The Olympic Ceremony - "A Hate Letter" to Christianity
Paris spent $1.5 billion on its attempt to dazzle the world with a four-hour extravaganza to mark the start of the Olympic games. Yep, you read that right - $1.5 billion!
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And what did the world get? In the words of Gavin Ashendon: "a hate letter that has now been signed."
Those watching witnessed a full-on Woke dystopian re-creation of Jesus Christ’s Last Supper.
Thankfully it was on record whilst grandchildren and I were "otherwise engaged" - i.e. playing water pistols in the garden.
The Olympic
Committee claimed the burlesque performance was an “interpretation of the
Greek God [of wine and festivity] Dionysus” to make viewers “aware of
the absurdity of violence between human beings.”
Yeah, sure, that explains those flying pigs!
The scene featured some half-naked performers, one in the middle with a halo atop her head, behind a long table. Another naked, painted blue, with his/her/cis genitalia covered in fruit.
Compare and contrast:
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You don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to detect what's afoot here.
The show's artistic director, I use the word loosely, Thomas Jolly, who is homosexual, had pledged that the ceremony would celebrate “diversity” and “otherness.” He informed Vogue he was seeking to demonstrate that there is “room for everyone in Paris. Maybe it’s a little chaotic, it’s true, but that allows everyone to find a place for themselves."
The opening ceremony "will be a success," Jolly said, “if everyone feels represented in it.”
Well, by that measure, Mr Jolly, it was a total failure.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, he said that his intention had not
“been to be subversive or to shock.”
Sure .... there's those flying, winged, pink creatures again.
“Last night it was about our Republican values of benevolence and inclusion,” he told reporters. “In France, you have the right to love as you like, who you like. In France, you can believe (in religion) or not believe. In France, we have lots of rights,” he added.
Sure .... except for Christians, whose most sacred moments must be mocked for the sake of queer inclusion. Imagine iIf the Paris elites had chosen to mock Islam in a similar way. Paris would be burning now.
French bishops have complained about the “scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity” during the ceremony. “We think of all Christians across the continents who were hurt by the excesses and provocation of certain scenes. We hope they understand that the Olympic celebration extends far beyond the ideological biases of a few artists,” added the bishops.
Bishop Barron took was left baffled and incensed. “France felt evidently, as it’s trying to put its best cultural foot forward, that the right thing to do is to mock this very central moment in Christianity,” Barron says in his two-minute video posted to the social media platform X in which his sense of indignation and genuine hurt is palpable.
He explains that in addition to the “gross, flippant mockery” of the Christian Faith, it’s made all the worse given the fact that “France used to be called the elder daughter of the Church.” Barron also notes that “France, whose culture, and I mean the honouring of the individual, human rights, freedom, is grounded very much in Christianity.”
"Modern society knows who its enemy is; they’re naming it and we should believe them, they are telling us who it is,” Barron says. As a result, he adds, “Catholics must not be sheepish” and need to “resist” and to make their voices heard.
He then highlights “would they ever have dared mocked Islam in a similar way?” or “would they ever have dreamed of mocking in this gross public way a scene from the Quran?” before adding the obvious:
“We all know the answer.”
Anyway, here's Gavin Ashendon's take on this disgrace:
To be honest, I struggle to care. It's what you'd expect from a 15 year old trying to be edgy. It's boring now. And it's nothing new. One of the earliest drawings of Christ is the Alexamenos graffito, a blasphemous depiction of the crucifixion dated some time between the first and third century.
ReplyDeleteWhat does Scripture say? 'He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.' 'He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.' 'If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.'
I tend to agree with what Laurence Fox posted about this: 'They crave your outrage. They hate your laughter. Let [them] have their fun and turn off your TV. Olympics. What Olympics? Best way.'
But this isn't just about mocking Christ. It's about attacking basic morality and ushering in and celebrating a return to Greco-Roman decadence.
DeleteIt's no coincidence that Dionysus was centre stage in mocking Christianity.
From Wiki:
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus by the Greeks (a name later adopted by the Romans) for a frenzy he is said to induce called baccheia.
As Dionysus Eleutherius ("the liberator"), his wine, music, and ecstatic dance free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful. His thyrsus, a fennel-stem sceptre, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and a weapon used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents. Those who partake of his mysteries are believed to become possessed and empowered by the god himself.
Same as it ever was. The Church has always been opposed to the world, she has just been lulled into complacency by a few centuries of 'Christian values' being conflated with acceptable social mores. But this has always gone on 'in the darkness', and has now emerged once more.
Delete'Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.'
