2024 Paris Olympics megathread

[Sophie Scholl]

Trying very hard to stay civil and silent. 

[Grey Fox]

Charlie Hebdo is wondering why and how is anticléricalism is not clear enough for the Anglo world.

[Barrister]

Trying very hard to stay civil and silent. 

Don't.  Let 'er rip.

Well I mean - I guess it'd be nice if you're civil - but don't be afraid to tell us how you feel.  I won't be offended.  As long as you're not offended if I call you a, how did I put it, "fucking fuck-faced fuck" as I did to Jacob the other day.

[Jacob]

I suspect that having the Catholic church talk trash about something involving trans people and calling it an insult doesn't sit well with Sophie.

Taking something that's intended to be celebratory and inclusive for trans people and calling it juvenile and offensive to people who despise them - and making it all about the feelings of religious people - might feel kind of shitty.

Just a guess though.

[Barrister]

I suspect that having the Catholic church talk trash about something involving trans people and calling it an insult doesn't sit well with Sophie.

Taking something that's intended to be celebratory and inclusive for trans people and calling it juvenile and offensive to people who despise them - and making it all about the feelings of religious people - might feel kind of shitty.

Just a guess though.

I would also guess it's something along those lines.

I was just encouraging her to share how she feels - if she feels like it.

Not saying everyone will agree with her, but this is a place for the sharing of opinions,

[The Brain]

I haven't seen Christians attacking the use of Imagine in the opening ceremony, a song which is explicitly anti-religion. So it seems to be only about hating teh trans and teh gays.

[Richard Hakluyt]

According to this the "critics" have the wrong painting anyway :

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/29/olympic-last-supper-scene-based-painting-greek-gods-art-experts

"Leonardo da Vinci's much-parodied The Last Supper portrays the final meal Jesus is said to have taken with his apostles. However, the creative director of the opening ceremony, Thomas Jolly, denied the scene, titled "Festivity", was based on the painting.


"That wasn't my inspiration," he told BFM TV. "I think it was pretty clear. There's Dionysus who arrives at the table ... Why is he there? Because he's the god of feasting, of wine, and the father of Sequana, the goddess of the River Seine." "

...and, just like there are 12 apostles there are 12 Olympians; the essential similarity then is that there is a dining table in both paintings.

But this is a new line of attack by the right, getting offended on behalf of Christians so they can get at whichever minority group they hate most this week.

[Admiral Yi]

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=dionysus+painting

If he's talking about this painting I don't see the table, and I don't see everyone facing the same way.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I think that is the Titian painting you are referring to. It is a popular subject    . The one that is cited in the article is "The Feast of the Gods, painted by the artist Jan van Bijlert".

Which has a table with a white tablecloth and is not actually complete https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Festin_des_dieux

[Josquius]

Needs validation as it's just a random thing shared from twitter I saw.
But interesting slant on the Algerian boxer story - apparently all was fine, repeatedly passing these same tests, doing OK but not stellar, until in 2023 at a tournament in Russia she beat a Russian boxer (or was it was due to face one in the quarter finals. I do not recall) and mysteriously failed a gender check.
Fascinating how out of control it seems to be getting on twitter and other loony right spaces. Alongside the Southport fallout it really seems something is shifting dramatically to stir the pot more than usual.

[Sheilbh]

I feel like trampolining gold medalist Bryony Page who wrote her dissertation on the sounds dinosaurs made is really smashing her childhood goals.

[Syt]

I mean, it tracks - everyone knows that Algeria is a notoriously woke country pushing the trans agenda for world domination ... 

JK Rowling posted on the Musker:

"Could any picture sum up our new men's rights movement better? The smirk of a male who knows he's protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he's just punched in the head, and whose life's ambition he's just shattered."

So, since she misgendered the lady boxer ... is she saying that she should transition to being male? I thought she was an advocate that people should be identified with the gender they were assigned at birt ...

Unless she's taking a page from 19th century Vienna Mayor Dr. Karl Lueger, a proponent of anti-semitic policies who, when seen sitting in a café with Jews said, "I decide who's Jewish." I guess JKR decides who gets to be male or female now.

[Maladict]

According to this the "critics" have the wrong painting anyway :

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/29/olympic-last-supper-scene-based-painting-greek-gods-art-experts

"Leonardo da Vinci's much-parodied The Last Supper portrays the final meal Jesus is said to have taken with his apostles. However, the creative director of the opening ceremony, Thomas Jolly, denied the scene, titled "Festivity", was based on the painting.


"That wasn't my inspiration," he told BFM TV. "I think it was pretty clear. There's Dionysus who arrives at the table ... Why is he there? Because he's the god of feasting, of wine, and the father of Sequana, the goddess of the River Seine." "

...and, just like there are 12 apostles there are 12 Olympians; the essential similarity then is that there is a dining table in both paintings.

But this is a new line of attack by the right, getting offended on behalf of Christians so they can get at whichever minority group they hate most this week.

The art director doesn't say he was influenced by any painting at all. That's someone else who is not involved with the ceremony and is rather unhelpfully pointing to a different painting.

Dionysus being the father of Sequana does make a lot of sense, I didn't know that.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Fair enough.

[Tamas]

I mean, it tracks - everyone knows that Algeria is a notoriously woke country pushing the trans agenda for world domination ... 

JK Rowling posted on the Musker:

"Could any picture sum up our new men's rights movement better? The smirk of a male who knows he's protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he's just punched in the head, and whose life's ambition he's just shattered."

So, since she misgendered the lady boxer ... is she saying that she should transition to being male? I thought she was an advocate that people should be identified with the gender they were assigned at birt ...

Unless she's taking a page from 19th century Vienna Mayor Dr. Karl Lueger, a proponent of anti-semitic policies who, when seen sitting in a café with Jews said, "I decide who's Jewish." I guess JKR decides who gets to be male or female now.

Yeah I used to defend her because I think her basic concern was/is valid but she really jumped the gun with this one.

The Algerian isn't a transgendered person so has zero relevance on that topic.

Having said that though, watching their match against the Italian lady... it just doesn't feel right.