Kinda' Cool...Kinda' Scary

Mason and I watched a recording of the Olympics opening ceremony this morning. Mason liked the fireworks. I thought it was:

Artistically very cool - The lighted drums were awesome, although Matt Lauer said they had to tell the drummers to smile more because they were scaring people. The costumes, music, choreography, fireworks, etc. were stunning.

Politically very scary - Did anyone else get a bit of a chill watching the Chinese soldiers take the flag from the children and goose-step Nazi-style up to the podium? If they put that much time and effort into a ceremony, how much more would they devote to a war. They're not exactly our best friends, you know.

Realistically very deceptive - The point of the show was to impress the world with the wonders of the "New China." Do they actually expect us to believe that they don't enforce mandatory abortions or abandon baby girls anymore? They don't persecute Christians and imprison people for their religious beliefs? They don't violate the basic human rights of their citizens every day for the good of the state? I read two Yahoo articles by AP writers that both lamented the measures the Chinese government has taken for the past three years to rid Beijing of anything that is "imperfect," like street vendors and unattractive housing. Once again, a reminder of Hitler's ideals (a Utopian world for the so-called Aryan Race).

So why are our athletes there? And why was Bush making small talk with Putin at the opening ceremony, pretending like he doesn't know Russia is at war with one of our allies? I really like gymnastics, but I don't think I'll be tuning in to watch this year.