Opening schmeremonies.

If it were up to me, I would ignore the Winter Olympics this year. I certainly support Team USA, and I don't blame the athletes for going to the Games when the policy of the United States did not request that they boycott. But considering what a plague the host country has been and also has unleashed upon the world, I kind of feel like I wanted to sit this one out. 

Of course the Chinese Death Virus, a.k.a. COVID-19, which China accidentally set free and made sure spread throughout the world by allowing international flights out of Wuhan, is reason number one why the Olympics should have been left to die this year. About as bad as the spread of the virus was the spread of totalitarianism that came with it, prompting would-be banana republic dictators to seize emergency powers without end. As Jim Geraghty wrote, even before the pandemic, “We’re Not Exporting Our Values to China — We’re Importing Theirs.” 

Then there's the Uyghur slave labor situation. Is Chamath Palihapitiya right, that no one cares about the Uyghurs? No, of course not; anyone would be moved by the horrifying stories about these persecuted people. My sympathies were dampened for a while because the first Uyghurs I ever heard of were fifteen who had been captured by American forces and sent to Guantanamo in the early part of the War on Terror. However, China persecutes a lot of people, including Christian and Falun Gong practitioners and pretty much anyone who isn't Han, so it's easy to want to see common cause made for all those on the pointy end of the CCP spear. 

Of course, the saber-rattling against Taiwan and the crushing of Hong Kong haven't made the Chinese look nicer on the world stage. Nor has the new space race, including weaponized satellites and anti-satellite satellites, and the new nuclear race, including hypersonic missiles, made anyone get the warm fuzzies over the nation, either. Is this all meant to scare the world into compliance, ensure nationalist enthusiasm at home, or both? Or something more? 

And China's theft of intellectual property, which costs American companies alone something like $50 billion annually, not to mention the accompanying security risks, has never been and will never be seriously addressed by the CCP. They like it just fine.

The rampant corruption of American institutions, including colleges and universities and the government itself, by China is pretty well known but very seldom addressed. Even a Congressman who was (allegedly but almost certainly) banging a Chinese honeypot spy has been allowed to remain on the House Committee on Homeland Security and the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism. When would this have been allowed in any sane era?

Which brings us to: Our worst problem may not be our enemies, but that we have the lousiest, dumbest, most laughable elite in the history of the nation, as is probably true throughout the West in the history of the world. Say what you will about the Spanish Inquisition, but remember that it came on the heels of overthrowing foreign conquerors. Spain went from a poor half-client state to a world power in a matter of decades. They were serious about fighting for themselves. Today in the West we have the Randy defense -- lie helplessly on the ground like a slug.

At least it is not likely that Xi or even Putin will start something serious during the Games, so there's that.

Anyway, what I saw of the opening ceremonies looked okay. It's always the same kind of thing. March of Nations was done to a sort of classical music's greatest hits --William Tell Overture, Pomp and Circumstance, Skater's Waltz, Bolero... I expected actor John Williams to appear and introduce the Polovtsian Dance Number 2 by Borodin.

But anyway, I did not have control of the remote, so the Opening Ceremonies were on. I was playing with the dogs, and killing pigs in Angry Birds Journey, which I will probably be doing as the Olympic Games continue. Too bad Nielsen can't register Watched But Indifferent at my household.