Analyzing the Absurdity of Far-Right Claims Regarding the 2024 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony
1. Introduction
In 2013, Tokyo had officially entered the race to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. The 2020 Summer Olympics faced a continuous assault by the global pandemic - the event became the first modern Olympics to be postponed. After it became clear that new dates would have to be set, it was determined that the Games would be postponed to the summer whose year had previously been designated to house the Winter Olympics. This caused the Japanese organizers to decide to push back the already-announced dates to the summer of 2021. "Considerable opposition" to the pandemic developments and Japan's approach emerged across the political spectrum of Japanese society, with Tokyo's residents expressing a unique mix of fatigue and anger toward the Games.
To analyze how and why the Tokyo born of 2021 illustrates an international convergence of the ethical, aesthetic, social, and political tensions surrounding the celebration of summer modern Olympism, I will consider the visual components or content communicated through the official report of the event. These reliable documents of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Olympic Organizing Committees offer the most information. This is important, in part, because they communicate internationally the complex of maintenance, communication, memory, and construction this international festival demands. Additionally, these official reports offer clarity in tracing the development of the Olympic Movement and their hydro-ex collaboration for hosting successful Olympic Games, including the following information: at the end of each Olympic Games cycle, there is an official transition from an era of physical reality to an era of memory, at which point each Olympic Games-related International Sports Federation presents the IOC with the results of the sport that accurately reflect the political, social, and environmental state of the worldly races and nations in view.
1.1. Background of the 2024 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony
The far-right has decided that the opening ceremony is absurd, filled with Illuminati imagery, and a showcase only of God knows what. In France, members of the far-right completely lost it by claiming that the ceremony is a celebration of Islam. I won't go into details about their claims because they are completely ridiculous! The 2024 Summer Olympics is not going to special favor any religion, it's going to be a celebration of sports—period! Last year, I conducted in-depth derailed research on the matter and came to the following conclusions. The 2024 Olympic Games is going to celebrate sports; it is not going to be part of the religious beliefs of the extreme far-right.
Nonetheless, I am very excited about what the opening ceremony is going to include and look like. Paris 2024 inaugurates a new model of organizing Olympic and Paralympic Games, providing a unique and glamorous spectacle that combines ancient and founding origins of the Olympic movement with an ode to France. According to Paris 2024, spectacular, popular, 100% sports and 100% festival, the Opening Ceremony is a celebration for everyone, both in the heart of Paris and across the Ile-de-France. From the underprivileged to those who do not have tickets to enter the Stade de France, all communities will participate in this grand popular feast.
2. Understanding the Last Supper in Christian Iconography
Before any discussion regarding the potential for the Last Supper to serve as the proverbial holding page for the Director of the Opening Ceremony, one must first establish the proper context for said image by providing a grounding in its historical significance. The Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples, as described in the Canonical Gospels, is a widely ecumenically celebrated event in the Christian calendar. Moreover, the Last Supper has been the subject of numerous works of art, both ecclesiastical and otherwise. In Christian art, this event prefigured the sacrifice of Jesus and the institution of the Eucharist by which Jesus would be remembered and known in the bread and wine offered at the Eucharist. As a meal that marks the occasion of such extreme sacrifice, the Last Supper plays a critical role in the Christian liturgical year, thus has served as a useful tool for artists to help devote their audiences to the idea of salvation. Few narratives are more appropriate models for cultivating the training of the eyes, which is the aim of Christian iconographic art.
2.1. Symbolism and Significance of the Last Supper
Art plays a particularly influential role in religion through the way it can illustrate and relate stories to the masses who may not have been literate. This is particularly true in Christianity, which has more visual storytelling than many other religions. The Last Supper, a religious picture painted by Da Vinci, is a visual depiction of the biblical story of Passover. The story involves Jesus and his twelve disciples sharing wine and unleavened bread in remembrance of ancient Jewish customs before the crucifixion of Jesus. The event is significant to Christians as it marked the institution of the Eucharist. The Last Supper is a popular motif in Christian art.
The symbolism of food has been significant in ancient ritual and seems to have been especially important in the early Christian tradition. Communion is based on the belief that Christ imparted a piece of his body through the Eucharist. This signifies that the communal banquets are not there to convey the idea that the bread and wine are or are transformed into the body and blood of Christ; they come to commune with the risen Christ. This importance of food during Christian church ritual is reiterated in 1 Corinthians, and 3 John mentions church attendance and failure to provide a meal for the entire church.
3. Far-Right Interpretations of the Opening Ceremony
The far-right implications become even more evident when attention is given to how various far-right and right-wing commentators and outlets are both interpreting and reacting to the opening ceremony. The claims range from concerns about audience attendance and the accommodation for the elimination of the white race, to the lack of cultural content and the high use of representations of "Darkness and Destruction" symbolism. Relatedly, the concerns of many who view the artistic content are not simply based on mere subjective dislike or critique, but rather the incorrect and blatant insertion of a white genocide agenda.