Abba Antony said, 'Hate the world and all that is in it. Hate all peace that comes from the flesh. Renounce this life, so that you may be alive to God. Remember what you have promised God, for it will be required of you on the day of judgment. Suffer hunger, thirst, nakedness, be watchful and sorrowful; weep, and groan in your heart; test yourselves, to see if you are worthy of God; despise the flesh, so that you may preserve your souls.'
... what you'd expect from a 15 year old ...
DeleteYes, I feel it fails as an artistic parody. The figure at the centre looks more like she’s presiding at a Women’s Institute or Mothers’ Union meeting, simultaneously doing her knitting rather than breaking bread.
I almost agree with Lain, except I'm not bored by it, but nauseated instead.
ReplyDeleteIt's the smug hypocrisy, the humbug that gets me.
All this guff about diversity and inclusivity,, it's just cowardice, like a nineties comedian thinking they are edgy because they're slagging the Tories.
It's all too predictable because the targets are chosen because they are safe. The edgy opponents are left alone because they hit back
Literally.
So yes ignore them. Doesn't stop me being annoyed.
I almost agree with Lain
DeleteHarder you must try, young Padawan!
it's just cowardice, like a nineties comedian thinking they are edgy because they're slagging the Tories
Precisely (I'll take your word about the nineties!). Once upon a time, comedians, artists and musicians challenged the establishment, made people think, and provided a necessary corrective for the foibles of the status quo. Now, they parrot the values of the establishment, of government and big corporations, and think that they're on the cutting edge. It's all designed, quite cleverly, to make people think that they're rebelling when they're simply confirming to the world. This is why they would never parody a certain other faith (not that such acts have any place in opening a sporting event, but Charlie Hebdo tried that and it didn't work out well for them), or the shortcomings of the establishment - that would wake people up, and this is all intended to keep people asleep (Eph 5:14).
It reminds me of the lyrics from one of Morrisey's songs:
World peace is none of your business
You must not tamper with arrangements
Work hard and sweetly pay your taxes
Never asking "what for?"
World peace is none of your business
So would you kindly keep your nose out
The rich must profit and get richer
And the poor must stay poor.
It's all just so much white noise, and I'm so bored of it. In our baptismal vows, Christians are called to reject what's variously translated as Satan's pomp, his empty promises, empty shows, or the glamour of evil (in the old sense of glamour as illusion or enchantment). Evil is empty. Like the prisoner in Plato's cave, once you realise that it's all just tricks and shadows, you can't take any of it seriously. The prince of this world has no power over those who are in Christ; I refuse to allow him the satisfaction of affecting me. I will simply continue to pray that those living in thrall to his delusions will find liberation.
Whilst Lain's perspective is broadly correct, I agree with Bishop Barron who says. “Catholics must not be sheepish” and we need to “resist” this and make our voices heard. These self appointed elites who dominate our culture need to have their power bases undermined through political and social action. Every parent and grandparent has a duty to do this in their local communities.
Delete'Broadly correct' 🤨
DeleteI see that Catholic bishops from around the world (even the Germans), the Russian Orthodox Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church have released statements condemning the opening ceremony's treatment of Christianity (I can't find anything from Justin Welby). This is good, the churches should raise their voices.
On an individual level, we are called to die to the world, which entails not being ensnared in its dramas and illusions. Most of us are powerless to affect any wider change beyond the individual choices that affect us. We can vote, for what good that does, and control what we do and consume - e.g., not feed our minds and souls spiritual junk food like this. To a degree, I am grateful that society is now choosing to air its dark side in plain sight - it makes discernment much easier and is waking a lot of people up.
But social moral decline is too big and too far outside of the individual's control, which is why it doesn't deserve our outrage. When one is outraged by such things (which are endless) then, like a dieter who spends all their time thinking about not eating cakes, one constantly has one's mind on the things of Satan. As St. Pophyrios says, when tempted by sin, one shouldn't fight the temptation, but rather turn one's mind to Christ - 'If evil comes to assault you, turn all you inner strength to good, to Christ. Pray, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me"'.
Personally, when I see clips from this ceremony, I feel deeply sorry for those people who are trapped in their own narcissistic delusions. How terrible it must be to be that broken spiritually that you don't even realise it, and believe that gyrating naked in blue body paint brings you wholeness.
I think that the example of St. Dominic is instructive. His chronicler, Bl. Jordan of Saxony, wrote:
Whilst he thus labored to make his own soul pleasing to God, the fire of divine love was daily more and more enkindled in his breast, and he was consumed with an ardent zeal for the salvation of infidels and sinners. To move the divine mercy to regard them with pity, he spent often whole nights in the church at prayer, watering the steps of the altar with abundance of tears, in which he was heard to sigh and groan before the Father of mercy, in the earnestness and deep affliction of his heart; never ceasing to beg with the greatest ardor, the grace to gain some of those unhappy souls to Christ.
