely very incorrect imagining of a Bible story. It’s not a realistic illustration of an actual event. It’s highly unlikely that they were all same-side sitting at a long table. Ugh. I’m of the opinion that Leo would have found the whole thing to be a total hoot. Da Vinci was gay, after all. 

[Is Everyone Gone]

12 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

The Last Supper is an artist’s likely very incorrect imagining of a Bible story. It’s not a realistic illustration of an actual event. It’s highly unlikely that they were all same-side sitting at a long table. Ugh. I’m of the opinion that Leo would have found the whole thing to be a total hoot. Da Vinci was gay, after all. 

And Renaissance Italy was a pretty wild, randy place. 

[BlackberryJam]

4 minutes ago, Is Everyone Gone said:

And Renaissance Italy was a pretty wild, randy place. 

Exactly! It was commissioned by Sforza who married a teenager then went super crazy when she died. Da Vinci painted it for money, not because he had some divine inspiration. The Last Supper is not a holy relic painted by or for a particularly pious man. 

[Jaded]

 

[Scout Finch]

But...but...drag queens are icky and I don't understand them and they'll somehow turn kids transgender and [other absurd reason(s)].

So recently on my local Facebook Buy Nothing group I gave away a large batch of about 35 Barbie dolls and clothes a friend had passed along to me. After I had already promised them to a mom and her little girl, another mom responded. She said her little boy would be thrilled to get some Barbie clothes if I had any left. I pulled some of the clothes and decided to throw in three of the dolls, too, from the batch before the first mom came and got everything else.

I didn't want to assume but just wondered if Ken was in the picture because I had some clothing for him, too. She said her son did have a Ron Weasely doll but mainly just dressed him in robes. Because I loved that this little boy felt so free about enjoying the heck out of playing with Barbies I wanted to give him more than just the--to me, anyway--inadequate amount of clothes I'd pulled from the initial batch so I bought a few of those huge packs of clothing (one for Ron, too) to add to it. I just really wanted to make this kid's day/month/year, you know? Afterward, his awesome mom thanked me again and said that her son was just so in love with all the stuff I gave him! I kind of want to play Barbies with him--and I'm 60! 

 

Edited July 29 by Scout Finch

[isalicat]

8 hours ago, Makai said:

I find it telling that all the uproar is over who was featured in the supposed parody and not that a huge religious moment was being parodied at all. I wasn’t offended because I don’t find drag queens to be offensive. 

I don't find drag queens to be offensive in the slightest either! I was offended by the clear and unmistakable reference to Da Vinci's reverent depiction (however historically inaccurate) of a deeply important event for believing Christians within a totally inappropriate context. It is specious and all too easy to poke at a faith system that won't poke you back, unlike others. And the point was supposed to be "diversity", but they were all drag queens, right?

Just another nonsensical aspect of a nonsensical Opening Ceremonies, unfortunately, in my opinion. Paris is so beautiful and a drone flying around showing us the city interspersed with the parade of athletes on the Seine and some music would have been quite enough.

[Makai]

11 hours ago, isalicat said:

I don't find drag queens to be offensive in the slightest either! I was offended by the clear and unmistakable reference to Da Vinci's reverent depiction (however historically inaccurate) of a deeply important event for believing Christians within a totally inappropriate context.

I do not agree that it was a clear and unmistakable reference to the painting. I watched it live and I did not see it despite The Last Supper being one of my favorites pieces of art. There were several clear differences that have already been mentioned. 

Plus the blue guy on a platter reads much more as a reference to Greek gods than Christianity. Dionysus is also the father of the Goddess of the Seine and the layout of Feast of the Gods, bears a striking resemblance to the scene in the opening ceremonies. That painting is also located in France while The Last Supper is is Italy.

Even if it was a reference to the painting, why was it a totally inappropriate context? What made it inappropriate? 

Da Vinci painted it because his patron wanted him to. Artists at that time mostly created religious art because it was what their patron wanted. The art depicted biblical figures and events in ways that resembled the people who lived in the region at the time. If it was an intentional reference to The Last Supper, it would be depicting a biblical event in a way that resembled the artist’s community, exactly as Da Vinci did in his time. 

11 hours ago, isalicat said:

It is specious and all too easy to poke at a faith system that won't poke you back, unlike others.

Christianity pokes back all the time. 

11 hours ago, isalicat said:

And the point was supposed to be "diversity", but they were all drag queens, right?

