Grotesque

I told myself I would not watch any of the Olympics on principal, but I'm finding that impossible. I will not watch as a uninformed Joe Sixpack who couldn't possibly have the slightest inkling that China is a massive human rights violator, with religious and political dissidents wasting away in prisons and many times murdered for their beliefs, a crushing one child policy where if a woman attempts to have a second child, she could either submit to a forced abortion, or in some cases have her home burned to the ground.

So instead, I will watch as an informed citizen, hoping to catch protesters making their voices heard, and of course, I do hope to see the USA do exceedingly well.

But during the opening ceremony however, which in general I thought was well overdone, there was a moment where children from different provinces began carrying out the Chinese flag. They were all adorable in their tribal garb, but then they pass the flag on to Chinese soldiers who began marching the flag in true totalitarian fashion, knees locked, to the flagpole. Really tasteful China. Way to mix totalitarian communism with the Olympics. The display made me want to vomit.