Two quick points. One, it's one thing to celebrate the Confusion ideal of 'harmony' - I'm down with harmony - but harmony in modern totalitarian China is another.
Besides harmony, another value celebrated last night was 'openness.' In fairness, the director of the opening ceremony is a Chinese filmmaker who wants to push his native land. According to the New York Times he wanted to highlight periods in Chinese history when the nation was open to outside influences. But today, the interaction with the west is a one-way street dictated by a totalitarian state. Again, it's one thing to engage the west - and multi-national corporations - in the Olympics and another to continue to monitor and censure the internet, ban international newspapers, etc. Ironic that the ceremony highlighted for the world that China is open to the world, but I doubt that message will reach the Chinese public.
At least for me, watching a Chinese-produced ceremony highlighting harmony and openness is like watching a ceremony produced by apartheid-era South Africa highlighting brotherhood and equality.
I enjoyed the parade of nation for the expected reasons: watching Greece (and their tainted athletes) march in, and then seeing Lopez Lomong carry the US flag into the stadium. On Greece, I didn't spot any of the basketball players. Since we are in a hotel room in Elizabeth City (a brief stop on our way to the Outer Banks) I didn't have TiVO so could not pause the screen.
More irony when Greek-American Bob Costas noted that the Olympics has gone from the smallest nation ever to host the Games - Greece - to the most populous in four years, ignoring the political-historical and liberty-chasm between the two countries.
Maybe I expected too much, but I thought NBC would make a bigger deal about Lopez Lomong. That guy is THE story for me, not all the China red-washing. He didn't get enough screen time for me.
OK - time to leave the hotel for the Outer Banks.
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