Olympic Opening Ceremony

Castiel said:
No former Olympics has turned any significant profit or long term financial benefits.......why would the London one be any different?
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I'm not talking about it turning a profit, however it will bring additional money into the economy over a long period of time. That is indisputable.
 
PMKeates said:
I think you'll find the majority of people do not associate it as such, and so any theoretical use of the symbol for political purposes would be mostly void.
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Except the use of it in the current political campaign against public sector cuts of course.......:p

I think most people my age will associate it with a particular campaign and the Greenham Common protests etc....so I would say it was a universally recognised protest symbol more that a non-political peace symbol.
 
Firestar_3x said:
I'm not talking about it turning a profit, however it will bring additional money into the economy over a long period of time. That is indisputable.
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Did the Jubilee give way to any growth?

No.

Did the Royal wedding bring in anything?

No.

Will the Olympics?

Probably not as much as people want.


Stop thinking these events are anything more than making Britain look better, they aren't the saving grace of any economy, no matter how much you want to try.

In fact, how many people will be taking days off work to watch?
How many people will be slowed down going in and out of work?
How is the Morale going to be of those people?
How will that effect their work?

How will all that ultimately mean for any input into the economy from the Olympics?

Difficult to answer right now, obviously, but its quite clear that this wont do much for us.
 
Castiel said:
It was also an anti Christian symbol, the symbol of Hitler's 3rd Panzer Brigade and in modern parlance it is associated entirely with the campaign for nuclear disarmament and therefore the anti-war movement.......a political campaign.
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The idea that the CND symbol is an anti-Christian symbol is basically an American rightwing Christian fantasy. And, yes, it was a political campaign, just as the suffragettes were. You can show a symbol of a political campaign without pushing their values; it was a montage of history.

http://www.teachpeace.com/peacesymbolhistory.htm
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Unreliable source is unreliable.
 
Castiel said:
Except the use of it in the current political campaign against public sector cuts of course.......:p

I think most people my age will associate it with a particular campaign and the Greenham Common protests etc....so I would say it was a universally recognised protest symbol more that a non-political peace symbol.
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It is a universally recognised symbol that was used to signify a point in our history, which was obviously a political point in time, as were many of the other things in the show - it's usage was no more politically bent than the inclusion of suffragettes to represent the women's rights movements - another significant political point in our history.

Remove anything with any kind of political association and last night would have been about 20 minutes long :p
 
Firestar_3x said:
So we aren't going to see any increased tourism after the games?
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Only in the very short term....and not enough to warrant saying it will bring significant investment into the country.....so far there is no evidence that the former Olympics such as Sydney, Athens and so on brought any significant financial benefit to the countries in what they were held.

That is not to say we should not hold them......quite the contrary I think we should celebrate the fact the Olympics are being held in the UK (political posturing aside) and that the benefits are not just about money, but about prestige.
 
Castiel said:
Only in the very short term....and not enough to warrant saying it will bring significant investment into the country.....so far there is no evidence that the former Olympics such as Sydney, Athens and so on brought any significant financial benefit to the countries in what they were held.

That is not to say we should not hold them......quite the contrary I think we should celebrate the fact the Olympics are being held in the UK (political posturing aside) and that the benefits are not just about money, but about prestige.
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I agree that other benefits outweigh the economic ones, but I still think this will increase tourism for the next decade, the numbers will tell the story I suppose.
 
Firestar_3x said:
Tourism can't fix what's going on in Europe, no one quick fix solution but every little helps.
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True, but people should be cautious of the economics here, that is all i am saying.

I will cringe heavily if the news reports that the "economy continues to suffer, Olympics did nothing."

That sort of useless information, just annoys me.
 
Mr Jack said:
The idea that the CND symbol is an anti-Christian symbol is basically an American rightwing Christian fantasy. And, yes, it was a political campaign, just as the suffragettes were. You can show a symbol of a political campaign without pushing their values; it was a montage of history.
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Actually it is not, Bertrand Russell was instrumental in its creation and the arms down symbol was used to signify a reversal and breaking of the Cross of Christ, the Saracens painted it on their Shields, but in any case the symbol is still associated with a current political movement and the suffragettes are not......it was out of place and given the apolitical nature of the Olympics unnecessary....

If it was simply a historical reference then fair enough, however it is still used in the current protests against public sector cuts, which Danny Boyle is a staunch supporter of.

Mr Jack said:
Unreliable source is unreliable.
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No less true however. The Arms down symbol was used both by the Saracens and the 3rd Panzer Brigade.....(we wont go into other peace symbols associated with Nazism...;))

I understand what people are saying about it being a peace symbol, but given its current use in a current political movement I still think it was inappropriate. and it appeared totally out of place to me.
 
Castiel said:
If it was simply a historical reference then fair enough, however it is still used in the current protests against public sector cuts, which Danny Boyle is a staunch supporter of.
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Surely the point in which it was used during the show, during the long historical montage, makes it obvious it was being used as a historical reference? I doubt the majority of the public are even aware of it's current use, nevermind it being the overriding association they have with that symbol.

Like many of the 'political' complaints people have with this ceremony, I think people are seeing things because they're looking for them and want to see them, so that they can have a good old British moan about it :p
 
Moses said:
To you. That doesn't make it an objective fact. I haven't heard another person complain, which leads me to think that most took it as a symbol of the age, rather than an overt political statement in the now.
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I have heard quite a few people mention it, and more so the distinct emphasis on Socialism in general.

Still it is a good advertisement for the Protest movement. Particularly the one happening in October.....

:p
 
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