WTF is the Paris Olympic mascot?

[boingboing]

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/07/28/wtf-is-the-paris-olympic-mascot.html

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[DasKleineTeilchen]

Phrygian cap

[Mel_J]

Contributed by Gail Sherman

[MerelyGifted]

Let Freedom Ring: a History of the Phrygian Cap

[chgoliz]

@boingboing

But Jefferson Davis, then-secretary of war and soon-to-be president of the Confederacy, strenuously objected, apparently fearing that a symbol that could be traced back to formerly enslaved Romans would send the wrong message, especially to enslaved Black Americans. As a result, the Statute of Freedom wears a helmet instead.

Well that was a TIL I didn’t know I needed, but am grateful to having learned.

[milliefink]

Then there’s that logo…

[Mister44]

“Who am I? (takes drag off a cigarette) Who are you? Who are any of us on this spinning ball of meaningless shit?”

[fuzzyfungus]

I know what it is supposed to be; but am I alone in having my first thought on actually seeing the implementation be “why did they choose a red poo emoji as the olympic mascot?”

[Wetterschneider]

Right! I thought it looked familiar.

[FGD135]

Peyo was Belgian, though.
Vive la ligne claire!

[Brainspore]

You mean it wasn’t supposed to be that Pixar character?

[Otherbrother]

@boingboing

A red liberty cap can still be found on the official flag of the U.S. Army

And the US army seal contains an image of that flag, which contains an image of the seal, ad infinitum…

[rob_dobbs]

@fuzzyfungus

“why did they choose a red poo emoji as the olympic mascot?”

Maybe they were indulging in liberty caps.

Psilocybe semilanceata

[anothernewbbaccount]

Umm… that’s not all it might be.

‘Clitoris in trainers’: Paris Olympic mascots likened to feminist inflatable...

In an opinion piece in Libération, the journalist Quentin Girard celebrated the fact that the floppy tip of the mascots’ hat was actually being seen as a clitoris glans.

He said “from an anatomical point of view”, having a clitoris as the French Olympic mascot was “very good news” and meant that after years of taboo and lack of education, the country had collectively “at last understood what one looks like”.

[teknocholer]

It’s understandable that France would celebrate their tradition of liberté with the Phryges.

But what was that huge display of headless Marie Antoinettes? The woman had virtually no agency her entire life, traded as a teenager to France (by her own mother) as breeding stock and part of a peace treaty, then reviled as a symbol of everything that was wrong with France and the subject of vicious smears.

(And she never said “Let them eat cake”).

Surely they could have found many more guillotine-worthy figures, from Louis XVI to Robespierre. The execution of Marie Antoinette should be the subject of embarrassment, not gloating.

[smut_clyde]

Paris 2024, the City of the Singing Flame.

[Shuck]

@Otherbrother

And the US army seal contains an image of that flag, which contains an image of the seal, ad infinitum…

[eccentriccog]

Pairs really great with the conciergerie, a headless Marie Antoinette singing along to Gojira, and an explosive cavalcade of red ribbons that looks like a cloud of blood.

[douglas_stuart]

To be fair, the trip down the Phrygian cap rabbit hole is a long and strange one.

Smurfs, Wizards, Libertarians, oh my.

[Jonathan_Mayo]

If you are into 19th and 20th century political cartoons and war posters. Then you’ll recognize the headwear from the personification of the United States, Columbia: