opening ceremony

[stavros]

how could anyone possibly insult the Athens ceremony. a ceremony with a deep meaning that covers all things that prospered in ancient greece. there is a lot of history in that opening ceremony, history you couldnt even dream of!it portrayed love, architecture, geometry, Pythagorian theory, philosophy, modern day science, sport, politics, democracy, theatre, drama, mythology, knowledge, (man conquering knowledge ie. the ancient greeks), the list is endless.how can anyone insult the cradle of western civilization and in effect insulting an ancient people that was so intelligent, intellingence beyond anyones capabilites, a pure gift from god.these attitudes go to show the anti-greekness that is evident (and on this forum) in today's world. I guess it may stem from a lot of things like jealousy and a pure wannabe attitude.Stavros

[marcus]

Hi Stavros,Have I missed some posts, because I don't recall anyone insulting the ceremony? If anything, the majority of posts appear to have been extremely complimentary.However, one little nitpick - "insulting the ceremony" is not synonymous with "insulting the cradle of civilization". Not only could one argue whether Greece was indeed the cradle of civilization - but not finding favour with the opening ceremony of the Olympics is hardly to be equated with finding fault with the achievements of Classical Athens.Heck, I am immensely proud of being British, and of British history, achievements, etc. but according to that logic then my response to the opening of the Millennium Dome should have had me strung up as a traitor of the worst sort! :-)All the bestMarcus

[iskander-32]

Stavros HiWhen you refer to the Greeks and there heritage with civilisation.You forgot to mention the high minded attitude they had where as the bickered like children and never had the intelligence to love side by side by there neighbours.Do you refer to these people as the same ones with the high minded attitude that all else apart from Greek was barbarian to be in serviance to the Greeks that included Macedonia.Do you also refer to the same people who did deals with Darius behind Alexanders back, the Greeks whose sworn enemy was Persia the Persians who looted Athens and pillaged the city of artifacts the same artifacts Alexander later returned.Greece maybe the cradle of civilisation Philosophy etc but it can be argued that the high minded Greeks didnt have an ounce of common sense.I have always maintained that the word Dimocracy was a nice word used by politicians to gain power and once they are in power these people resort to dictatorship.Athens and Greece does have dirty hands.regardskenny

[maximus]

Here Here Kenny,Stravos we all admire your patrism however calling Greece the cradle of civilization might be exagerating it about a trillion times over. Greece helped in the nurturing civilization but for the cradle of it you have to look thousands of years before.

[jan]

Fro what it's worth, my only quibble with the opening ceremony is that instead of having Alexander being seen promoting all his games as he did so often, that instead he is seen with his sarissas surrounding him. Alexander was a great proponent of the games for which Greece is so well noted.

[beausefaless]

Nicely said but,As far as I'm concerned ancient Greek culture (and Egyptian life for women) were innovated for all human life! Snobbish or not Alexander recognized this and helped spread this intelligence throughout the known world (also overflowed to the far west).America, Brittan, Australia, Russia, and China are all guilty of spreading havoc through out all of the third worlds! Starvation and sickness is the norm for all these innocent peoples due to the sale of weapons. So whenever you see someone from UNICEF or a representative from a religious organization asking for donations for these unfortunate refugees throughout the world, well, these good peoples should be lobbying governments to stop selling weapons to governments and rebels, then you will see all this starvation and death come to a halt. All of are hands are dirty.And for the name Ben Dover, all I got to say is, *U812*. RegardsAndrew

[Kit]

Andrew,I think you were a bit unfair on Australia! I didn't think they had a big arms industry?P.S- you missed out France!Kit