No. Most of the people involved were not in drag. Most were dancers. The woman in the center was not in drag. She really is a French dj. 

Edited July 29 by Makai

[proserpina65]

On 7/28/2024 at 2:47 AM, Demian said:

You really want to reference Munich? Wow. That's certainly a choice.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with my having referenced the Munich games because they are literally the first Olympic games I ever watch, which is the context in which I mentioned them.

Edited July 29 by proserpina65

[chitowngirl]

Munich would have been the first Olympics that I was aware of.  I was 7.
I remember Mark Spitz’s medals. I learned of the tragedy years later…

[zoomama]

On 7/27/2024 at 8:46 PM, Demian said:

I'm thinking the person you're responding to is a troll -- ignore it. 

i most certainly am not a troll at all. i am just a person that had an opinion that differed with many of you. and lest you worried that it spoiled the olympics for me, waste no energy. i have been watching daily the efforts of all these young people and enjoying the the sports.

[CM-BlueButterfly]

About the making-of of Lady Gaga's and Celine Dion's dress. It only says that Dion's dress had 500m of fringe but with that beading, I'd love to know how heavy it was. 

On that note, she also wore white in Atlanta and other singers did, too. Does anyone know if there's significance to the singer who opens the Games wearing white? 

Lady Gaga's dress included real feathers that were collected during the bird's moult. (Although, it doesn't say which bird, so I'm assuming not one in particular?)

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/fashion-news/a61715593/celine-dion-lady-gaga-olympics-opening-ceremony-costumes/

Celine Dion also posted a picture of the day after. As far as one could tell, she looked good, so I'm hoping that means that she was fine after the performance. 

[Quof]

and Celine wore sneakers

[Coraline Jones]

Wasn't a fan of this opening ceremony! Maybe if it hadn't rained & NBC wasn't covering the event we might have seen more of the athletes?

[Shrek]

14 hours ago, CM-BlueButterfly said:

About the making-of of Lady Gaga's and Celine Dion's dress. It only says that Dion's dress had 500m of fringe but with that beading, I'd love to know how heavy it was. 

On that note, she also wore white in Atlanta and other singers did, too. Does anyone know if there's significance to the singer who opens the Games wearing white? 

Lady Gaga's dress included real feathers that were collected during the bird's moult. (Although, it doesn't say which bird, so I'm assuming not one in particular?)

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/fashion-news/a61715593/celine-dion-lady-gaga-olympics-opening-ceremony-costumes/

Celine Dion also posted a picture of the day after. As far as one could tell, she looked good, so I'm hoping that means that she was fine after the performance. 

It's the Olympic neutral colour as it doesn't designate a particular country. 

[proserpina65]

On 7/29/2024 at 8:42 AM, chitowngirl said:

Munich would have been the first Olympics that I was aware of.  I was 7.
I remember Mark Spitz’s medals. I learned of the tragedy years later…

I was also 7.  My parents didn't watch the early news, only the 11 pm broadcast, and as a result I wasn't much aware of things like terrorism.  Munich was my real-time introduction to the terrible things people could do to each other.  I can only assume my mom didn't turn off the broadcast because she was too transfixed by the horror unfolding live while we were watching.

There were good things to remember about that Olympics.  Mark Spitz and his seven medals, as you mentioned, Olga Korbut issuing in a sea change in women's gymnastics, but anything positive got wiped away by the horror in most people's memories, which makes sense.

Edited July 30 by proserpina65

[Tachi Rocinante]

Late to the topic, but here are my thoughts:

• The beginning was cool but then creepy.
• Gaga was awful.
• The metal band, Gojira, was awesome (they are French.)
• The metal horse was well done.
• Balloon cauldron was a great idea well executed.
• Celine killed it.

That's all I got.  Oh, yeah - shut up, Kelly.

[Demian]

On 7/28/2024 at 2:29 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

Has the Munich Olympics been erased?  If it was someone's first Olympics opening ceremony, that's simply a fact. 

It was my first opening ceremony as well, but what happened after?  That was horrific. Period.  And it's stuck with me throughout my life.

And let's not forget the Beer Hall Putsch and the Munich Agreement.  The Olympics should never have been held in that city in the first place.  It should have gone to Montreal, but oh, surprise!  The second-place city was Madrid, in what was then a fascist stronghold. So, Munich was it, because it was in what was then West Germany -- the good Germany, as opposed to the Soviet Germany.  Lovely.

The Cold War really fucked things up for everyone, right?