I meant to add that we should apply St. Porphyrios' words to situations such as these, and simply turn our minds to the good things of Christ rather than dwell on wretchedness.
DeleteIt seems Adriann Hilton agrees with you, Lain:
DeleteAdrian Hilton on X
I think a sense of proportion is needed, not only because Olympics are about sporting excellence, not a bit of debauched theatre; but because Jesus said Christians would be mocked and reviled, and our mission is to turn the other cheek and love, rejoice and be glad.
Our Ade does have his moments of clarity!
Delete..Turn the other cheek... does not mean you should not speak out forcefully. and defend what is right..it means you shouldn't punch them in the head while you are doing it...Prayers should be accompanied by action...Cowardice is a sin.....Our mission is to love and rejoice but not while Satan is strangling the life out of our kids..Jesus wrecked the money changers' tables....can't stand by watching it all happen without doing something.....Christianity is not a masochistic cult...Cressida
DeletePicking one's battles isn't cowardice. There are things that lie within our power to change, and things that do not; we need, in the words of Reinhold Niebuhr's prayer, 'the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.'
DeleteI have no control over what the French Olympic Committee choose to do, so it's pointless wasting my time and energy being outraged by it. What I do have power over is whether I watch it, so I will choose not to; they won't make a penny from me. Likewise, I gave up my TV license many years ago because I didn't wish to contribute towards the drivel the BBC put out; but far too many Christians are still spluttering with outrage at every new 'woke' show that airs, while still handing over £169 every year to pay for said shows because they can't do without watching a dancing show on a Saturday night.
Several companies have pulled their sponsorship from the Olympics in protest over the opening ceremony; these are the people who can make a difference, and we can make a difference by supporting those companies.
Ultimately, a problem cannot be solved by the same mindset that created it, and I'm concerned at the number of Christians and/or conservatives (in the wider media, I'm not addressing anybody here) whose reaction to this comes from the same place of identity-driven offence-taking that has birthed all this about in the first place. Just as one cannot use blood to wash blood from one's robe, anger and hatred cannot defeat anger and hatred - nothing that comes from a place of negative emotion can yield good fruit. Our reaction should come from a place of love for, and sorrow over, lost souls. As St. Peter says, 'Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.'
St. Seraphim of Sarov said, 'Acquire the Spirit of Peace and a thousand souls around you will be saved.' Finding the peace of God is ultimately far most important than any secular sh*t show. I refuse to be upset or offended by this, because I will not hand over the reins to my emotional and spiritual state to a bunch of narcissists.
The special Holy See representative to the 2024 Olympic games, Bishop Emmanuel Gobilliard, had this to say:
Delete“The fact that our religion should be mocked is usual and we are used to blasphemy in France, but the context isn’t the same. In an event that brings together all or part of the population, I found this staging hurtful and out of place. It is contrary to the Olympic Charter, to the dimension of unity that is present in its values, to the idea of bringing everyone together, without political and religious demonstrations.
"What shocked me most is that the freedom of spirit and tone claimed by those who set this up shouldn't be directed against others. You can make fun of your own ideas, laugh at yourself, why not? But to mock the faith and religion of others in this way … is very shocking. That was my first reaction."
"Why there? It is contrary to the Olympic Charter, to the dimension of unity that is present in its values, to the idea of bringing everyone together, without political and religious demonstrations. Why exclude believers and Christians? It was the last place to do that. We were to respect the spirit of the Olympic Charter. We are out of it now.
"The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.
He added, "all the Christians who watched it suffered this derision," and "many Christian athletes suffered it, the IOC and its president, Thomas Bach. I don't think he knew about it."
Balanced and considered remarks.
Just looking at your illustrations, @Jack. Did they really have the four horsemen of the Apocalypse as well? I hadn't seen that mentioned anywhere. Or was it just the one horseman, the pale horse?
ReplyDeleteJust the Pale Horse, Ray. Significant in itself.
DeleteThe hammering rain provided the perfect commentary on the opening ceremony.
DeleteNow we have medals being awarded to men for hitting women.
But God has written his truth into creation. Men are men, and thunderstorms cannot be stopped.
Putting aside the blasphemous aspects of it, this is just so indicative of the absolute collapse in the so-called "artistic" community. Aesthetically, I don't believe I've ever seen anything so utterly worthless. Don't artists have any shame about their own creativity?
ReplyDeleteWhoever the people are who have been appointed to prepare the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, they must have felt a sense of relief in watching Friday’s performance in Paris. Improving on Paris won’t be much of a challenge, after all. Two obvious changes ought to be very easy indeed. First, make sure you hold the ceremony in a proper stadium, not just in the streets or along the riverside. Second, try not to antagonise Jews or Muslims or Hindus or Christians or any other religion. All previous Olympics, as far as I know, have managed to do that. Paris is the only one that failed the test.
