# Imbecilic Olympic, "controversy." **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** olympic-sports-track\ **Created:** [July 31, 2024, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031 "2024-07-31T00:00:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/21 "2024-07-31T01:01:53Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > because it clearly used that famous da Vinci fresco as a reference. It looked more like bacchanal paintings to me. [![](https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2024/07/feast-of-the-gods.png) ](https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2024/07/feast-of-the-gods.png) [![](https://2ndlifemediaalamogordo.town.news/sites/default/files/styles/extra_large/public/108525/2024-07/img_9207.jpeg.jpg?itok=Wk83dVB9) ](https://2ndlifemediaalamogordo.town.news/sites/default/files/styles/extra_large/public/108525/2024-07/img_9207.jpeg.jpg?itok=Wk83dVB9) The Last Supper was a lot more composed and less chaotic. Leonardo made great use of geometry (ironically imitating the ancient Greeks there) to compose his painting. This is in contrast to the disorder you see in paintings that portray the feast of Dionysus, which is what they were portraying in Paris. Also note that the Last Supper wasn’t original either. That painting was done somewhere between 1495-1498 CE. Here is one example of an earlier painting done in 1447, a full 50 years earlier. [![](https://cdn.kastatic.org/ka-perseus-images/f9bc3dfe3f4bb6b04c6456974abf4970bd9e14aa.jpg) ](https://cdn.kastatic.org/ka-perseus-images/f9bc3dfe3f4bb6b04c6456974abf4970bd9e14aa.jpg) And that’s just one of the earlier examples of artists portraying the subject. One thing that made Leonardo’s painting different was how he portrayed people; before, usually everyone but Judas was shown as having a halo. Leonardo chose to give Jesus a halo, and he alone; Judas was singled out instead by having a shadow on his face. But regardless, the Last Supper is not the only painting that looks like this, and wasn’t the inspiration for what was in the Paris ceremony. And frankly it’s arrogant and ignorant to think otherwise. (I am not singling you out for that comment by the way, I’m directing it toward everyone outraged by it without knowing what they’re even seeing.) ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/22 "2024-07-31T01:05:55Z")
Okay, fine. I’m just interpreting. I really have to stop that. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/23 "2024-07-31T01:08:53Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > The Last Supper is what those Christians who are offended believed was being mocked. > [@Ulfreida](#): > > because it clearly used that famous da Vinci fresco as a reference. Is it possible to mock that famous da Vinci fresco and not be mocking The Last Supper? If what those Christians who are offended believed is wrong, isn’t that their fault and no one else’s? ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/24 "2024-07-31T01:16:59Z")
And let’s not forget Black Sabbath’s DVD > **[The Last Supper (Black Sabbath video)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Supper_(Black_Sabbath_video)#/media/File%3AThe_Last_Supper_(Black_Sabbath_video).jpg)** > > The Last Supper is a VHS/DVD by heavy metal band Black Sabbath in their original line-up. It features the live shows they put on stage on their US tour in 1999. This video has received negative criticism by fans for having interview segments interrupt the live footage. These segments were conducted by Henry Rollins, of Black Flag and the Rollins Band. > ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/25 "2024-07-31T01:18:16Z")
It’d be helpful if the French had a word for “avant-garde” to help us out here. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/26 "2024-07-31T01:23:00Z")
The big lady with the Halo. I’m afraid that supposed to a representation of Jesus in Da Vinci. The blue guy is obviously in the other. So a mash-up of both. Probably other characters in there too. I can’t see it close enough to judge. These Christians are just being feckless in their dumb outrage. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/27 "2024-07-31T01:30:32Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > because it clearly used that famous da Vinci fresco as a reference. How dare they mock my Dog! [![](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/52/da/dd/52daddd77f137297eae2b9fb89f74d01.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/52/da/dd/52daddd77f137297eae2b9fb89f74d01.jpg) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/28 "2024-07-31T01:35:15Z")
Count the number of people, the fact that they were standing, and the person/entity being featured. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/29 "2024-07-31T01:37:21Z")
I bet everyone of those dogs has had sexual reassignment surgery! “Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered.” ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/30 "2024-07-31T01:42:52Z")
Some official Olympic guy says the guy on the table is the Greek god, Dionysus. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/31 "2024-07-31T01:42:56Z")
So the list of things that Real American Patriots are triggered by now includes; - The Olympics - Bud Light - Football - Taylor Swift - M&Ms - Ice cream - Airline pilots - 18th century Colonial historical recreationists - Cats - Woman who laugh - The word “weird” What am I missing? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/32 "2024-07-31T01:45:22Z")
