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New French president rejects tradition
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Also by Kyle Szarzynski:
- District 2 needs Brenda Konkel (April 1, 2009)
- Union's fraud not going unnoticed by students (March 12, 2009)
- Marijuana laws ridiculous, impractical (March 5, 2009)
- Constitution bad for orgs (February 19, 2009)
- Both sides have point in abortion debate (February 5, 2009)
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Francophobia has long been prominent in America. Its existence is a testament to the virtues of the French. American hatred of the European nation runs deep, extending back to the administration of George Washington. The 1790s were an era of revolutionary turmoil in France, where a clash of political ideas was being fought in the streets. French revolutionaries, imbued with the Enlightenment ideals of democracy and reason, waged a struggle against the feudal order and force of reaction that was the monarchy of Louis XVI. In response, American conservatives like John Adams waged a hysterical ideological campaign against the French menace. Anti-French mania was closely linked to the ultra- reactionary legislation of the period, which criminalized free speech and persecuted foreigners. Amid this McCarthy-like atmosphere, pro-French sentiment emanated from progressive Americans like Thomas Jefferson, who saw the revolution as the triumph of liberal ideals. This ideological divide continued to frame the perceptions many Americans had of their democratic cousin. From Robespierre to Sartre to Iraq, the American right has never been fond of the people Homer Simpson once dubbed "cheese-eating surrender monkeys." American francophobia, then, exists for all the wrong reasons. Conservative Americans disparage France's (relatively) generous welfare state, even as tens of millions of Americans subsist without health care. They ridicule the French fondness for protest, even as American social policies remain the laughing stock of the Western world. And they have nothing but vitriol for French "pretentiousness" (i.e. support for the high arts and intellectual endeavors), even as anti-intellectualism poisons American culture. In short, francophobia is a manifestation of everything that is wrong with America. In this context, the warm reception that the conservative French President-elect, Nicolas Sarkozy, has received from American commentators should come as no surprise. Sarkozy is viewed by political analysts — from both sides of the Atlantic — as an authentically pro-American politician — a rarity in France. His divisive and aggressive style has even garnered comparisons to "America's mayor" Rudolph Giuliani — a distinction of dubious value, to say the least. Sarkozy has become the darling of the American political elite not only because he radiates an American style. His policies also fall in step with America's. For one, he is a neoconservative through and through. He opposed the initial invasion of Iraq (it was political suicide not to do so) but has since expressed regret over "French arrogance" and the unfriendly manner in which his country conveyed its opposition. In a radical departure from French norm, he seems comfortable in making France a junior ally of the United States (in the manner of, say, a United Kingdom). French philosopher Régis Debray noted that Sarkozy's affection for American policy is so strong that it makes him "like a direct flight to Washington, D.C." Sarkozy's domestic policies also taste of an American flavor. One of his chief campaign promises, for example, was a pledge to restore law and order in France. Tough-on-crime rhetoric has always been racist code in the United States, and this is increasingly the case in a diversifying France as well. Indeed, Sarkozy is a notorious race baiter. He seems to enjoy playing off of racial fears, having referred to ghetto youth as "thugs" and "scum" and vowing to clean up the impoverished immigrant areas "with a KÃ
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the friggin frogs...
Hmm. De Gaulle tried to put France back on the international stage by opening relations with China and heralding the Atomic Bomb, now Sarkozy wishes to put France back in the international stage by emulating America and embracing back-breaking capitalistic business practices. Sounds a bit backwards, doesn't it?
By the way, It was Groundskeeper Willy, not Homer Simpson, who referred to the French as cheese-eating surrender monkeys.
Vive la France!
Perhaps the Franks are finally waking up and will save their country, and help save western civilization too.
"Sarkozy's anti-immigrant impulse is more than just rhetoric."
You DO realize that he is an immigrant, don't you? He's just against lazy criminals and car burnings.
painful revisionist history.
i like how you oppose Sarko wishing to undo the 35 hour work week. one might think workers are intelligent enough to determine how much they can work. but not you - you must know better than they do.
arrogant, distractingly biased, poorly written piece. usurping french progressivism as your own is a poor mask for solutionless anti-americanism
It's outrageous that as a student of the University of Wisconsin I am forced to pay for a pulpit for this moron.
In his previous writings he has established himself as an anti-semetic unabashed supporter of terrorism ("armed resistance" in his words).
Now, with a spree of logical fallacies and ridiculous generalizations, he paints Sarkozy as all-at-once a Klan member, a fascist, a lap-dog to america, and a robber-baron. This is the guy that 53% of ultra-liberal France voted for.
God forbid Sorkozy support "law and order": civil unrest in France 2005-2006 has seen thousands of cars and buildings set ablaze, costing hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage and cost of riot response.
God forbid Sarkozy cut taxes and relax the 35 hour work week. An 8.7% unemployment rate and laggard 2.0% GDP growth are proof that current economic policies are hurting France. Not surprising in a country where tax revenue is 44.2% of GDP.
This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever read.
Explain to me how higher productivity from a longer work week and cutting taxes will increase inflation?
Stick to Spanish, you'll need it. Sell out.
Now explain the neo-conservative appeal of Canada's Harper, Australia's Howard and Germany's Merkel. Is "the root of their popularity among Washington policy makers", too?
Couldn't possibly be that the World woke up and smelled the stench of Lenin's corpse?
Viva la Reagan-Bush Revolucion!
"Conservative Americans disparage France's (relatively) generous welfare state, even as tens of millions of Americans subsist without health care."
