Milan-Cortina Opens and the World Pretends Everything Is Fine

The 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics opened on February 6 with a ceremony that did what Olympic ceremonies always do: temporarily convince the world that nations can coexist in harmony as long as there's a ski jump involved. The production was stunning — Italy brought its A-game with fashion-forward aesthetics, operatic grandeur, and enough drone formations to make a Silicon Valley engineer weep with envy. Athletes paraded through the stadium in outfits that ranged from "elegant national pride" to "what happens when a flag factory explodes on a parka." NBC's coverage featured the usual mix of heartwarming backstories, questionable commentary, and commercial breaks timed to make you miss every important moment. Geopolitical tensions simmered just offscreen — they always do — but for two weeks the world would agree to channel its aggression through luge times and figure skating scores. The Olympics remain the grandest collective delusion in human culture: the idea that competition can substitute for cooperation. It can't. But it makes for great television.