Beijing Opening Ceremony: Yesteryear Rides Again

Watched the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summer Olympics tonight. What a display. Poor London 2012. How are you going to top that? Can you imagine England being that triumphalist about its history? No, you can't. Massive state displays make modern societies queasy. Democracy might mean more transparent and accountable government, greater personal freedom and access to information, and refined checks and balances, but one thing it does not do better than pre-democratic society is state displays. If you want to build a pyramid or host a rival on a field of gold or open the Olympics with more flash than any predecessor it helps to be totalitarian. That's why I was excited about the opening ceremony. There aren't many nations around capable of that sort of old fashioned mustering of the full power of the state to Make Stuff Happen. It's like watching the best part of what modern society misses in ditching kings and emperors. I'd like to call it a throwback. The display is fun to see but you wouldn't want to live with the structure that makes it possible. That pageantry ought to be more 1608 than 2008. Yet between the economic spring and recent international clout of Russia and China, maybe authoritarianism is making a comeback...