Economist On French Attitudes Towards The US
You know, this seems to me to be an article that sounds a lot like the Economist: well informed, erudite, and somewhat missing the point.
America is, after all, one of the few western countries with which France has never been to war. Even de Gaulle supported America during the Cuban missile crisis, and reminded a joint session of Congress of the two countries’ history of shared values. The country that supposedly scorns American capitalism has spawned global companies that feed the American army (Sodexho), fit tyres on American cars (Michelin) and put the gloss on American lips (L’Oréal). In many ways, France and America clash so often not because they are so irreconcilably different, but because they are so alike.
Uh, right. Sure. Whatevs. See you in Vichy for the NATO conference, hein?
5 Responses to “Economist On French Attitudes Towards The US”
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December 24th, 2005 at 8:32 am
Chap,
I expect better of The Economist. Never been to war eh? I’ll give them a pass on French and Indian War being that we were still subjects of the Crown, but the Quasi Naval War from 1798 to 1801, and The Invasion of North Africa. OK, I’m nitpicking…..
December 24th, 2005 at 8:42 am
When Carrie and I honeymooned in Paris, one rainy day we found ourselves facing an impossibly long line for the Musée d’Orsay…
…and so we ducked into the nearby Musée de la Légion d’Honneur et des Ordres de Chevalerie (the Legion of Honor Museum.)
Carrie had to elbow me in the ribs several times, hard, to prevent me from asking a tour guide, in my execrable French, where all the medals were for the French heroes of World War II…
December 24th, 2005 at 7:24 pm
As they are so often, the Economist is right here. They also had a pretty good description of Joe Liebermann and why the Democrats need to stop sulking and listen to what he has to say…………
So many things are rooted in our culture that originally started in France……
December 24th, 2005 at 7:57 pm
I would easily admit that it is hard to compress such things into a single article, but I think the magazine isn’t that right. Revel’s book, the one the Economist references, is pretty good; looking in the other direction, so is the recent Atlantic series by Bernard-Henri Lévy and of course de Toqueville.
December 27th, 2005 at 7:11 pm
He forgot Bic pens.