Putting Olympic Mayhem into Perspective

As if to participate in the Chinese national hobby of trotting out ancient historical anecdotes whenever possible, an Op-Ed piece in today's NY Times reminds us that protests and even violent chaos have been central to the Olympics tradition from its very beginning: "When it comes to Olympic protests, the demonstrators in London, Paris and San Francisco are a pretty wimpy bunch, at least compared to the ancient Greeks. Back in the classical era, protesters really knew how to disrupt an Olympics ceremony."

Politics and wimpy protesters notwithstanding, I for one still have high hopes that the Beijing Games will stack up to ancient standards of unruliness. Those of us who have experienced the Hobbesian struggle of boarding and exiting a Beijing subway car during an ordinary rush hour know the intensity entailed in any local competition for spots "in line" or the difficulty of securing yourself a modest amount of breathing room in a crowded space. Although Olympic events will be ticketed and subject to actual maximum capacity rules, one still has to anticipate being dazzled by the mayhem bound to ensue in getting 90,000 people seated at the Bird's Nest and getting scores of thousands more transported to and situated at all the other venues around town. Whew, it's going to be a wild ride, folks!