DeleteThey aren't artists, they're propagandists. Humans are made in the image of the Creator, and when we create - when artists create art, composers create music, parents create life - we are participating in God's work and aligning ourselves with our divine purpose, and it is beautiful.
DeleteEvil, or 'the world' in the Johannine sense, on the other hand, because it is empty and has no substance, cannot create anything. It can merely tear down, mock and twist what has gone before it, and it's always ugly.
. . . brought to you by the emperor VOMITIAN.
ReplyDeleteSurely you mean the Latin Emperor Vomitia cere?
DeleteThis little chap nailed it .... but then HJ is biased.
ReplyDeletehttp://disq.us/p/2zquygk
I saw an interesting comment somewhere earlier today in a discussion of how 'they'd never dare do something like this with Islam'. The commenter said that secular culture doesn't mock Islam not simply because of the possibility of reprisals but because, on an existential level, it doesn't fear Islam. It fears Christianity, though, because it knows that it is true, which is why Christianity is continually targeted and demeaned.
DeleteI think there's a lot of truth to that. This is not, fundamentally, a clash of cultures, moral systems, or worldviews, but of religions. (Hu)man is a religious animal, and if an established religion is removed, something else will fill the vacuum. The architects of the French Revolution recognised this, when they attempted (hamfistedly and, as such, unsuccessfully) to replace Catholicism with the Cult of the Supreme Being. Totalitarian regimes usually come with the trappings of religion: instead of an image of Buddha you must hang one of Mao, or replace your icon with a picture of Stalin, or make obeisance to a flag.
'Wokeness' is a religion, and a medieval one at that. Everything it pretends to despise in religion it co-opts. It has a set of immutable dogmas which one may not challenge (the Creed), least one be ousted as a heretic and have one's life destroyed with great destructive fervour (the Inquisition). It proscribes 'problematic' texts that must be revised or banned (hello, Index Librorum Prohibitorum). It has an oppression ranking, where one's views are more authoritative the higher up it one goes (the ecclesial hierarchy). It has white privilege and patriarchy, of which one is guilty simply by birth (original sin). It has the miraculous transformation of man into woman (transubstantiation). It has saints and martyrs and sends forth acolytes into all the world (currently, for some reason, drag queens), and it absolutely cannot abide mockery or criticism.
Once one understands this, it all starts to make sense.
Good perspectives, Grasshopper.
DeleteAll of which is true of false religion, but none of which is true of the truth.
DeleteIf the truth doesn't have immutable dogma (Gk. lit. 'What one thinks to be true') then, by definition, it isn't the truth.
DeleteIf truth isn't transformative then it's not truth it's just ... most of British religion. Truth requires transformation.
If it doesn't make saints, it isn't the truth. If it doesn't have martyrs (Gk. lit. witnesses) or acolytes (Gk., a follower, lit, 'having one way') it's dead, and dead things are not the truth.
And now a teenage boy who went on a killing spree in a children’s dance class in Southport. What has gone wrong? Is there nowhere left to lock up homicidal lunatics?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jul/29/boy-17-arrested-after-at-least-eight-people-stabbed-in-southport
As the world goes mad is it any wonder .... ?
DeleteFrench culture famous for its beauty and artistic creativity was seriously diminished . Apart from the anti Christian content ,this third rate disjointed disgraceful fiasco failed in all aspects of artistry and creativity. It was anti French and an attack and an insult to anyone raised in a French family with traditional French values . There are still a lot of those people about, heartbroken and still reeling from this assault .Thomas Jolly the creative director needs to get his jollies off somewhere else , anywhere else, other than an event showcasing this once proud nation who has given so much to the world.
ReplyDeleteVIVE LA FRANCE....Cressida
DeleteAll these shabby denials by bumbling French officials are transparently false and deceive nobody. Crux, a Rome-based news site, has posted a report (link below) in which two of the performers confirm that their intention was precisely to parody Leonardo’s Last Supper:
ReplyDelete• The French drag queen and rapper known as Piche from the show Drag Race France spoke to French media, saying the intention was to create a tableau of the Last Supper.
• Butch posted a screenshot image of her performance in the Last Supper parody above an image of Da Vinci’s original painting to her Instagram account with the comment, “Oh yes! Oh yes! The new gay testament!”
“Butch” is the central figure, a parody of Jesus Christ. We are not told which one is “Piche”.
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-europe/2024/07/paris-olympic-committee-makes-soft-apology-for-last-supper-drag-parody
I watched the video *Olympics opening ceremony: beyond the drag last supper.* on the *Scottish Family Party* channel, about 15 minutes.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=114qyRqcCh8
At the beginning it mentions the statue of a woman who was instrumental in legalizing abortion in France, followed by the scene where three people catch each other’s eye and saunter off for a bit of polyamory. . . In the middle one might find it rather verbose, but at the end it makes the point that Putin and the leaderships of PR China and Iran can easily use this to justify their attitudes towards the West.
