The 2018 Winter Olympics: Closing Ceremony. Pt.7

A continuation of Part 6; https://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/the-2018-winter-olympics-closing_1.html

Closing Speeches:

It is IOC protocol that each Closing Ceremony must contain two closing speeches.

By the head of the host National Olympic Committee (NOC). In this case ‎Lee Kee-heung. Then by the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In this case former Olympic fencer Thomas Bach.

The political significance of these speeches were the speeches themselves. In about a two hours the Heritage Flame Ceremony for the 2018 Winter Para-Olympics takes place. So I'm trying to trim this down as much as possible. So I'm sure you can look up the text of the speeches online.

The only thing of note is that it falls to the IOC head to end his speech with a formal declaration that the games have ended. Normally this triggers the extinguishing of the Olympic Cauldron.

However on this occasion the Cauldron remained lit.

In part this was to draw attention to the Cauldron's H.G Welles inspired design. And its implications for the topic of American Fake News Hoaxes.

Also the flame continuing to burn bright served as a reminder that these games may be over. The Para-Olympics are still to come.

It was at the end of this sequence that the BBC commentator decided to break the news that the DPRK is prepared to hold direct talks with the US. However being a sports commentator his version of that announcement didn't really make much sense.

I should point out that the DPRK has aspired to having direct talks as equals with the US since US President Truman flew nuclear armed bombers over the Korean Peninsula in 1950. A large part of the reason why the DPRK is seeking nuclear weapons is so the US will finally view them as equals.

The announcement that the DPRK is prepared to go-ahead with something they've been aspiring to for 68 years is not exactly going to knock the world from its axis.

Teenage Kicks: 

This next sequence was a performance by very famous Korean Pop (K-Pop) boy band Exo. They performed two of their songs; "Growl" and "Power."

Exo are a manufactured pop band. Although often sneered at manufactured pop bands are the history of popular music.

One of the earliest examples are the US band; "The Four Seasons" who were formed in 1960. You then have all the Motown of Atlantic soul bands like; "The Supremes" and "The Temptations" etc.

In the late 1980's and early 1990's this really came to the public attention with bands like; "New Kids on the Block" in the US and; "Take That" in the UK.

Following the success of Take That the Irish boy band; "Boyzone" was formed by producer Louis Walsh. Once Boyzone had run their course Louis Walsh formed the boy band; "Westlife."

As many people have pointed out Westlife is exactly the same band as Boyzone. Only with a different cast.

Louis Walsh then sort of led the next step of manufactured pop band with TV talent shows like "The X-Factor," "The Voice," "American Idol" etc. These allow viewers to see and participate in the bands being manufactured. Bands such as; "One Direction" and "Fifth Harmony."

Some people accuse programs like X-Factor of killing the music industry. They're not. They're simply showing the public what the music industry has always been.

Asian nations such as the RoK with K-Pop and Japan with J-Pop have taken this idea of manufactured bands and gone to a whole new level with it.

Within that culture the band is considered a brand. Rather like the stage musical; "Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons" is a brand. The cast of musical performers using the brand changes regularly.

The musical performers in K-Pop and J-Pop bands often go through an extremely rigorous audition process. Once in the band their behaviour is controlled in ways so tightly disciplined it makes the military seem like a chilled out after school club.

Alongside the Olympic coverage South Korean TV is currently running an "American Idol" talent show to find a new lineup for the K-Pop band; "Bangtan Boys (BTS)."

This show is called; "The Unit." In reference to a US TV Show also called; "The Unit" about an elite squad of Special Operations Force (SOF) soldiers. The message is that getting into a K-Pop band is as about as tough as getting into a SOF unit.

The reason why Bangtan Boys (BTS) need a new lineup is that their existing lineup is being drafted into compulsory military service. Which after a spell in a K-Pop band  is likely to seem like a much needed holiday.

Exo were formed following a 2011 strategy meeting at the Hallyu Business Seminar at the prestigious Stanford University. The objective of the strategy was to maximise sales in both the South Korean market and much larger Chinese market.

This was to be achieved by creating two bands releasing the same songs under the Exo brand. "Exo-k" which had South Korean members and performed in Korean and "Exo-m" which had a mix of South Korean and Chinese members and sung in Mandarin Chinese.

I don't think it was the intention. I'm sure though its easy to turn this idea of; "One Band: Two Systems" into a discussion of the; "One China: Two Systems" policy. This is what China uses to balance mainland China with its more autonomous island territories of Taiwan and Hong Kong.

In 2014 Exo became unified as one band under one system. They dropped from their 12 members to their current line-up of 9 members. Including Zhang Yixing known as; "Lay" who is Chinese.

Part of the reason for the unification was the decision by two members of Exo-m to leave the band. Wu Yifan known as "Kris Wu" who is Chinese Canadian and Lu Han who is Chinese.

This triggered a slew of lawsuits and counter-lawsuits involving Intellectual Property Theft and human rights abuses.

However unlike Kesha's human rights lawsuits Kris and Lu's lawsuits seem likely to have far more standing.

