Yehuda Wegman
Horror show in Beijing
China’s fascist tendencies, as displayed in opening ceremony, should concern us all
The fireworks and show at the Olympic stadium in Beijing Friday made it clear that the opening ceremony was a production on behalf of a regime showing fascist tendencies, on all this entails. In an era that is characterized by historical ignorance combined with obsessive focus on the “here and now,” it would be advisable to make the public aware of the dangers to the Free World represented by the ceremony.
In the not-so-distant past we saw regimes that were able to produce stunning shows based on the movement of thousands of people with inhuman precision. The last two such regimes were the Nazis and the Communists. The perfect obedience to orders and the complete precision of the performance that were used to produce giant displays by these regimes were the same ones that enabled them to embark on wars or engage in domestic “purges” that killed millions of people and brought great destruction.
Opening Ceremony
Miki Sagui and Reuters
Spectacular ceremony marks opening of Olympic Games in Beijing; Kolganov carries Israeli flag
We should keep in mind the very short road from the grandiose productions and the totalistic value system they represented to concentration camps in Germany and the Soviet Union.
Shows where the individual is no more than a small cog in a giant machine that operates with stunning accuracy are a well-known indication of a regime that conditions its citizens’ right to exist on them being obedient servants of the regime’s and ruling class’ needs. Such regimes have no room for diversity of opinion, political parties, and freedom of expression which constitute the basis of the part of the world that refers to itself as “free.” History taught us a frightening lesson about the conduct and terrible demise of such regimes.
Message of complete control
The Chinese regime chose to display its power and impress the entire world with a show based on thousands of gymnasts and dancers who moved in harmony that imitated a giant monster, which changed its shape and colors constantly. The event conveyed a message of complete control not only over the bodies of the thousands of participants, but also over the bodies and souls of the millions of people living outside the Chinese stadium.
The opening ceremony on behalf of the Chinese government conveyed a clear message – this is a regime whose value system must arouse great suspicion before we applaud and praise its performance. The excited viewers would do well to ask themselves about the human and government motives that led organizers to put on a show that, based on historical lessons, may be referred to as the “Beijing horror show” in the near future.
The organizers of the next Olympics in London are advised not to try to compete with the 2008 opening ceremony in Beijing. A different kind of show, one that would emphasize the human values of the democratic British regime, would distinguish it from the totalitarian Chinese regime as it chose to present itself at the opening of the Olympic Games – this would be an incredibly important and balancing message to the billions of viewers worldwide.
Colonel (Res.) Yehuda Wegman is an expert on military doctrines and IDF history
