COLUMN: As I See It – Paris opening ceremonies spark fake outrage

The conservative perpetual grievance machine was cranked up into high gear after the Paris Olympic opening ceremonies, and now right-wingers have yet another sport to boycott.

The always aggrieved, always-on-the-lookout for something to complain about radical right thought the opening ceremonies mocked Christianity by making fun of the Last Supper.

Even before the choreographer said the portion in question was an homage to Dionysus, the mythical Greek god of music and dance, it was clear the opening ceremonies were not a spoof of The Last Supper.

Go online and look at the image of Davinci’s masterpiece. There are 13 people on one side of a table – Jesus and his 12 disciples – filled with plates and bread and wine goblets.

The image at the opening ceremonies had at least 17 people on one side of a runway, with another 20 or more people on the other side of the runway, with models strutting their stuff in the pouring Paris rain. There was no table, no food, no wine goblets. There was a DJ and their soundboard. That’s it.

Right-wingers immediately pretended to be outraged, criticizing something they didn’t even have all the facts on (like we haven’t ever heard that before).

They were upset at the people they saw on the runway and beside it.

What many conservatives sadly fail to understand and cannot accept is that the gorgeous tapestry of humanity is full of different beautiful people. Different skin colours, different sexual orientations, different cultures, different genders, different ethnicities and different religious beliefs. (Um, doesn’t the Bible exhort us to “love one another”?)

To the far-right these differences are very threatening, as they want the world made up of only white nationalist Christians.

Besides being uninformed that the runway scene was about Dionysus (and not the Last Supper), the other laughable part of the faux outrage was one very simple fact – if you didn’t like the opening ceremonies, you could have changed the channel. There are roughly 500 TV channels to choose from these days, so if you don’t like what Paris is showcasing to the world, find something else to watch.

The number of sports that conservatives allow themselves to watch is getting smaller and smaller.

They don’t like the NBA because it is easily the most progressive social justice advocate of all the major sports. They don’t watch Major League Baseball because it decided to remove the 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta because of Georgia’s disgusting efforts to make it harder for minorities to vote. Right-wingers claim to have stopped watching the NFL, first because of Colin Kaepernick’s peaceful and non-violent national anthem protest, and then because they thought President Biden – whom they constantly described as weak and unfit for office – was suddenly so strong and powerful that he fixed the NFL playoffs (along with Taylor Swift) to ensure the Chiefs would win the Super Bowl. The right vowed to stop watching their beloved NASCAR because it banned the Confederate Flag and other signs of racism. They also don’t like the NHL because once a year they used to have to endure 15 minutes (that’s right, a whopping 15 minutes!) of warmup where the players wore Pride-themed jerseys.

To that long and growing list of sports they are boycotting because of their never-ending victimhood complex, they can now add the Olympics, the planet’s biggest and most-watched sporting competition.

All they’ve got left to watch are pro wrestling, tractor pulls, bowling and fishing derbies.

Here’s some free advice for easily aggrieved conservatives thinking about watching the Olympic closing ceremonies: don’t. You will once again see the world as it actually is, not as you want it to be.