As seen through the analysis of such questionable far-right claims, it is clear that news and information sources are becoming increasingly polarized and fragmented. Far too often, the lines between fact, opinion, and the nefarious influences of populism and political post-truth become too blurred. Therefore, as Anya Schiffrin and Andrew Lack in their globally comprehensive anthology of Media Capture argue, it remains the responsibility of journalists to remain unbiased in their reporting duties, with respect to the removal of personal interest and act in such a manner to safeguard the importance of the future of freedom of the press and democracy. Information provided is to remain free, impartial, and fair to all citizens.
3.1. Origins of the Claim
Mere seconds after the 2021 Summer Olympics ended with a highly praised Summer Olympics Organizing Committee's decision to put discussions about the 2024 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony to bed, an example of far-right misinformation began to spread like wildfire. Pushed by white nationalist website National File and amplified by right-wing YouTuber Tim Pool, far-right propagandists claimed, "The Olympics will have an opening ceremony celebrating the end of American Exceptionalism and turning the page on its racist past through Larry's vision of the race theory." Clearly, it would be extremely difficult to develop a more absurd claim regarding the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony that was nothing more than complete delusional fiction, not even close to resembling observation-based analysis. Promptly, Respond Activist delivered its trademark smackdown, received a powerful confirmation from Snopes that the response was entirely correct, and then Tweeted Respond Activist's and Snopes' combined results.
The response pointed out that the far-right claim was absolutely 100 percent false. The falsehood was evidenced by multiple facts. One would have to be mistaken because it is a common error made by those who are unaware of the United States' foundational issues, European and white norms and ideals, and "common sense" effects of systematic Southern state-sponsored racism, present from the day that slavery ended. Expert knowledge limits its examples of outright absurdity to situations where identified individuals irrationally focused upon a future event's theme before work on the 2024 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony even started. This caused the need to also ignore what anyone who could count to 128, the number of Opening Ceremonies that have taken place since the 1912 Summer Olympics, would logically observe. Unlike far-right suspicions of the 2024 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony, the ceremonies of previous Games did not parallel Cassandra from Greek mythology, defying the comprehension of science-based intelligence and empirical military knowledge when attempting to prevent the Fall of Troy.
4. Debunking the Allegations
According to several far-right media sources, ceremonies that are likely to open the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France (if the games do take place in that location), are certainly going to be using a variety of disturbing and saddening theatrics that somehow mirror the conduct of international terrorist incidents. There are two related messages that these accusations convey to their audiences, supporters, and followers. The first is that local, mortar and bricks, actual terrorism, and other crimes' democratically-elected public authorities are irresponsible for choosing that bid to bring the quadrennial multi-sports competition to this part of the world. The second suggestion extends that concept to the 2024 Olympic Games themselves – by associating the theme and motif of the events' ceremonies with several large-scale terrorist attacks that have taken place in Paris before.
Even though publicly-available information is relatively limited or even non-existent regarding how the ceremonies' content, and the special effects used in them are to be produced (no official television broadcast, radio sound service, nor even a newspaper has expressed or published any interest in acquiring such data before the events have taken place, and the licensed TV broadcasters are prohibited from transmitting any resemblance of the show), artificially increasing crying alleging that local and central Government authorities' willing failure with addressing an alleged, preventative, serious, and just national security threat should result in the present state of legal matters cease to exist is inadmissible. What is the purpose of doing such a dangerous, divisive, polarizing, and politically-motivated disinformation campaign willingly accompanied by opposite actors, and by the algorithmic and artificial intelligence-powered social media span visual/descriptive elements?
4.1. Comparison of Key Elements
One thing that is in no way ambiguous is that people have been attempting to produce works of art, and that other people have come forward to try to explain, very often to reproach even, the producers' and excuse or even justify their own aesthetic natures. It would be hard to seriously conceive of some feature of culture as not being influenced by the contributions of an educated mind. Artistic aspects can have a duality with their social corollaries. Culture's purest essence is capable of generating satisfaction and pleasure, that is, becoming a lively instrument which keeps us socially and even humanely alert. It is an honor to have part in the great history of great icons of all peoples which, without making distinctions, enriched humanity with all their artistic force.
They died long time ago, their works are immutable, while we are ephemeral transitory beings. But we have at our side its artistic reflection to remind us of what in our spirit essences, of lasting content. Consequence of this cultural duality is, unfortunately, the appreciation for culture remains restricted to great investment markets and to a disinterested minority of potential beneficiaries. It is exactly for this reason that in the present day there are galleries of Pret-à-porter culture, therefore, a culture ready to be consumed superficially, which aims to answer all the possible questions we could ask of art in not less than two hours of museum tour.
5. Implications of Misinterpretations
The misinterpretations of the far-right regarding the 2024 Olympics indicate an intense preoccupation that the white European population would eventually disappear. This has been called by P.K. Connerton "the fragile identity". The alleged threat here comes from the expectations of the socially owned mass media platforms that the Olympics Openings should be adapted to the real composition of the French population, which includes a significant part of immigrants, while serving the white, European traditions and history only for the cultural parts.
