Enjoy the silence

In case you haven't noticed, a 116-year-old event began in my home country last Friday. And unlike comedian Stewart Lee, because I don't stand to make any money from it in any way, I believe I'm allowed to name the event. Obviously I'm talking about the London 2012 Olympic Games. It kicked off with an incredible opening ceremony – a social event where a group of us eventually managed to spot a mutual friend strutting her stuff with the 7500 other volunteers on the night. As a result of this creative spectacle, the armchair cynic in me has been unexpectedly silenced. Ever since, I've come to largely overlook the widely reported empty stadia, security concerns and ticket chaos; and focus instead on a different truth: the simple fact that an army of athletes and others have gone to superhuman lengths to stage this festival of sport for our viewing pleasure.

Regrettably, certain UK media outlets and politicians apparently believe the opening ceremony was left-wing propaganda – which is utterly ludicrous. Following their logic, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the event had been created to rival Riefenstahl. Of course, these critics stop short of saying what cultural or historical aspects they would have preferred: perhaps a reminder of one newspaper's apparent support for Oswald Mosley and his fellow fascists in 1930s Europe; or how prior to 1833, the British Empire had been built on the back of slavery? The commentators' intended party-political point is non-existent. The opening ceremony was simply one man's vision to reflect the positive aspects of a nation's history and to recognise the diverse factors and events that constitute its current multicultural identity. Deny that and you denigrate the vital contribution of the country's population.

However, the wider issue, carrying on from my previous post about swearing, concerns a gradual shift towards people publicly saying what was previously unspeakable. It doesn't seem to matter whether you're a politician, polemicist or prominent sports star; people seem suddenly prepared to abuse the Internet to peddle bigotry to the masses. Perhaps the ability to post messages instantly from a mobile phone encourages people to broadcast the kind of ugly opinions they would previously have shared with their friends or kept to themselves. What is clear is that sometimes, as my favourite Depeche Mode lyric goes, "words are very unnecessary; they can only do harm".