Edited August 1 by Demian

[surfgirl]

On 7/28/2024 at 10:35 PM, isalicat said:

Just another nonsensical aspect of a nonsensical Opening Ceremonies, unfortunately, in my opinion. Paris is so beautiful and a drone flying around showing us the city interspersed with the parade of athletes on the Seine and some music would have been quite enough.

There are so many truly awful things going on in our world at the moment, that I just don't have the time, space, or bandwidth to get upset about drag queens possibly making fun of a famous religious painting. I'm personally saving my indignation for really important shit, like authoritarian regimes all over the world, and starvation, and racism, antisemitism, etc. But a bunch of drag queens having fun at the Olympic opening ceremony? Hard pass. Also, and worth mentioning, drag queens and all people who identify as LGBTQ+ have endured probably the bulk of hate directed towards them in their lives coming from people who typically identify as 'devout Christians', so if they wanna poke fun at a famous religious painting, which again, it was said confirmed was not, then I'm gonna give them a big pass.

On 7/30/2024 at 10:05 AM, proserpina65 said:

There were good things to remember about that Olympics.  Mark Spitz and his seven medals, as you mentioned, Olga Korbut issuing in a sea change in women's gymnastics, but anything positive got wiped away by the horror in most people's memories, which makes sense.

These were good things, you are right, and they were overshadowed, and rightly so, by the horrific murders at those Games. That was a horrible event. I was a kid but I remember it well.

Edited August 1 by surfgirl

[SnideAsides]

9 hours ago, Demian said:

It was my first opening ceremony as well, but what happened after?  That was horrific. Period.  And it's stuck with me throughout my life.

And let's not forget the Beer Hall Putsch and the Munich Agreement.  The Olympics should never have been held in that city in the first place.  It should have gone to Montreal, but oh, surprise!  The second-place city was Madrid, in what was then a fascist stronghold. So, Munich was it, because it was in what was then West Germany -- the good Germany, as opposed to the Soviet Germany.  Lovely.

The Cold War really fucked things up for everyone, right?

I mean, if you start ruling out every city that'd had bad things happen there decades earlier, you're not going to be able to find anyone to host the thing. That's a bit like saying London shouldn't have hosted because of The Troubles or Seoul shouldn't have hosted because of the Korean War. I don't blame Munich for wanting to change their international reputation. (Apparently Germany announced last week they're going to bid for 2040, and between Bach being German and the fact they're one of only a few places that can still afford it, it seems like it's probably not that far off being a done deal.)

[Rickster]

4 hours ago, SnideAsides said:

I mean, if you start ruling out every city that'd had bad things happen there decades earlier, you're not going to be able to find anyone to host the thing. That's a bit like saying London shouldn't have hosted because of The Troubles or Seoul shouldn't have hosted because of the Korean War. I don't blame Munich for wanting to change their international reputation. (Apparently Germany announced last week they're going to bid for 2040, and between Bach being German and the fact they're one of only a few places that can still afford it, it seems like it's probably not that far off being a done deal.)

Or another way to think about it: when would it have been OK for Germany to host the Games, if 1972 was too soon. Never?

[CM-BlueButterfly]

Hi everyone,

a couple of posts were removed for name-calling and personally attacking fellow members.

When commenting and replying to your fellow posters, please remember that we’re a community made up of individuals from all walks of life. Our perceptions, interpretations and comfort zones differ based on our different backgrounds, upbringing and experiences.
However, while perceptions, interpretations and comfort zones differ, please keep in mind that the legitimacy of perceptions, interpretations and comfort zones does not; everyone’s perceptions, interpretations and comfort zones are equally valid.

So, just like the Olympic spirit intends for every athlete to be respected and their performance and efforts to be recognized regardless of placement and accomplishments, please express disagreement in ways that recognizes and respects the perception, interpretation and comfort zone of the individual you disagree with. Keep criticism constructive, be mindful of the other person’s perspective when disagreeing, debate the facts and not the individual, and don’t let replies become personal attacks.

Thank you.

Now, back to the Olympics.

 

[surfgirl]

CALLING ALL OLYMPIHOLICS: Tomorrow is the Opening Ceremony for the 2024 Paris Paralympics!

It will be shown Live on USA Network and on Peacock. I think there may also be a Live YouTube feed, starting NOW (10:00amPT/1:00pmET)!

YouTube feed channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi8n36NkW2uCQSFZNiYtuMQ

Edited August 28 by surfgirl