The Winter Olympics have begun. We watched the opening ceremonies last night, and it reminded me of something Jon Stewart said on The Daily Show following the Super Bowl. Leaning back and patting his tummy as if he’d just finished a huge Thanksgiving dinner, he said “Boy that was some good America. But no, please, I don’t want any more.” (Or words to that effect.) Thank God Salt Lake City’s opening ceremonies weren’t as cringe-inducing as the overblown and ill-conceived crapfest of the Los Angeles Summer Olympics (with a hundred Elvis impersonators and a hundred Gershwin pianists and a UFO), but is it really necessary to force the massed countries of the world to share our grief over 9/11? Obviously it was an incredible tragedy, but every country has had its share of incredible tragedies — some brought about by the US itself. So is it necessary to continually flagellate ourselves and beat our breasts on the world stage, and then demand all other countries join us? Are we that insecure? Does our great country have that much of an inferiority complex?I almost feel like apologizing, seeing as I know my site is occasionally visited — probably by accident — by people in other countries. Last night’s wallow was almost embarrassing. True, it was a somber moment when the WTC’s flag was brought out. That was a nice symbolic touching moment, but it should’ve stayed outside of the official opening ceremonies, just like the desperate enforced patriotism of R Kelly’s flag-waving song. Speaking of songs, why exactly did The Dixie Chicks choose to sing “Ready to Run” for their big number? Actually, this wasn’t even shown on American TV. I saw it on the signal coming out of Windsor, Ontario.
That’s probably the best part about watching the Olympics in Detroit, it’s so easy to flip over to the coverage out of Canada. Every four years (or every two years now) I am continually reminded over what a superior job Canada does in covering the Olympics. American TV, no matter what the network, continually deludes itself into believing we all want to see pre-taped looks into the athletes’ lives rather than see actual competition. To the American producers, it means more that a skater’s cousin’s next-door neighbor’s aunt’s bridge partner stubbed a toe than that this skater might actually be racing right now. And if no American has qualified for a sport, then that sport doesn’t exist, period. Meanwhile, Canada fills its day with actual by-God coverage: races, heats, speed trials, etc. Actual sports, actual competition. And at the Olympics no less. Who would’ve thought of it?
And speaking of Canadian television, I saw an interesting commercial for McDonald’s just now. (I’m unsure whether this campaign is being used in America as well.) The new slogan is “There’s a little McDonald’s in every one of us.” So I guess they’re finally admitting to what a lot of people have already suggested: their food is indigestible.
