Olympic opening ceremony

I'll admit it. I watched the opening ceremony for the Olympics. I'll also admit I was impressed with the whole thing. Who can deny being impressed seeing thousands of performers on "stage" at one time. What really turned me off was NBC's commentary of the thing. They had a Chinese expert explaining the whole thing to us while it was going on. The drums in the first production were copies of some just discovered in 2005 and are the oldest musical instrument found in China. And that's an impressive statement. But later, the military marched onto the field and accepted the Chinese flag from a group of children. This showed (according to the expert) how the state protects the children and the public. I just kept thinking of the Olympics in Berlin with Hitler. Sorry, I just don't expect to see the military on the field at the Olympics. And later when a crowd of people supported a solo dancer on what appeared to be a single sheet of fabric, the "expert" gushed how this showed how the many supported every single person in China.

I almost turned it off, but I settled on muting the stinking commentary. The spectacle they put on was very impressive, but before I muted them the commentators stated the performers had been practicing for 8 months. Again I smiled thinking how good the performers could be with the military standing around making them practice. I know it probably didn't happen, but I just couldn't help thinking about it. Face it, China isn't known for it's friendly treatment of it's citizens.

The other thing talked about was security. Heck I remembered how many people were denied visas because the Chinese thought they were dangerous or subversive. And there was the payback to the President's statements by keeping the media penned up on their plane while the Chinese decided if they were going to let them in or not. And then with all the security, and American gets killed in front of his family on a tourist jaunt.

Sorry NBC, it seems China isn't Nirvana like you seem to think. And I guess someone said something about it since I've noticed the commentary has become a little more critical of the Chinese government. Oh how I love the media.

The bottom line, it is still about the athletes. They have trained for years to get to this event and are to be honored for their achievements. Even if they don't win a medal, I salute you for your sacrifice and dedication. The world is watching you and we do see past all the BS spouted by experts. This is your time, rejoice.