Salt Lake Games and Mikis Theodorakis
I wonder at the whining of Mikis Theodorakis (February 12). I wonder at his claims to be so very important to Greece, indeed to be the embodiment of Greece itself, that his name should be broadcast along with his music at the Olympics in Salt Lake City. In my opinion had the citizens of the USA, not the politicians, connected him as the composer of that music accompanying the lighting of the torch at the Winter Olympic venue the entire country would have risen up in protest. His puerile ranting, so well covered in the interview in your paper (November 11), following the sneak attack on the [World Trade Center] buildings with the resulting loss of life, betrayed the old Communist who «loves humanity but only hates people» to be not in the least the best of the Hellenic Spirit… Theodorakis in his self-serving makes himself less than his music. In contrast, the commentary on the visual excesses of the opening celebration and the danger of such superficial symbolism being emulated was handled with sophistication by Pantelis Boukalas (February 13) in the usual fine manner I find in your paper. I hope for the sake of Greece it will be heard. As to the security measures, he must have a short memory in order to forget what happened in Munich and Atlanta [1972 and 1996 Summer Olympics] and recently in New York.