Friday's spectacle provided clear evidence that the West has now sold out, lock, stock, and barrel, to frociaggine, an Italian word that Pope Francis kindly taught us a couple of months ago.
Deletehttps://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2024/05/27/pope-francis-homosexual-seminary-248027
What's going on in Southport? They've arrested the murderer (the "suspect") but they don't seem to have announced his name. Presumably it's a Muslim-sounding name, is that right?
DeleteApparently, his ethnicity is Rwandan. But you're correct about holding off on his name. They claim it's because of his age, but if he was John Smith or Will Jones, you can bet the farm you'd have heard it within minutes of the attack.
DeleteThree weeks into Labour's reign and we've had riots in Leeds, London and Southport; a solider stabbed, armed airport police attacked, and three children killed. The government has responded with strongly worded tweets. So much for the 'adults being back in charge'.
DeleteThis will, of course, all be twisted around to blame the 'far right' bogeyman. The appalling lack of transparency surrounding what's happened in Southport, which has allowed conspiracy theories to circulate and fed into the rioting, will be used to justify more draconian government censorship of online discourse to protect us from 'misinformation'. Cooper is already hinting at such.
The judge in this case will be able in due course to reveal the young person's name if s/he considers it to be in the "public interest".
DeleteThe misinformation and lies online is a matter of concern. HJ isn't sure this can be addressed but it certainly appears to be the case this was deliberately intended to cause unrest.
Prayers for the victims of this attack, the children and their families - and also for the Rwandan family of the perpetrator. God knows what got into the mind of this man.
It's worth keeping in mind there was a surge of refugees from Rwanda in the 1990s due to the genocide taking place there against the Tutsis during the civil war in that country when between 500,000 and I million people were massacred.
DeleteOn October 1, 1990, the Tutsi-led RPF launched its attack on Rwanda from Uganda, beginning the civil war. These attacks displaced thousands of Rwandans.
From what HJ can gather, some 600,00 people left this country, with 35,000 coming to Europe.
I think restoring faith in the government and media would go a long way towards addressing online misinformation. I read somewhere that a recent survey found that only 9% of people thought politicians were trustworthy. So long as the government continues to ignore the elephant in the room that is mass migration and cultural breakdown, to label genuine concerns and alternate viewpoints as misinformation and engage in two tier responses (Leeds rioters = the community, Southport rioters = far right thugs), the citizenry and their (barely elected) leaders will grow ever further apart and people will turn to @lionheartpatriot1066 on Twitter for their news, because they know their government and media aren't being honest with them. If truths that the government don't like are labelled as misinformation, then nobody will take any notice of them when the real lies come along. The Boy Who Cried Misinformation, and all that.
DeleteThis country feels like a powder keg at the moment.
The world is a powder keg at the moment - we're at one of the 'turning points' of history.
DeleteIn other news:
ReplyDeleteMuslim Leaders Condemn ‘Disgraceful’ Olympics Scene:
It ‘Offended Us as Much as Them’
Top government officials in Iran and Turkey, along with other Muslim religious figures, are speaking out against the drag-queen-led parody of the Last Supper at the Paris Olympics.
https://www.ncregister.com/cna/muslim-leaders-condemn-disgraceful-olympics-scene-it-offended-us-as-much-as-them
ReplyDeleteJust reading about what must be a new low for the Olympic Games. The IOC evidently does not have on its registers the name of any medically qualified personnel who know how to tell the difference between a man and a woman.
Tomorrow morning, so it says here, a man and a woman will enter the ring together for a boxing match. The IOC pretends to believe that both boxers are women.
https://sports.yahoo.com/thank-god-got-safely-female-214227867.html
I hate to say it, given how much they've given up to get to these levels of their sport, but it's incumbent upon women who don't want to be competing against transgender opponents to not compete. That's the only way anything will change. I don't have much sympathy for female athletes who stand smiling in second and third place on the podium when a trans athlete wins, and later complain it's unfair. Sometimes you do have to be the change you want to see, even if it comes at a price.
DeleteMy wifes aunt and uncle when it time for the Olympics will with almost monotonous regularity condemn it as a pagan festival. I always thought of them as being a bit obsessed and unbalanced about it
ReplyDeleteNow I think they are probably right.
An interesting account of the Games' pagan origins and their end:
Deletehttps://theconversation.com/mythbusting-ancient-rome-did-christians-ban-the-ancient-olympics-92023
So really we're just restoring the traditions of Olympian sacrifices and libations to the gods
DeleteIndeed. Time is a flat circle.