At around 17:50 on 2/3/18 (UK date) much to my annoyance I'm going to have to pick this up tomorrow.

Edited at around 15:45 on 3/3/18 (UK date) to add;

Exo first single as a unified bad; "Overdose" was supposed to be released on April 21st 2014 (21/4/14). However is was delayed until May due to the April 16th 2014 (16/4/14) Sewol Ferry Disaster.

This saw the ferry Sewol sink in waters between Inchon and Jeju. Of its 476 crew and passengers 305 perished. The majority of them children from the Danwon Highschool. 7 emergency workers also died in the efforts to rescue survivors and recover the dead.

The Sewol Ferry Disaster occurred a week before then US President Barack Obama embarked of a week long tour of South East Asia. Amid trips to the RoK and The Philippines the highlight of Obama's tour was to Japan. There he signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The TPP was the main part of the economic track of Obama's "Pivot Towards the Pacific" policy. The security track of that policy was to assist the DPRK in becoming a nuclear armed state. The sort of bogeyman that only America could protect the region from.

Obama's visit also include a trip to Malaysia. In order to congratulate the Islamist Kingdom for their work in bringing down Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 during the 2014 Winter Olympics held in Sochi, Russia.

The Sewol Ferry Disaster therefore seemed to be a warning to Obama over his Pivot Towards the Pacific policy.

It certainly showed the dangers of suddenly lurching to the far right. In order to overthrow Ukraine's government during the 2014 games Obama partnered with not just Neo-Nazis but actual World War Two Nazis.

Of the 305 passengers and crew killed aboard the Sewol the bodies of 5 of them remain missing to this day. Much like MH370 remains missing to this day.

When the US dropped an A-bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945 they killed 146,000 people. When they dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki they killed 80,000 people.

The H-bomb that Obama helped the DPRK develop is at least 1000 times more powerful then either of the A-bombs dropped on Japan. In drawing up plans for a nuclear war against the Soviet Union using H-bombs in the 1960's the US arrived at a figure of 50 million US civilian deaths as an acceptable loss.

In a game with the stakes that high 312 deaths is considered barely noticeable.

However it was the Sewol Ferry Disaster that really started people doubting then RoK President Park Geun-hye. The woman who stole the Presidency after falsifying claims of foreign interference in order to rig the 2012 election.

The ease with which Park Geun-hye was prepared to kill South Koreans in order to make a political point reminded people of her father. Park Chung-hee. South Korea's dictator until 1979.

It also goes to that deep biological instinct in almost all humans to nurture and protect children.

The report into the disaster was published in November 2016. It revealed that Park Geun-hye and the RoK's equivalent of the FBI had conspired to influence public opinion over the incident with the specific purpose of suppressing protests against the government.

Along with the news that Park Geun-hye had abused her position to get the daughter of her close friend Choi Soon-sil into a top university it was one of those moments you could feel the nation shifting against the President.

Within South Korean society boy bands like Exo perform pretty much the same function boy bands like One Direction perform in western societies. They give hormonal teenage girls something safe to lust over.

Within South Korea's great rival Japan this type of pop band - particularly girl bands - perform a much more uncomfortable role.

I joke that I'm married to the popstar Rihanna. In J-Pop this type of thing is actively encouraged.

Japanese men in their 20's and 30's who are often still virgins are encouraged to think of members of girl bands as their girlfriends. Aside from buying their records they're expected to buy them gifts and flowers and pay to have "dates" with them at meet & greet events.

This encouragement of this sort of obsessed psycho-fan obviously brings with it its own problems. In May 2014 a male fan used a saw to attack two members of the girl band AKB48 at one of these meet & greet events. Apparently he was jealous of his "girlfriend" dating other men.

AKB48 are also a good example of how far K-Pop and J-Pop take the idea of manufactured bands. It has 186 members each meant to appeal to the sexual preferences of their fans.

In 2013 one of the members Minami Minegishi broke band rules by staying over night with a male friend. She was punished by having her head publicly shaved. Rather like Nazi collaborators were punished at the end of the Second World War.

Much of these games have focused on the topic of; "Soft Power in the Internet Age" and what some people have dubbed; "Sharp Power."

There was an entire sequence on this during the Opening Ceremony. There was even a faked Cyberattack included as part of that ceremony.

On February 16th (16/2/18) the US Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller accused 13 Russians of using the Internet to interfere with the 2016 US Election. The US' allies spent the next week condemning Mueller and his faction of the US intelligence community of falsifying that evidence.

On February 21st (21/2/18) the US broadcaster CNN set off a; "Twitter Bomb."

It used a network of bot accounts (botnet) to push its; "#StudentsStandUp" slogan up the Twitter rankings to make it more popular than it was. This prompted people in NATO member Montenegro to throw actual bombs at the US Embassy.

This type of social media influence operation is a long recognised part of the pop music industry.

Fans of bands who like to be referred to as; "Fandoms" get together on social media. Either to repeatedly send out messages containing a slogan to promote their bands new release or hold streaming parties to stream the same song or video over and over again to push it up the charts.

