Some people here and on X have expressed outrage at parts of the opening ceremony of the Olympics in France.

As someone who is both natively French and a "global citizen" (lived on four continents, visited 50 countries, expat for nearly 20 years), I wanted to share my dual perspective. My goal is not to pass judgment on Friday's performance, but rather set the cultural context in which it was delivered. So, don't shoot the messenger. Also, references are annotated in brackets like this: [i] for further reading at the end.

The TL;DR is that the French brand of secularism (laïcité) is unique, highly idiosyncratic, and part of the core identity of the French republic; it's understandable that it does not translate well to an international audience.

Now, onto the 🧵: 1/9

Wow what a great thread. Helped me gain substantial perspectives I was missing watching this play out.

The words my wife and I have used to describe it, without having watched it at all was, seemed “tasteless”.

After this amazing write up. My views have changed slightly. I think it was contextually tasteless, as in not the place for such large interpretations of deeply creative work, that isn’t more symbolic of the people the Olympics is meant to represent. 

It now seemed too niche for such a global audience. 

In other words it seems like it’s like telling the millions of tourist that visit beautiful France and force them to watch a risqué show without wanting to be there before they can move around the city. You just wouldn’t do that. Tourism would plummet. 

But seems like extreme creative autonomy and vision was exercised, possibly landing wrong to audience. 

Thanks @aviationdoctor.eth for this amazing write up.

PhD in aviation ∩ climate science | Aviator, diver, ETH maxi, nexialist | Host of /diving /ethfinance /eth-staker /geopolitics /science /singapore /thomas

lesgreys.com & /grey — curiously driven, solutions interested, problem explorer.