DeleteOh I have read about the origins already. But I've felt up until the last week that the current Olympics had nothing to do with the original games and were devoutly secular.
DeleteI'm changing my mind.
I don't know; the ancient Greeks might have been pagan but at least they believed in something divine, in virtue and ethics and beauty. I don't think they'd want anything to do with this nihilistic lot.
Delete@Happy Jack
ReplyDeleteThe world is a powder keg at the moment - we're at one of the 'turning points' of history.
On top of everything else, Ayatollah Khamenei just got a humiliating punch on the nose when an unidentified attacker showed the world just how much protection his foreign guests can expect when they turn up in Tehran. As turning points go, the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh may not be quite up there with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that day in Sarajevo, but I wouldn't describe it as negligible, either.
Yes, what an outrage by Israel. How dare they assassinate the leader of the terrorists waging war against them!
DeleteAyatollah Ali Khamenei says it is Iran’s “duty” to avenge Haniyeh’s death since he was killed inside Iran. At a news conference in Tehran, Hamas deputy head, Khalil Al-Hayya, said Haniyeh was hit directly by a rocket in the room where he was staying, and said Israel would “pay the price” for the “heinous crime.”
Hit directly by a rocket fired into his room! Remarkable! I had missed that detail. Surely that makes it all the more humiliating for Khamenei and his thugs in the Revolutionary Guards. The attackers found their way to Haniyeh's address in Tehran without attracting the attention of security personnel. It's like something out of The Day of the Jackal.
DeleteWas the rocket fired from a drone, perhaps? Have you seen any details of that kind, Jack?
Not yet, Ray.
DeleteTaking sides in a battle where there is no moral distinction between the combatants is not conducive to the Christian soul. Just in case everyone has forgotten, Benjamin Netanyahu is a criminal, both a war criminal and in the usual sense. The 40,000 Palestinians killed by the Israelis since this latest round began WERE actually the targets. The Israelis did exactly what they set out to do -- it's Hamas that's the collateral damage.
DeleteAyatollah Ali Khamenei says it is Iran’s “duty” to avenge Haniyeh’s death since he was killed inside Iran.
DeleteThis just sounds like handing Iran an excuse to further involve themselves to me. The Middle East is busy proving the adage that 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, leaves the whole world blind and toothless.'
I don't know what one does when two rampaging dragons are set on destroying each other, except try to avoid being incinerated along with them. Lord, have mercy on the innocents caught in the machinations of the egos of the powerful.
Not a rocket but a bomb that had been planted two months earlier, in a room in a guest house that was known to be the place where Haniyeh usually stayed when he was in Tehran.
DeleteApparently the NYTimes broke the story, but I’m not a subscriber and don’t have access.
https://www.thejc.com/news/world/how-ismail-haniyeh-was-killed-by-a-bomb-placed-months-ago-oki34dmm
@Bell
DeleteAs Hamas are the source of these numbers, I'm sceptical of their accuracy.
Indeed. Perhaps it was only 20,000.
DeleteThat's the spirit, if we don't have the facts let's make them up. 40k , 20k all nice round numbers, easy to remember and looks good as a headline.
DeleteAn American telecoms company named C Spire has cancelled its Olympics advertising contract in protest against the Last Supper parody. It’s only a small company operating mainly in Mississippi, and the loss of its contract will make only a barely visible dent in the overall advertising revenue. It remains to be seen whether anyone else will follow suit.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/258463/us-telecom-company-pulls-olympics-ads-following-last-supper-parody
@Ray - the boxing match you mentioned lasted 46 seconds.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.reuters.com/sports/olympics/boxing-algerian-khelif-advances-after-italys-carini-abandons-fight-after-46-2024-08-01/
The Spectator website has posted an article by Jawad Iqbal, which includes this:
Delete• Khelif is one of two boxers permitted to fight at the Olympics, despite being disqualified from the women’s world championships last year for failing testosterone and gender eligibility tests. The International Boxing Association (IBA) made the ruling, saying the boxer had ‘elevated levels of testosterone that failed to meet the eligibility criteria.’ Khelif is not transgender, but has blood testosterone levels typical of men.
Also, interestingly, it includes this:
• On the official Olympics feed, the director cut away from the ring just as Carini was dropping to her knees, showing a photograph of the Eiffel Tower instead.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/boxing-mismatch-shows-olympic-officials-need-to-get-a-grip/
Other reports say that Khelif failed a gender category test and has XY chromosomes and DSD (differences in sex development, or intersex), a rare condition that means that the genitalia do not develop normally in utero, leading to the sex of a baby being incorrectly observed. A male may be born with what appear to be female genitals, for example, and be raised female despite having all the advantages of male biology. Some cases are diagnosed at puberty, but some at post mortem.