So we all knew that Exo were going to appear in the Closing Ceremony. The slogan; "#Olympics_EXO" had been trending top of the Twitter rankings all throughout the day of the ceremony. And much of the day after the ceremony.

This is fully encouraged. The "Vevo" streaming services grants "Certified" status to videos that receive over a certain number of views. A high honour amongst fandoms.

The US iHeartRadio Awards actually has a special category for; "Best Fan Army." In 2017 it was won by Fifth Harmony's; "Harmonziers." 2018 is shaping up to be a battle between Exo and BTS whose fanbases seem to have the organisation levels of actual armies.

Obviously record companies can't rely on fans to give them all of this free publicity. So they use botnets to post the slogans and stream the videos.

I don't think anyone seriously believes Drake topped the UK charts for 14 weeks because people actually like Drake. It's because his record company used botnets to constantly stream his song rigging the chart.

Although the use of botnets is something of an open secret the fans conducting the fandom influence operations know exactly that they are doing. Therefore similar tactics being used in political campaigns certainly doesn't come as news to them.

I've actually seen the One Direction fandom conduct a campaign in support of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/QSD). Being predominately teenage girls many of the Feminine People's Protection Units (YPJ) are big One Direction fans themselves.

The education that pop bands provide into social media influence operations really demonstrates how nations can guard against them.

You need that thing US Democrats fear the most. An educated and informed electorate.

At around 17:15 on 3/3/18 (UK date) I will pick this up later.

Edited again at around 20:10 on 3/3/18 (UK date) to add;

The sequence began with two dancers who may well have been members of Just Jerk who appeared in the Opening Ceremony in the; "Twitchy Eye, Psychotic Face Emoji" sequence. However rather than wearing comedy Kung Fu pyjamas there were wearing authentic Korean costumes.

Then Exo arrived. Carried into the arena on All Terrain Buggies.

This was reminiscent of the 2015 movie; "Mad Max: Fury Road." That features Charlize Theron as an escaped sex slave who wages war against her former captors in an apocalyptic desert. At the 2016 Oscars it stood in for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). And won a lot of awards.

Also Charlize Theron's character is a single, below the elbow amputee. Someone who would fit right in at the Para-Olympics which this ceremony is keen to remind you is yet to come.

In further reference to the war in Syria the Russian military has just adopted a new All Terrain Buggy. Primarily for SOF missions in desert environments. The Charboz M6 is made in Chechnya. Home of the Swedish backed Islamist terrorists who carried out the 2004 Beslan School massacred.

The Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has recently been enthusiastically testing the Charboz M6 of the streets of the Chechen capital Grozny. You may remember that following the liberation of Aleppo City in December 2016 Chechen military police units were deployed there.

Then suddenly Chechnya was accused of murdering gay people. Just as Russia was accused of homophobia during the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The Buggies assembled in a Taoist circle at the centre of the arena. As Exo were dismounting a series of images were projected into the circle. These included a bird, a horse and finally a tiger. The rumour has it that China has deployed it's SOF's named Night Tigers and Snow Tigers to Syria.

If you could hear anything in this sequence it was the excited cheers of admiration and support.

Exo then performed their first song; "Growl." Although I can't say I'm familiar with the lyrics this seemed quite sexual in nature. Exo performed this wearing outfits that resembled a High School uniform. Blazers and smart trousers.

The RoK's Birth Strike problem seems to stem from how hard South Korean children must work at school to pass the Suneung of CSAT college entry exam. These highly disciplined conditions leave little room for other teenage rights-of-passage such as first loves and first kisses.

As a result many unmarried South Koreans remain virgins until their 30's. Something which is not conducive to having large families with lots of children.

I'm not sure if it is deliberate but the K-Pop market seems to contribute to this highly disciplined adolescence. They provide an outlet for teenage lust which stops students being distracted from their studies by things like real teenage heartbreak.

Alongside their school uniforms Exo were wearing high fashion versions of military boots. Both in reference to the highly disciplined South Korean teenage experience and possibly in protest at the fact even K-Pop stars have to do military service.

Their second song; "Power" seemed less of a political statement and more just a really famous band playing one of their biggest hits.

However they were joined by dancers with lights attached to their fingers. This is an Asian pop idea that black US popstar Jason Derulo has used in the past. Posing a bit of a question of whom is appropriating whose culture.

As they were performing what appeared to be a galaxy of stars was projected onto the arena floor. This is quite a common theme for a band who take their name from; "Exoplanet." A planet outside of Earth's Solar System which orbits a star. Their first tour was named; "Exo from Exoplanet #1 - The Lost Planet."

Here though it allowed topics from elsewhere in the ceremony to be brought in. Such as Time Dilation, the Doppler Effect and Wave-Particle Duality. I'm pretty sure I detected elements of Red Shift.

The stars of Exo's galaxy also seemed to include the five colours of the Taoist Wu Xing. Reminding Quantum Physicists that perhaps Unified Field Theory isn't such a new idea.

The sequence ended with a big fireworks display.

21:00 on 3/3/18 (UK date).