Conquer Club

saxitoxin wrote:I didn't see it since it wasn't aired in the U.S. ... I did see on YouTube the clip of the opening part where the head of the ruling family flew around in a luxury helicopter as all citizens froze, and with bizarre rictus smiles affixed to their faces, waved maniacally in unison as she passed by.

However, as I said elsewhere, I thought the '02 Olympics were much better done when George W. Bush and Rambo parachuted into Salt Lake Stadium, or the Nagano games where Emperor Akihito and Pikachu parachuted down.

Oh wait, no, those things never happened.

All in all, Britain turned an international celebration into a tired and sad tribute to militarism. The Sydney opening ceremonies remain the best.

Symmetry wrote:

saxitoxin wrote:I didn't see it since it wasn't aired in the U.S. ... I did see on YouTube the clip of the opening part where the head of the ruling family flew around in a luxury helicopter as all citizens froze, and with bizarre rictus smiles affixed to their faces, waved maniacally in unison as she passed by.

However, as I said elsewhere, I thought the '02 Olympics were much better done when George W. Bush and Rambo parachuted into Salt Lake Stadium, or the Nagano games where Emperor Akihito and Pikachu parachuted down.

Oh wait, no, those things never happened.

All in all, Britain turned an international celebration into a tired and sad tribute to militarism. The Sydney opening ceremonies remain the best.

That wasn't the NHS bit, but I would be interested in hearing how you saw James Bond and the Queen parachuting into the Olympic stadium as an allegory for Socialised Healthcare.

saxitoxin wrote:

Symmetry wrote:

saxitoxin wrote:I didn't see it since it wasn't aired in the U.S. ... I did see on YouTube the clip of the opening part where the head of the ruling family flew around in a luxury helicopter as all citizens froze, and with bizarre rictus smiles affixed to their faces, waved maniacally in unison as she passed by.

However, as I said elsewhere, I thought the '02 Olympics were much better done when George W. Bush and Rambo parachuted into Salt Lake Stadium, or the Nagano games where Emperor Akihito and Pikachu parachuted down.

Oh wait, no, those things never happened.

All in all, Britain turned an international celebration into a tired and sad tribute to militarism. The Sydney opening ceremonies remain the best.

That wasn't the NHS bit, but I would be interested in hearing how you saw James Bond and the Queen parachuting into the Olympic stadium as an allegory for Socialised Healthcare.

I didn't - I was redirecting the thread into a more productive and interesting course of discussion than that proffered by the OP.

Symmetry wrote:

saxitoxin wrote:

Symmetry wrote:

saxitoxin wrote:I didn't see it since it wasn't aired in the U.S. ... I did see on YouTube the clip of the opening part where the head of the ruling family flew around in a luxury helicopter as all citizens froze, and with bizarre rictus smiles affixed to their faces, waved maniacally in unison as she passed by.

However, as I said elsewhere, I thought the '02 Olympics were much better done when George W. Bush and Rambo parachuted into Salt Lake Stadium, or the Nagano games where Emperor Akihito and Pikachu parachuted down.

Oh wait, no, those things never happened.

All in all, Britain turned an international celebration into a tired and sad tribute to militarism. The Sydney opening ceremonies remain the best.

That wasn't the NHS bit, but I would be interested in hearing how you saw James Bond and the Queen parachuting into the Olympic stadium as an allegory for Socialised Healthcare.

I didn't - I was redirecting the thread into a more productive and interesting course of discussion than that proffered by the OP.

Have a look at the ceremony- it was definitely on in the US, so I'm sure you can take a look at the NHS bit. I think there's a thread further down about the other parts.

Symmetry wrote:Did any of you catch the opening ceremony directed by Danny Boyle? What did you think about the part celebrating the National Health Service?

Reading some of the summaries from the US it seems that a lot of Americans found the sequence celebrating socialized medicine in the UK to be a bit confusing, or even propaganda, while enjoying the rest.

Source

PLAYER57832 wrote:

Symmetry wrote:Did any of you catch the opening ceremony directed by Danny Boyle? What did you think about the part celebrating the National Health Service?

Reading some of the summaries from the US it seems that a lot of Americans found the sequence celebrating socialized medicine in the UK to be a bit confusing, or even propaganda, while enjoying the rest.

Source

I believe those "summaries" are rather biased. The propaganda machine in the US is fully vested in assuring people that socialized medicine is horrible... never mind any facts in the matter.

Symmetry wrote:

PLAYER57832 wrote:

Symmetry wrote:Did any of you catch the opening ceremony directed by Danny Boyle? What did you think about the part celebrating the National Health Service?

Reading some of the summaries from the US it seems that a lot of Americans found the sequence celebrating socialized medicine in the UK to be a bit confusing, or even propaganda, while enjoying the rest.

Source

I believe those "summaries" are rather biased. The propaganda machine in the US is fully vested in assuring people that socialized medicine is horrible... never mind any facts in the matter.

It was that they seemed generally positive, but confused about that bit. I wouldn't go so far as to say propaganda on the US side, but that a genuine outright celebration seemed so alien that it was confusing.

Frigidus wrote:Are Americans actually watching the olympics?

Symmetry wrote:

Frigidus wrote:Are Americans actually watching the olympics?

I would hope so, at least for the basketball.

Americans have reacted with confusion to the glorification of free universal health care in the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony as the country continues to be divided by the debate over its own healthcare system.
Last night's spectacular $42million, the brainchild of Oscar-winning British director Danny Boyle, included a segment where dozens of skipping nurses and children in pajamas leaping acrobatically on massive hospital beds, with a large 'NHS' displayed.
It was a celebration of Britain's national health service, which has provided free taxpayer-funded health care to everyone in the country since its foundation after the Second World War.
But some commentators, including the Mark Sappenfield of the Christian Science Monitor, have suggested that the Opening Ceremony director Danny Boyle may have been sending a coded message to American voters.

Pander88uk wrote:wrist on the mend

GreecePwns wrote:What is immoral about the systems ahead of the UK?