DeleteRegardless, testosterone is a natural steroid, and male testosterone levels are typically ten times higher than female levels, which gives someone with 'blood testosterone levels typical of men' a huge advantage in sports involving physical strength (even accepting that testosterone levels in elite female athletes typically being on the higher end of the female range). And that's not even accounting for the advantages that such a person would gain from having biologically male physiology and male bone and muscle development, etc. In weight lifting, for example, the average male beginner can bench press around 85kg; the average female beginner only around 35kg.
The IOC has said that an athlete's gender and age are determined by what their passport says, so this is only going to become a bigger issue over time, as countries adopt self ID laws that allow you to change your legal sex to align with your own 'identity'.
Also, based on the findings of top researchers in this area, SexMatters (an organisation campaigning for fairness in women's sports) noted:
Delete'Women don’t have testosterone in the male range unless they are doping, seriously ill or actually male. Healthy male and female testosterone ranges are statistically non-overlapping.'
Differences in sex development (DSD) - or intersex - is a group of rare conditions involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs. This doesn't prevent one ascertaining if the individual is male or female.
DeleteSee: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/differences-in-sex-development/
The problem here is IOC's testosterone monitoring policies were halted three years ago and replaced with a policy of "fairness, inclusion and non-discrimination on the basis of gender identify and sex variation." This states that athletes with "sex variations," another term for DSDs, have "no presumption of advantage" and that they should be allowed to compete in the category of their gender identity.
There are exceptions, with framework stating that an "evidence-based approach" can be used to exclude athletes who have a "consistent unfair disproportionate advantage" or if there is an "unpreventable risk" to the safety of other athletes.
By themselves, these guidelines are woolly and open to interpretation.
Update
DeleteKhelif has a rare condition called "Swyer Syndrome" where individuals have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome in each cell, (i.e. male), but they have female female external genitalia and some female internal reproductive structures. This gives them advantages in sport – such as greater height, muscle mass and strength.
Sharron Davies posted this informative FAQ. L&K refers to Lin Yu-ting the Taiwanese boxer and Khelif, both previously banned for similar reasons.
Delete1. "L & K are just women with high testosterone!"
Khelif and Lin were never tested for their testosterone levels. The claims that they were disqualified from the 2023 Women's World Boxing Championship due to simple testosterone abnormalities were made by their respective national sporting bodies, who, obviously, have some motivation to lie here.
2. "L & K have female ID!"
Khelif and Lin are not believed to be transgender ..They are believed to be impacted by a Difference of Sexual Development ... This is a medical condition which can manifest with children being born with ambiguous or disfigured genitalia. Male children impacted by DSDs are often "assigned female at birth" due to these genital defects, as there is a genuine assumption they are girls.
Thus, their identification documents would be completely irrelevant in this case. As is the fact they were "raised as girls." That's entirely expected for male children with DSDs. Even more so for male children with DSDs in socially conservative countries. Is a boy without a penis more likely to be raised as a boy or a girl?
3. "The IBA never said they had XY chromosomes!"
On March 25, 2023, IBA President Umar Kremlev said that the boxers disqualified at the championships had XY chromosomes. He said this in a statement to TASS News. There were only two boxers disqualified at the championships: Lin and Khelif.
4. "But Kremlev could be lying!"
Over the last 72 hours, the IBA has released two separate statements confirming that Khelif and Lin were not subject to testosterone testing, but had instead been subjected to a separate test validated by two independent laboratories. That test confirmed they were not eligible to compete in women's boxing as per the IBA guidelines. Crucially, the IBA defines "woman" as "an individual with XX chromosomes." In their guidelines, they also indicate that the gender tests they use to determine if a person is eligible to compete with women is a chromosomal test, not a hormone test.
In their second statement, the IBA condemned the IOC for allowing Khelif and Lin to proceed as they believed it was putting female boxers at risk and that they did not support "boxing between the genders."
5. "Why doesn't the IBA release the test!"
They cannot. It is protected medical information. They would be sued. K&L, however, can agree to have the laboratories release those tests themselves... Why haven't they?
6. "The IBA didn't let L & K appeal their disqualification!"
DeleteYes they did. They have no choice in the matter. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is a fully independent tribunal which oversees all disputes in elite athletics. Every athlete has a right to bring a case to the CAS. Lin did not challenge the disqualification. Khelif challenged the disqualification but withdrew the appeal before it could proceed through the court.
Please ask yourself why. If they were genuinely female, why would they have chosen to refuse their opportunity to establish that in an irrefutable and legally binding way at a fully independent venue? Literally none of this would have happened had they simply submitted their tests to the CAS.
