I apologize if this post is a bit free-floating and amorphous. It made me think of several different things:
1) I might be, to some extent, the sort of American this article castigates.
2) I am at times amazed at the slippery cynicism of the French. I heard that they devised the slogan, "Think Left, live right."
3) Actually, I think a succession of very specific events, in France's relations with other European states, made France less idealistic and more cynical: It's idealism made it support Polish independence from Russia in the early 1860's, and it's idealism made it support Italian independence from Austria. and this hurt France: When the Franco Prussian War broke out, in 1870, France was alone (It was alone because it had antagonized Russia and Austria) and was promptly defeated by Germany.
4) I am in awe of the progressive and radical strain in French history, but I recoil when I think of the catastrophe and shame that was Vichy.
5) Like many an American, I am enchanted at what appears to be the way the French are able to celebrate life -- and like many Amercans, and Englishmen too, I am envious of this.
6) I WISH TO G-D THAT I HAD LEARNED TO SPEAK FRENCH IN SCHOOL
There are so many things to address. I don't really know where to begin.
Fallacy One in this article is the assertion of something on the order of a unified French character, which cannot, by any objective standard, be said to exist, can it ?
I apologize if this post is a bit free-floating and amorphous. It made me think of several different things:
1) I might be, to some extent, the sort of American this article castigates.
2) I am at times amazed at the slippery cynicism of the French. I heard that they devised the slogan, "Think Left, live right."
3) Actually, I think a succession of very specific events, in France's relations with other European states, made France less idealistic and more cynical: It's idealism made it support Polish independence from Russia in the early 1860's, and it's idealism made it support Italian independence from Austria. and this hurt France: When the Franco Prussian War broke out, in 1870, France was alone (It was alone because it had antagonized Russia and Austria) and was promptly defeated by Germany.
4) I am in awe of the progressive and radical strain in French history, but I recoil when I think of the catastrophe and shame that was Vichy.
5) Like many an American, I am enchanted at what appears to be the way the French are able to celebrate life -- and like many Amercans, and Englishmen too, I am envious of this.
6) I WISH TO G-D THAT I HAD LEARNED TO SPEAK FRENCH IN SCHOOL
There are so many things to address. I don't really know where to begin.
Fallacy One in this article is the assertion of something on the order of a unified French character, which cannot, by any objective standard, be said to exist, can it ?