The U.S. narratives tend to misinterpret the articulations of sociologically unfamiliar products of globalism. The opposing nonsense of their representatives and supporters, as strange as it would appear to the more culturally aware Europeans over law like the Swedish European Union Commissioner representing Sweden's narrow population base in foreign relations missions, illustrates the strength of the stateless label coined socially, economically and politically. Since 1994, and consecutively four terms, the Frenchwoman Catherine Ashton, as EU Commissioner for Trade and the EU Commissioner for the Environment, despite the European Parliament elections, has been responsible for the environment as well. Such phenomena explain the cultural shock faced by the United States earlier in 2002 by the election of Jean Ducey as President of the European Parliament.
5.1. Impact on Social Discourse
Extant literature covering rapid asset construction precedes mass riots, political assassinations, massacres, coups, and drug trafficking. It explores numerous impacts, largely occurring within geopolitical, electoral, and legal studies. The authors do not wish to weigh the damage the work explores as suffering a wider impact than that of competing submissions and leading to influencing opinions and new belief formation based on professional misinformation over whether this is preferable to others losing the mass demonstrations and civil resistance that the far-right cause, already in the United States, and causes elsewhere. Political marketing, against which the mid-distance Olympics propagandism is designed, shows an enhancement to opinion formation and belief in propaganda disallowed by the prohibitions contained within the same word leading the public to ban political marketing.
The authors wish to express their belief that those working in other fields will quickly generate new literature into the specific types of suffering. Hyper-specialists familiar with related debates within their specializations will already know the unique costs of White, Magnolia, Blue Ribbon, Peace, Union, Democratic, and symbol or political ceremonies. This paper instead instantiates the instance of applying white ceremonies to Olympic hosts within the unique, tax-protestant bait, list of or attend the first from either? Reinstigate Bread and Circuses. A quick glance of the methods and works cited sections both express the debt the human sciences owe to older debate regarding desacralization and our wish to uncover and quantify the causes of the pre-historic parade-character distinction created a generation older ensures the paper met its original challenges.
6. Conclusion
To conclude, far-right claims regarding the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are, quite obviously, highly absurd. Not only is it nearly impossible to predict the content and messaging strategy of an event that will not take place for over three years, but it also simply makes no logical sense that the Games would take place in a country whose leaders prioritized such an event as the perfect opportunity to hold a "white genocide"-style demonstration. Indeed, the Olympics are meant to be an inclusive global event that serves as a showcase for the best athletes from around the world while promoting the values of unity, peace, and solidarity. Any attempt to exploit such an event to advance other aims delineates a rejection of this spirit and must be challenged by all those who care about the integrity of the Games.
For these absurd claims to take off and so quickly spread throughout new media networks demonstrates the dangerous ease with which disinformation can now flourish, particularly when aiming to exploit negative division and provoke fear in relation to an otherwise celebratory occasion. Although the world of far-right online influencers and social media activists is rather remote from the debates and private battles occurring every day at the International Olympic Committee, it is these new communicational patterns that now contribute to the creation of a more hostile and negative-looking environment when hosting such an Olympic event. So, in order for the many social, economic, and environmental benefits of the Games to be fully embraced once again by future host cities, a more open conversation that involves all categories of local stakeholders with open minds and ears shall have to be promoted by the IOC throughout all these countries. In many ways, a more permanent, less superficial discussion about what hosting the Olympics will mean for host city residents.
6.1. Reiterating the Importance of Fact-Checking
Despite the specialized focus of far-right rhetoric about the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, the claims about jetpack flying men, skeleton death marching women on horseback, and murder by avalanche on the peaks of Mt. Olympus tell us a lot about the rhetorical and communicative stances of far-right groups in Europe and possibly inspire new methods of inquiry. Sticking to the facts and forensically unmasking what is inexplicable or absurd is a challenge, but resistance to such time-consuming and often draining investigation is an invitation to hours and hours of nonsense overwhelming rational discourse. It is in the interest of those who validate lone conspiracy theorists by quoting their uncheckable and non-credible sources to fact-check and call out absurdity, saving reporters investigating far-right events the need to combat each bizarre off-the-wall claim.
By focusing on such relatively trivial and supposedly insignificant events, we can unearth the absurd at the very moment that the far-right future rhetoric about Europe is attempting to present itself as a perfectly plausible and competent political and military force. Such events of apparent insignificance were selected intentionally to present the far-right as laughably ineffective, with no chance at all of ever mounting an organized salad wars power-grab at a major event such as the 2024 Paris Olympics. This form of 'crude curiosity' gives us a tactical advantage in rapidly humiliating the far-right without too much disruption to their larger conspiracies and belief formation. It is comparatively easy to discover and demonstrate that the Speaker of all sound, known or imagined, tells no tales of flying machines.