One of my cousins made the most accurate comment about the criticism this weekend over the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Paris. He said, from what he’s heard, people are upset it wasn’t “American enough.” Now, my cousin is a conservative. He’ll probably still vote for Donald Trump. But he speaks the truth.
I was talking about this with another friend about how people in America see themselves as the end all be all of human civilization from the dawn of history. And to add on top of that, it applies more to American Christians. They see themselves as the the only important people in the world. A 2021 Census concluded there are 210 million people in America (out of 332 million total Americans) who consider themselves Christians. But that has been declining over the years.
The Pew Research Center reported that 90 percent of Americans identified as Christians in 1970, but it’s down to 64 percent in 2020, which echoed the 2021 results. But earlier this year, a Gallup poll concluded only 30 percent of people are actually attending church service on a regular basis as it was 42 percent about 20 years ago.
All people have to do is look around and see how the Christian Nationalists and Evangelical Fundamentalists have overtaken the religion and turned in a full-blown political movement, which started (Survey Says!) in the early 1970s. They have watched the Christian right support people like George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and especially Trump who all said one thing but it wasn’t in tune with the teachings of the Bible. Anyone who’s ever attended a public school and seen the preppies and jocks treated better than them know good and well what is happening. And that’s why they’re turning against the religion.
But what makes things the most laughable is the way people have been freaking out over the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. Was it not American enough? It doesn’t need to be. Not everything has to have an American majority. According to Google Maps, the eastern most point in America is on the eastern coast of Maine where the distance between the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse to Paris is about 3,170 miles give or take. That is a very long distance. So, last time I checked. Paris, France isn’t in America. Paris, Texas is.
There are 184 countries, including America, participating in the Olympics. You don’t go into someone else’s country and demand a lot a changes to suit yourself. Yet, there’s nothing more American than the way people have acting, because it does seem to be they do in foreign countries. But, my fellow Americans, look at it this way, you’re having a big cook-out and someone you invited comes over and starts criticizing you using propane if they like charcoal or mesquite wood chips. And decent American knows that an invite to a cook-out is a noble gesture and you accept their grilling styles with humble grace. At least do something grateful such as bring the brand name drinks and not just a two-liter.
So, it’s no surprise that that Americans and especially American Christians immediately went on the offense claiming the ceremony was a parody of The Last Supper. It was actually supposed to represent an ancient Greek Bacchanal, a Roman festival honoring Bacchus, the god of wine and revelry. Bacchanalia, as these festivals were also known, have their origins in Greek Dionysian festivals, which celebrated Dionysus, the god of wine and ecstasy. And the Olympics have a history starting in Greece.
I mean, it’s an Olympic ceremony set in Paris, what did you expect people screaming, “Murica! Fuck yeah!”
It just shows you how uncultured and unsophisticated Americans have become. We can’t stop and see that other traditions and cultures exist. But it’s typical because most of modern-day Christianity has been appropriated from other religions and cultures. The Last Supper itself is just a painting by Leonardo DaVinci that many believe romanticized the real last supper. I think Martin Scorsese got it right in The Last Temptation of Christ, where it’s a bunch of people sitting around on the dirt floor in a circle eating pieces of bread and drinking wine. There’s even been suspicions that DaVinci was gay or bisexual and that the model for Jesus Christ was his gay male lover.
Even more so, many historians have criticized the depiction of Jesus Christ as a European light-skinned man with long hair locks is very inaccurate. Being a carpenter from Jerusalem during the early days of the Roman Empire, Jesus probably would’ve had shorter hair, a scruffy beard and browner skin. It’s been reported when Jeremy Hunter played Jesus in King of Kings, it was demanded that Hunter shave his armpit hair off because people couldn’t imagine Jesus with certain types of body hair. In real life, he would’ve been naked as a jaybird as the Romans would crucify people nude out of humiliation to add insult to injury.
Of course, most people wouldn’t know this because they don’t bother to pick up more than one book every now and again. While schools are wanting students to be taught the Bible and have The Ten Commandments in every classroom, they don’t realize this type of narcissism is what makes people hate us. And even then, they’re using that hate from the rest of the world as a flex. It’s not.
Americans might think it’s cool, but it’s not. I was going to make a post about how white people or caucausians are quickly becoming the new minority in America because of they’re refusals to improve themselves in needed areas. But I felt that could wait. The outpouring of hatred toward the ceremony shows that people don’t even have a firm grasp of even their own religion. And they’re just cherry picking stuff that has been done before with no criticism.
Both the 1970 movie MASH and 2009 Watchmen made depictions of The Last Supper. Mel Brooks also did a parody in History of the World Part I where he is the waiter at the last supper asking if it’s all one tab or do they want separate checks. John Hurt plays Jesus. And TV shows like The Simpsons and The Sopranos made reference parodies of The Last Supper. But there wasn’t much said.
It’s because the Conservative Christian Right has brought out this concept that things are going too woke too fast. They’re criticizing drag queens at the Bacchanalia portrayal and need I remind them it’s fucking Paris. What did they expect, people dressed in American flag suits and ties looking like the Statue of Liberty’s pimps? For a political side that is constantly saying they’re being persecuted while continuing mocking other religions and cultures, they have really shown their callowness.
Let Paris have its Olympics. Los Angeles is supposed to host the 2028 Olympics. We can go all Lee Greenwood then. (By the way, I’m just kidding. Keep him as far away from the Olympics as possible.) What’s crazy is in theory, the Olympics are supposed to represent a truce or a friendly rivalry between countries. I think people need to be more focused on hoping there isn’t anything like the Munich Olympics Massacre or the Atlanta Centennial Park bombing.
And while I know that in another year, month or week, no one will care. But Americans really need to start learning how not to wear their religion on their sleeve, especially if something isn’t even criticizing their religion. They need to look more at a Presidential candidate who was shot at two weeks ago and rather than tone his rhetoric down, he’s gone more extreme and hateful. At the same time he is being hoisted up as the one chosen by God from people saying we need more God and Jesus in this country.
No, that is blasphemous. They’re just looking at other things to criticize so they don’t have to address their own hypocrisy.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 