HA! You mean the generous welfare state that permitted 10,000 retirees to bake to death in France's 2003 heatwave for simple lack of air conditioning-- while their generous vacation benefits allowed French "workers" to work on their tans.
Get serious.
"you must know better than they do"
His type always believe they (or a government run by them) know better than the common folk. The proles must always be instructed by their betters - doncha know?
Blue state secession now.
Bonus Question: Which produces more global warming gas?
a) 10,000 kilos of French air conditioning flourocarbons?
b) 10,000 rotting French retirees in 2003?
c) 10,000 cups of French coffee wasted on Kyle's history degree?
d) 10,000 mythical corpses in Barak Obama's tornado dreams?
Charles Warsh at 10:52:
You're not paying for this guy. The Badger Herald receives no financial subsidy from the university of any kind.
Otherwise, though, you hit the nail on the head. Szarzynski is easily the BH's most laughable columnist of recent vintage.
As an American living in Paris, I embarrassed to see my countrymen engaging in rather silly displays of xenophobia. The French have the best health care system in the world and it consumes only 11% of GDP versus 18% for the US. The French also enjoy a vastly superior education system - a system based purely on merit. Indeed, the weakness of the American education system is demonstrated by the comments on this board. The French get a minimum of five weeks vacation by law and their culture emphasizes the arts and culture, not money.
French also spend a lot more time with their families.
Americans talk values, but the French practice them.
And the murder rate in France is
about 15% of the US rate.
There are no mass murders on French campuses.
I think the xenophobics on this board should on trying to bring America up to the standards of the rest of the developed world.
Those standards include universal health care (only 45 million Americans lack health insurance), a first rate education system, a low crime rate (the US has the highest crime rate in the developed world), and a culture that is not focused almost exclusively on money.
Eat your hearts out, I am going to have a creme brule.
A Bientot,
- R.
- R.
best. comment. ever.
"he French also enjoy a vastly superior education system - a system based purely on merit."
Maybe they need a dose of American style "diversity" to put paid to that system?
I wonder if the "youths" that burn hundreds of cars each night believe that they have no merit and that's why they have no hope - but then maybe they ARE just lazy scum.
"Eat your hearts out, I am going to have a creme brule."
Yeh? Perhaps you can melt the sugar under a Peugeot carbeque... afterall, France is aflame with over 500 cars, slightly above their nightly average ~100 car arson incidents, n'est-ce pas?
"More than 500 cars were set alight in cities and suburbs across the country, according to police reports gathered by AFP, many more than the 70 to 100 vehicles that are attacked on an average night in France."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070508/wl_afp/francevoteviolence_070508154040
Once again, France is being invaded while Francophiles watch them march in the shade of Champs-Elysees.
Where are you Charles Martel?
In recent years, about 300,000 French youth have fled France to live and work in Britain. France is suffering the biggest mass emigration since the Huguenots fled in the 16th and 17th centuries.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2074121,00.html
...besides that the Times of London international university rankings place 7 of the top 10, 11 of the top 20, and 22 of the top 50 schools in the world as american.
For the information of "Anonymous" who wanted to get stat-savvy and quote GDP's, I submit this link:
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20070510125149451
It really is just lazy to keep bleeting that old conservative-politicial lie: total economic growth = properly distributed wealth and/or standard of living
viva la france! down with the british!
Sarkozy is the son of Hungarian-born, bourgeois immigrants. He grew up in the tree-lined suburb of Paris, Neuilly-sur-Seine which brings New York's upper East side to mind. This is hardly the 'immigrant' that we're talking about in the current day sociological landscape of France.
the best line in this farcical piece is the lament for "less leisure and more work." These are adults we're talking about. Bo effin ho
Hey 1:24AM, lazy is harping on about a 35-hr work week and 5 weeks vacation. And Kyle's going to need a 40-hr week just to get his facts straight.
Roderick, to say that as an American sitting around the coffee shops in Paris that you understand anything close a consensus of the opinion on anything in France is the height of arrogance.
And, while I am not an expert on French health care, I am curious what happens if you are 65 years old, need dialysis and can't afford it yourself. I know what the answer is in Britain: You die.
Beyond that, the merit based system you speak of in European schools generally is one where pupils are told what their options are.
Generally, we here in the states are more concerned with freedom. You (I mean you personally, not the French; I wouldn't be that arrogant to assume I could speak on their behalf) are more concerned with equality. There is a difference between the two. And, honestly, the French people have spoken by electing someone who is going to eliminate the 35 hour work week and enable them to make money as they so choose.
When you know someone is so far to the left that they have lost all conception of reality: When they think the French Revolution was a successful social experiment. The French Revolution resulted in the deaths 18,000 people who very simply disagreed with the Robespierre's government. It would be akin to a conservative saying that the Muslim theocracies really have the right combination on that church and state gimmick.
Beyond that, here are some other examples of how "progressive" the French government has been since the French revolution: The Napoleonic invasions, the Dreyfus Affair, the Maginot Line. Do you want me to continue?
We here in the U.S. are a vastly flawed nation, controlled too heavily by the extremes on both sides. But France is not the place we should be looking to for answers.
Kyle, you're extremist leftist views are really getting out of control. No one else on the Editorial Page comes close to your left-wing extremism.
here's an idea: move to france
By the way, there are not 45 million uninsured in this country. Adding up everyone who at anytime in the past year didn't have insurance for any duration of time, the number is about 46 million. At any given time, the number without insurance maxes out at more like 15-20.
And I'd like to see them get denied care if they really need it. No, that doesn't mean using the ER as a day care.