The 2014 Winter Olympics officially commenced on Friday with the Opening Ceremony, and the NBC broadcast of the event has been called into question for a bizarre narration that accompanied a video compilation of Russian history. The clip refers to Russia’s communist past as “one of modern history’s pivotal experiments.” Forget the millions killed – communist Russia was a “pivotal” social experiment that should be praised not derided.
“Hey, I don't know if you saw the Olympics, but I didn't realize that killing 50 million people was a pivotal experiment,” Glenn said on radio this morning. “Bless their collective heart. You know what we should do? In this experiment, let's starve an entire country to death. I know, let's starve the Ukraine… We'll only kill 11 million in a year… After we do that, what do you say we get like a whole prison system, and we spread this prison system over like eight time zones and torture people… Wouldn't that be great?”
“That would be awesome,” Pat quipped. “I call that pivotal.”
Reportedly narrated by Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage, this is what viewers heard during the NBC coverage:
The towering presence, the empire that ascended to affirm a colossal footprint. The revolution that birthed one of modern history’s pivotal experiments. But if politics has long shaped our sense of who they are, it’s passion that endures. As a more reliable right to their collective heart. What they build in aspirations, lifted by imagination. What they craft, through the wonder of every last detail. How magical the fusion of sound and movement can be. How much a glass of distilled perfection and an overflowing table can matter. Discover the Russian people through these indelible signatures. Discover what we share with them through the games that open here tonight.
MRCTV has the full clip:
Glenn couldn’t help but wonder if NBC would choose to cover Nazi Germany the same way it referred communist Russia. After all, both killed millions of people at the hands of a ruthless government.
“Oh my gosh. I couldn't believe NBC has gone full-fledged dark and insane. Can you imagine saying that about fascism? That was a pivotal experiment, wasn't it? You know, here we are in Berlin where this was the home of a pivotal experiment. No, it was called fascism. It killed millions of people,” Glenn said exasperatedly. “A pivotal experiment. Bless their collective heart. What did they say about the collective heart: A country that has always expressed their heart collectively? Because yes, they had a gun to their head.”
“It's like a wonderful thing that just randomly happened,” Stu added. “Everyone seemed to have the opinion for about 70, 80 years. Weird!”
Front page image courtesy of the AP