Poor French. Down in the dumps. I blame George Bush
It was 50 years ago...
A tragic and nostalgic story
THE DOWNFALL OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE
Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Indochina, Madagascar, Black Africa, Ivory Coast, etc.
Gerard Mermet, sociologist, place the year past under the sign of the moroseness: "the French appear tired, discouraged face in the future"
The life in couple or a recluse, the image of work, the new spending patterns... Since 1984, Gerard Mermet was made specialist s everyday lifes. After having auscultated the French during two years, it publishes, with Francoscopie 2005, its tenth diagnosis of the collective evolutions of our contemporaries. And releases from them some tendencies, of which that of the great moroseness.
Which great change you perceived these two last years?
The process of moroseness of the French accelerated in 2004. A foreigner unloading in France would be astonished to see how much the French appear tired, discouraged face in the future. He would be struck by the pessimistic contents of the media and the diffuse feeling of decline which bores in the discussions. The French smell themselves obviously badly in the new century. They are persuaded that that goes less better today than yesterday. And this discomfort touches the majority of the social categories, the young people like the old men.
I made a study where the questioned people had the choice between three adjectives to qualify the contemporary company: 40 % of them considered on the decline, 28 % said it motionless, and 32 % in progress. Since 2002, the articles, the books showing the reality of the decline of France multiplied. When people are so numerous with speaking about decline, it is that something does not go.
http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=265110
It was 50 years ago...
A tragic and nostalgic story
THE DOWNFALL OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE
Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Indochina, Madagascar, Black Africa, Ivory Coast, etc.
Gerard Mermet, sociologist, place the year past under the sign of the moroseness: "the French appear tired, discouraged face in the future"
The life in couple or a recluse, the image of work, the new spending patterns... Since 1984, Gerard Mermet was made specialist s everyday lifes. After having auscultated the French during two years, it publishes, with Francoscopie 2005, its tenth diagnosis of the collective evolutions of our contemporaries. And releases from them some tendencies, of which that of the great moroseness.
Which great change you perceived these two last years?
The process of moroseness of the French accelerated in 2004. A foreigner unloading in France would be astonished to see how much the French appear tired, discouraged face in the future. He would be struck by the pessimistic contents of the media and the diffuse feeling of decline which bores in the discussions. The French smell themselves obviously badly in the new century. They are persuaded that that goes less better today than yesterday. And this discomfort touches the majority of the social categories, the young people like the old men.
I made a study where the questioned people had the choice between three adjectives to qualify the contemporary company: 40 % of them considered on the decline, 28 % said it motionless, and 32 % in progress. Since 2002, the articles, the books showing the reality of the decline of France multiplied. When people are so numerous with speaking about decline, it is that something does not go.
http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=265110
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
The moderate left have though. In the past, these people have taken a neutral view on Middle East politics - prefering to ignore it as "a problem that is impossible to sort out".
However, when Bush came to power it became the fashionable view that he was an inarticulate, right-wing, dunce. Ronald Reagan was regarded in the same way here.
When the war was getting started, this snowballed into "Bush is an inarticulate bullethead who must be stopped - and Blair is his poodle" (the intelligentsia were looking for a good excuse to hate Blair, anyway).
So then it became fashionable for the "politically-aware" to go on these huge marches against the war in Iraq and at this point the anti-semites on the extreme left and in Muslim organisations hijacked these fickle, naive, emotional moderates into their fight against "the zionist entity".
Nowadays if I mention my suport to Israel to any vaguely fashionable young person, they are convinced I am evil.
The assualt on public sanity also comes from the media who are quite rightly anxious not to encourage Islamophobia, but naively express this in "peace march mentality" - hence they became anti-war and pro-Palestinian.
In the end the whole thing gets skewed. A neutral, rational stance flies out the window - the war becomes a bad thing perpetrated by evil right wingers, Israel becomes the oppressor of the poor Palestinians and terrorists are described as "millitants" because they don't want to offend Muslims.
Luckily, as I say, the ordinary person on the streets isn't taken in - but with such "sensitive" bullshit flying around there's a danger that they could manifest a reverse effect to that desired by the media, the left and the Muslim activists.
Over-protection and media distortion could end up polarising our country. As moderate left and some neutrals get pulled into hatred of America and Israel while the moderate right and other neutrals start losing patience and become racist.
For this reason I am constantly pointing out to fashionable friends that the Liberation of Iraq, the war on terrorism and Israel aren't evil. I am also having to point out to other people that Muslims aren't always evil terrorists.
Ultimately this mess is the fault of the media who control the war information is portrayed. They let their liberal tendancies get the better of them.