Let the Flame Die
THE OLYMPIC GAMES are not, as Pope Benedict XVI recently said, “the greatest sporting event in the world.” They are an irredeemably vulgar and totalitarian spectacle. I have no intention of watching the closing ceremonies when they are broadcast here tonight. They couldn’t have come too soon. Judging from the photos, they were every bit as chilling as the opening ceremonies, with their bedazzling, techno-babble chaos, their pantomimes of patriotism, their flashes of demonic imagery, all under the Royal Family’s adoring gaze. It was about as enjoyable as being stunned with a Taser. Whatever residue of warm feeling I had toward the Olympics has been extinguished.