That’s it’s quicker to list the things they’re not triggered by. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/33 "2024-07-31T01:46:44Z")
I’m sorry. I should have mentioned this. Greek god covered in fruited vines? Dionysus! I recognized him immediately. I couldn’t figure out why he was blue though. Then I read a statement from the artists behind the whole thing. They said he was blue to be like a Hindu deity. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/34 "2024-07-31T01:47:25Z")
> [@mjmartin](#): > > Yes. But that has been parodied dozens (hundreds) of times. Here are 29 of them in a fun quiz. I don’t remember there ever being backlash. Nor was there any backlash for the Last Supper scene in Mel Brooks’ _History of the World, Part I_. And if there was, it wasn’t very loud: [![](https://static1.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/History-of-the-world-part-1.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5) ](https://static1.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/History-of-the-world-part-1.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5) ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/35 "2024-07-31T01:48:24Z")
My very first thought when seeing the tableau was “Oh that’s Dionysus.” I never once thought of the Last Supper. But some people just have to pretend they are being persecuted all the time. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/36 "2024-07-31T01:50:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Dearest Gentle Reader, > > I’m about to step on some toes in regard to the Opening Ceremony at the Paris Olympics. > > The headless woman was Marie Antoinette. She ruled over France and was found guilty of treason, conspiracy, and stealing from the country. > > Sound familiar? > > Also, it was not the Last Supper. It was a depiction of an ancient Greek Bacchanal… because, you know, the Olympics are ancient and Greek. Surprise! > > And if you didn’t know, a Bacchanalia is an uncontrollably promiscuous, extravagant, and loud party. The parties often spanned several days which honored the god of wine, Bacchus (the blue guy covered in grape vine). He is also known as Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility, later known as the god of wine and pleasure. > > And finally, it was not Death on a pale horse. It was Sequana, Goddess of the Seine, the River in which the boat precession took place. She was meant to be the representation of the Olympic spirit and of Sequana. > > If some of you weren’t so busy trying to end the Dept. of Education, you might know this. > > Loosen the clutch on your pearls. > > Yours truly, > > Lady Francis > > •••••• > > “Paris is back on its feet, jubilant, flamboyant, creative and open. Free,” - Thomas Jolly, the artistic director. > > •••••• > > EDIT ! > > Art is free thinking. You’re allowed to interpret it differently from others. Art is expressive in nature, it involves creativity and imagination. Art evokes emotion. > I never thought my post, or views on what I had researched for myself, would go viral. > > I hope that if you’re reading this, that you do your own research. You do not have to agree with me. What a boring world this would be if we all thought the same! In America, we have the freedom to share our views and opinions- but they are not without consequences. All I ask, is that you’re kind to one another. > > You can share your information without threatening remarks, death threats, and crude candor. From Marla Francis on Facebook. ETA I shared an editted version of the above quote when member of one the FB groups I belong to made a post about how offended she was. While many ‘liked’ my post, and I got a few ‘thanks for the explanation’ and a few ‘offended people gotta be offended’ mostly I got ‘You have been duped by their lies and support their degeneracy!’ sigh ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/37 "2024-07-31T01:55:06Z")
Art is Art. It supposed to be a free expression. You take what you want from it and go about your merry way and the next person can do the same. When we start regulating what free expression is we may as well end it here and now. Now, why was it immigrants ever wanted to come here to this new world? Freedom. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/38 "2024-07-31T01:55:40Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I didn’t really watch it, but I could tell that it was going to be very offensive to some millions of people. “I didn’t see what you are taking about but it _must_ be mocking Christians!” Funny how in another thread you were mocking younger people for supposedly not knowing history and yet you can’t tell the difference between a Greek bacchanalia and the Last Supper… ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/39 "2024-07-31T01:59:54Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Up Next: The Olympics make fun of Islam to the resounding sound of Christian . . . absolute silence. The last time I remember France being in the news for someone over there mocking Islam was when a bunch of people were shot at Charlie Hebdo back in 2015. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031/40 "2024-07-31T02:03:44Z")
[![](https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-6077de2884976a26e7af9976ac03702a.webp) ](https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-6077de2884976a26e7af9976ac03702a.webp) Hopefully this doesn’t run afoul of the new foreign language rule, not that translation is needed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imbecilic-olympic-controversy/1005031.md?page=3)