Consider that all decisions at the CAS are public information. It was through a CAS challenge that the world became aware that Caster Semenya had XY chromosomes, for example.
If Khelif and Lin had proceeded through the CAS, there would have been irrefutable evidence, documented by an independent body, that they were either male or female. So why? Why did they not want the CAS to examine their tests? Why did they not want this information to be public? I think the reason is obvious.
7. "But the IOC approved their eligibility for 2024!"
The IOC stopped sex testing athletes in 1999. Since then, they have deferred to individual sporting bodies to ensure athletes were eligible. HOWEVER, for the purposes of the 2024 Paris Olympics, there is no formal oversight body for boxing. This is the first time this ever happened. As a result, the IOC created an ad-hoc boxing unit to temporarily oversee the boxing competitions in Paris. This unit has no guidelines for gender eligibility, and has apparently just been allowing boxers to compete "as females" if they have female gender markers on their passports/legal documents.
And the thing we learnt from all this is that the woke will follow their ideology even to the point of seeing men beat up women.
DeleteTo paraphrase Mike Tyson, everyone's got an ideology until they get punched in the mouth.
Good to see you here Chef. Miss your lovely ringlets and your kumbaya Christian youth groovy get together sessions....Cressida
DeleteHello again, Chef!
ReplyDeleteIt's all gone very quiet. I hope nobody has been affected by the disorder, or arrested for wrongthink.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crlr8gp813ko.amp?fbclid=IwY2xjawEpZ3BleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHZtn3IxqJXCz8BAjm_DIvWWyo3omPaq-pOQazEDRm6PVKwRfrB6xNbmLjw_aem_4CpYAidz8MFWez9Gvvts3Q
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting and challenging article. It would appear that XY is not a fool proof marker.
'There's no direct evidence of advantage' says the article, citing three athletes who've coincidentally vastly outperformed the other female athletes. And it then goes on to say 'It wouldn’t surprise me if some people with a type of DSD had some physical advantage over women.' This is the key - the male/female thing is a bit of a red herring IMO: outliers aren't a cause to abandon categories.
DeleteBut I wonder how many other female athletes from Algeria - a 99% Islamic country - are carried around on the shoulders of their male coaches, with the coach's head planted in their groin, after winning their event.
I think this was a well balanced article. What it was saying is that there is a lack of researched evidence to enable a definite position to be made. This is important I think, as in fairness to the various sports bodies, if they were to ban these women from competing, any resulting court case would demand they show evidence supporting the ban and this doesn't exist in robust enough terms.
DeleteWhat you say convinced me, but I don't matter. It's a court that would need to be convinced.
Either way we aren't talking sex change frauds gaming the system.
I think that it's telling that neither of the boxers involved in this dispute appealed the decision of the IBA to ban them from competing, which would have involved an independent review of the evidence. I think if I felt I'd been unfairly banned from something I'd dedicated my life to, I'd take it to the highest court I could.
DeleteThe IOC has washed their hands of the matter by simply going on what an athlete's passport says their sex is, which is not a reliable maker either, given that the definition of legal sex doesn't map across different nations (what a time to be alive). In other events (such as the transgender runner competing in the Paralympics) this raises questions of fairness; but in boxing it's a safety issue (not that I'm a fan of women's contact sports in the first place; I think women's boxing is barbaric). If these boxers do genuinely fall in an in-between space which means they cannot compete, I feel sorry for them - but safety must come first.
" If these boxers do genuinely fall in an in-between space which means they cannot compete, I feel sorry for them - but safety must come first."
DeleteI think this sums up my position. I also agree with regards women and contact sports.
Off topic, but since the topic's gone off, why not? Apparently, that former imperial superpower Ireland is now paying the price for its history or ruthless colonisation. Given the silence from the authorities on the matter, and the absence of an immediate declaration that he is indigenous, the book is now open as to the assailant's ethnicity. I remind readers that these are the same authorities who declared the rioting in Dublin last year to be "the far right" while it was still ongoing and before there was any possibility of knowing who or what was behind it. Given the authorities' history on these matters, a small sherry says we've just been culturally enriched.
ReplyDeletehttps://gript.ie/army-chaplain-taken-to-hospital-following-stabbing-outside-galway-barracks/
"He is expected to appear before Galway District Court on Saturday," according to the BBC. That means today, I suppose. Once he is standing in the dock facing the magistrate, will his name appear in the news reports? It's coming up to 3 o'clock in the afternoon. We'll soon know the answer.
DeleteStill unnamed. The 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before Galway District Court on Saturday afternoon....
DeleteJudge Gerard Furlong refused bail on the basis of the seriousness of the case and the strength of the evidence outlined.
The teenager was remanded in custody at Oberstown Children Detention Campus, and is expected to appear in court again on 20 August.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1l5d471335o