Was it only 15 minutes? It seemed like a lot longer.
Of course, having to listen to Matt Lauer and Bob Costas blabber on and on will do that.
What I found most enlightening about the whole thing was the “modern” tech set.
OK, I get it. We have to have the cute girl have a black father and white mother. But what was the reason behind having her new boyfriend be himself black? Wouldn’t it have made more sense for him to be a blond “English” type? That is, if we want to be representative and all that.
The way they did it edited out most of the actual indigenous English in favor of recent immigrants, as if they are the only “English” that matter.
I watched re-runs. On that front, Lucy stomped grapes with Ethel, and Mike Nelson rescued a bicycle. And My Mother the Car was still stupid.
It’s a perfect example of why exposure to LSD for 50 years is bad for your brain.
When I saw the “tribute” to the NHS, I thought they were trying to show health care during the time of Charles Dickens...
My 13-year-old son had some pals over last night to watch the opening ceremonies. After an hour or two of the gibberish, I turned off the boob tube, and gave the boys a brief lecture on the history of the Olympic Games (ancient and modern), and the greatness of Great Britain - starting with colonization of the New World and carrying on through the Battle of Britain. When I was done, the kids said: “That would have been a lot better than what they did.”
The opening hoopla is always about 2 hours. It takes about an hour before the US team marches in. I missed the NHS bit since I knew when to tune in. I did watch most of the parade of nations. Amazing how many flag bearers were either in Judo or Taekwando. I do love some of the costumes. Unfortunately, NBC didn’t get close ups or full body shots of everybody and I think we missed a few good ones.
C’mon, Danny ‘Joseph G.’ Boyle did a great job! (As far as reaching the propaganda quota.)
I thought it was kind of appropriate to lump it in with all the other fictional characters.
1. Leaches for blood letting.
2. Maggots for wound treatment.
3. Garlic for flesh eating bacteria.
4. Islamic nurses not required to roll up sleeves to wash and can't use alcohol based scrubs.
5. Wards still based on the Victorian system
6. Do it yourself dental kits are a must have item.
6. Old folks denied cataract operations
7. Doctors prescribe water to prevent dehydration death
8. All enjoy the fast track to the morgue.
The author sounds like a grumpy sod. I am British, and my experience of the NHS, and those of most people I know, is nothing like the horror stories reported in the likes of the Daily Mail for the consumption of an increasingly American audience.
The NHS doubtless has its faults, and needs to be reformed in some areas, but it is a public institution here in Britain for which many people have reason to be thankful for. My grandmother, who has never been well off, would have died about 40 years ago if not for the NHS keeping her alive with treatment that she could not otherwise afford and which no insurance company would have willing to pay for this long without charging sky-high premiums.
IMHO, associating paying tribute to the NHS as symptomatic of being a muesli-munching leftie puts one in the same category of idiocy as claiming that paying tribute to the armed forces makes you a right-wing nutjob.
All I will say to any Americans on here who will doubtless scream at me for defending the NHS, is that you needn’t concern yourselves with it. Fight your own politicians for the 100% privatized healthcare system that you all want in your country, the British NHS is not your problem.
While I kept flipping the dial away to more entertaining stuff, I was very impressed--in the most negative sense possible--by the Marxist imagery in the segment on the Industrial Revolution. The way it was handled served to deny images of brilliant innovation, as from Scotland's Watts, and the wise use of private capital, to what seemed like an endless stream of grimy "exploited workers."
Of course to anyone who actually understands the economic & social dynamics, the Industrial Revolution was not about exploiting the poor. It was in fact the dawn of opportunity for urban dwellers, who for two centuries had been living in some really abject slums.
I do not know the philosophy of the director of the farce--whether he is a doctrinaire Leftist, or simply a brainwashed toady, reflecting that British education has become as corrupt as public education in much of America; but visual Egalitarian propaganda has no place in something like the Olympics, which is supposed to be about affording an opportunity for the best athletes in the world, to excel--to achieve above & beyond the ordinary; to demonstrate that there is joy in excelling.
William Flax
I am torn with this one. With the doctors and nurses dancing instead of providing patient care the morbidity rate at the NHS hospitals may have declined. They are notorious for actively killing patients over there.
The few voices of reason in the comments there got voted down....no reasoning with some people I guess.
Haven't any of these allegedly smart "intellectuals" ever asked themselves why millions of people fled farms to go to dirty and dangerous cities to work in the gritty early factories? Because it was better than what they left. Duh.
It was entertainment and could be interpreted as the NHS fiddles and dances while healthcare burns in a children’s fairytale.
I have to say as an Englishman myself that the NHS isn’t the horror story portrayed on here, but I do think it was an inappropriate subject for the opening ceremony.
I can only attribute it to Danny Boyle who has a rather romantic view of the working class and public sector.
Screw jumping sharks. NHS jumped the Olympic Flame.