The American Spectator

Reader Mail

The Gaul of Some People

7.20.04 @ 12:01AM

(Page 2 of 2)

Americans should not think that being criticized by the French is something to worry about -- they do it to themselves, too. In fact, they are highly skeptical of any manifestation of power, be it from foreigners or at home, and anyone who thinks their press is uniform, is terribly mistaken: you will hardly find press coverage in the USA that scrutinizes your government's performance so pitilessly as the French do with their own.

On a personal level, it's not fair to see them as a bunch of arrogant bastards either: When I treated my old mom (a modest, friendly country woman whose French was far from perfect) to a vacation in Paris, she was welcomed with great respect and care everywhere even by the potentially snottiest waiters. A real eye-opener to me who at first sight often experiences polite treatment at best.

Next point: With their labor protests, the French are making us Swiss and Americans alike aware of the truth that working longer hours in times of globalization can't be the overall solution: We will never be able to beat Indian or Chinese low wages (about one-tenth of ours presently) even if we triple our efforts, which is physically impossible. We must find other ways of coping with economic transitions, and even the staunchest American capitalists have come to agree that some sort of protected market combined with targeted development programs in emerging economies will be necessary in the years to come. After all, we don't want to go back to 19th-century working conditions, right?

As to the Muslims in France: Those who are willing to assimilate do have a reasonable chance of success, profiting from medicare, welfare, schools etc. they could only dream of in their countries of origin. If they stick to 6th-century religious recipes, however, there's no way they will be ever be fully accepted, not in Europe nor in the USA. And of course it is asking too much of any nation to solve the problems of an Arab world featuring uncontrolled population growth. First and foremost, Arab countries need to overcome their own cultural tensions. The latest French initiatives to support Algeria more directly are therefore a clever move.

The French are still capable of great industrial and cultural achievements. In many fields, they are in clearly better positions than the Americans (public transport and bullet train systems, public health care, environmental protection, power grids etc.). In others, often united with other European countries, they were able to gain a competitive edge within a few years (Airbus/Ariane). Of course we are all handicapped by the average American's inability to understand anything written or spoken in a foreign language. We had great Italian, Czech, Polish, French film industries, but they didn't sell on the other side of the pond. (Winning by ignorance: an American strategy?)

When it comes to cunning business management, or project management in general, we must still learn a great deal from the USA. That said, it's equally true that many European companies who were willing to invest in your country (I could give you a whole range of Swiss examples) earned themselves a bloody nose because they tried to apply our high quality and flexibility standards to their American workforce. Both ways, the willingness to engage sometimes just isn't good enough.

You suggest boycotts, dear Jed, and it's simply not the solution. Boycotts tend to become two-way streets. In the European West, American tourists are being replaced by wealthy Russians, Indians, Koreans and Chinese. Europeans will travel to South Africa, South East Asia, South America -- we don't even need each other anymore. We need American cars as little as you do French wine. Unless, of course, personal sympathies across the Atlantic remain alive and Americans (like you) and Europeans won't have fun spreading xenophobia systematically.
-- Kurt Schori
Biel-Bienne
Switzerland

I know: let's advise them all to rent and view the film El Cid. That way they'll be mindful of precedent for Muslim conquest in Western Europe.....

The do have video rentals there, don't they ? And TV's ?
-- Paul Kotik
Plantation, Florida

Great suggestions.

But does anyone think the French will listen to anything any American would say-except, perhaps, John Kerry as he surrenders to the U.N. and begs for forgiveness from the French for us being so uppity and having the gall to be concerned about things like life and liberty? After all, the French government fined Brigitte Bardot $6,000 for inciting racial hatred for having written in a book that ". . . my country, France, my homeland, my land is again invaded by an overpopulation of foreigners, especially Muslims." She was referring to France's many-millions-member Muslim community, supposedly Europe's largest. Also French author Michel Houellebecq, though acquitted, was threatened with a jail sentence of a year and a many-thousands-of-Euros fine in 2002, after being sued by the largest mosques in Paris and Lyon, the National Federation of French Muslims and the World Islamic League, as well as Paris-based Human Rights League. They claimed his remarks were Islamophobic and that he caused racial injuries.

His alleged crimes? In an interview with the magazine Lire, he called Islam "the stupidest religion of all" and that Islam was "a dangerous religion from the start." Apparently, too, he said, "When one reads the Koran, one is devastated, devastated."

You wonder: Do the French prosecute those, including Muslims, who say or write things that incite racial hatred against France's Jews or members of other religions or faiths? Maybe someone should suggest politely that the French try true free speech for a spell and administer their laws uniformly, if that's a problem. Or consider if Islam or just radical Islam is a serious threat to free speech in France.
-- C. Kenna Amos Jr.
Princeton, West Virginia

It's a shame that the Spectator allows M. Jed Babbin to soil its pages with the kind of [merde] one can read in his article "The French Prescription." This man has to see a shrink to unload his hate feelings. Did he ever visit France for more than a few hours? I'm not French, neither am I from the political left. But as a Dutch-speaking Belgian I live close to them and know them fairly well. I have been on vacation in France many times. I read the French press from time to time. We can watch their TV channels. Few countries in the world have to offer the daily quality of life the French possess. And I am in a position to compare, having lived a few years in the States.

Under this presidency Americans from the political right have become as ugly as they ever can be. Jed Babbin is indeed a loose warhead. This man doesn't realize the harm he is doing to his country -- which by the way I do like a lot -- by putting this awful prose on line. I never read anything similar about America in the French newspapers. You could say the French are too civilized to put this kind of insults on paper.
-- Renaat Horemans M.D.
Mol, Belgium

Apropos "The French Prescription": In the 20th century, the Germans tried twice to save the French from themselves. We Americans stopped them twice. Perhaps we were myopic.
-- David Govett
Davis, California

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