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The French Olympic ceremony is a travesty. The lack of rehearsal and disjointed segments swapping unceremoniously between live and made-for-TV videos, the ham-fisted DEI multiculturalism, and the overriding of historical French artists for modern Hollywood slop all imply the horrendous organization of this opening. Cameras have to constantly cut around to find something to show while most of the performers are largely walking around waiting for some unknown cues.
Dukas' Sorcerer's Apprentice getting prematurely cut off for an awful video featuring the Despicable Me's (tm) minions was, for me, the most poignant moment so far. Out with the traditionalism and that boring culture, in with the latest schlock to maximally consume product!
What is the breaking point? At what point does the logistics, infrastructure, and labor fail to support the bloated mass of the new? At what point will the cultures, artists, and creativity of Europe be crushed under a mass of a billion immigrants, a throng of unproductive mouths to feed? Will it go out in a bang or a whimper? Will it evolve and find a new way to thrive, or will it be absorbed and cannibalized into something unrecognizable?
At least the baroque counter tenor was a nice touch, even if it is framed in the modern nonbinary perspective.
Any suggestion for why it seems to be so technically poorly run? DEI seems unlikely to be the culprit for obvious lack of rehearsal.
I wonder if DEI is sometimes a scapegoat for a general slackening of standards and lessening of giving a F.
But then you have to ask what caused that slackening.
You could bring DEI back into the conversation and say that the need to deny that there is anything wrong with preferring "DEI hires" requires everyone to lower their standards so as not to make it too obvious what's going on.
This feels like there might be something to it but I could caution against taking up such a narrative too quickly. There are other options, such as mass affluence leading to a general slackening.
It's worth asking oneself, "How have I been part of the problem?" Did I prefer professors who "curved" my grades? Etc.
DEI is pernicious but it need not be the explanation for all observed incompetence.
Yes, I think affluence has a far more significant role in declining standards than DEI, the societal equivalent of “zero interest rates phenomena”. You can see similar declines in willingness to suffer for excellence in East Asian cultures (the “lying flat” movement in China, for example) and the decline in formal dress, neither of which are plausibly identified with DEI.
But I think this explanation also should make us wonder whether maybe it’s all for the best. Living has never been easier and appetites have never been more easily satisfied. Isn’t this what winning is supposed to look like?
No. Winning is supposed to look like getting an increase in resources and abilities, allowing you to tackle even more difficult challenges, ad infinitum.
The shonen manga conception of winning, perhaps. I think, more generally, "winning" is just simply conquering some barrier or challenge, and hopefully leaving said barrier/challenge behind.
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