The Paralympic Games

[Lateralthinking1]

Well, I've tried twice to introduce a sports element to the thread. Since then, I've sat through four hours of the opening ceremony on the C4 "play it again" machine. Still there is no take-up from you JW. We will now let this go where we like, preferably without unnecessary moaning. I still hope that there will be comments on the sport in the coming week.

Mr GG, there is a considerable campaign now for paralympics athletes to support people on benefits. I contrast that attitude, and the positivity of most of the athletes, with the comments from Boris Johnson ahead of the ceremony. Asked what he thought of the paralympics, he admitted to knowing very little about them until he saw the basketball in Beijing.

Worse, according to him, it was more exciting than other basketball because, quote, it was "more violent". This unfortunately is what we are all up against nowadays. Most ordinary people have the right sort of spirit and are reasonably well-informed. The problem is that those who make the decisions tend to have a far greater amount of ignorance.

I find Johnson's comment revealing. What I think we are seeing increasingly in society, and particularly leadership, is a blurring of the distinction between aggression and violence. The Government is not particularly aggressive in managing the deficit any more than it is proving effective. It is though highly adept at violent action like cutting disability benefit.

[Lateralthinking1]

......As there are a lot of reviews of the opening ceremony, I will only mention a few things. While the narrative was less inventive than in the main opening, the lighting in this one was far better and the two events were equals in the use of symbolism. The colour was nothing less than beautiful and it was far more memorable than in the earlier events, good as they were.

The sound quality was also superior, supporting an excellent orchestra and choir. Errollyn Wallen's commissioned pieces, "Principia" and "Spirit in Motion", were very moving and so too Britten's arrangement of the National Anthem. If the popular pieces worked less well overall, the reworking of Ian Dury's "Spasticus Autisticus" was an exception. As for Beverley Knight, I'm not keen on her singing voice but she is a strong performer who can always be relied on. She staked a claim at 39 to be the new Whitney.

Perhaps the artistic aspects would have been better without a break. The ceremony was a 7 out of 10 when, with a different order, it could have been a 9. Certainly, something needs to be done in Brazil about the processions. They are just too lengthy, particularly as the middle piece. I would probably choose a four stage process, each involving a bit of procession and a bit of art.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHYkZEGUhug

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSo9OErEmM4&feature=related

[Lateralthinking1]

It's happened again. Politics has hijacked a thread that should be about sport.

Can the mods please move all the political postings to a thread entitled 'the politics of the disabled' or something that Lat dreams up?

John Wright - When I started this thread about the Paralympics, you did your utmost to trash it. You wanted posts to be removed from it, including mine, not that you asked for my opinion, and you moaned at length that there was a political dimension. What was needed was a thread about the sport.

You were offered the opportunity to start such a thread. You declined. I tried to ask for your opinion twice on aspects of the sport. You didn't reply. And now that we are coming to the end of the Paralympics you have shown no inclination to comment anywhere about any of the sport. That indicates to me the true level of your interest.

In future, I would be very grateful if you wouldn't walk in over one of my threads with notions of usurping it simply on the grounds that you are looking for a fight.

[John Wright]

Just seen your addition to the thread, Lat, sorry I've been away, not ignoring you. As for the Paralympics, yes all I was sayiing before was I thought a thread with this title should be about the games/sport, and a separate thread on the politics was appropriate.

I didn't watch any of the Paralympics games.

[heliocentric]

all I was sayiing before was I thought a thread with this title should be about the games/sport, and a separate thread on the politics was appropriate. (...) I didn't watch any of the Paralympics games.

So you were objecting to the intrusion of politics into a thread whose subject is apparently of no interest to you.

Perhaps you should spend more time away from your computer!