Maggie's Farm

How much time have you ever spent in France? Can you speak French? How much of her great literature, architecture, cuisine have you studied? It isn't that I disagree with some of the criticisms, but it's a bit like the justified criticisms foreigners make of the United States. Carping at the defects and failing to appreciate the greatness...

In my time I have found some French people hateful, rude, arrogant. But mostly just waiters, or surly Parisians doubtless fed up with tourists. And none half so vile as those one sees in just one day on the streets of New York. French political posturing and foreign policy are worse, I agree. But their gutlessness about the Muslim minorities is no worse than our own government's gutlessness about the invasion by illegals here.

Yet none of these matter when one considers the glories of French literature, civilization, and when has actually spent time with French people as something other than a loudmouthed American tourist. We are a barbarous civilization by contrast. Every American should spend at least a year of their life living in France and humbly learning their language and studying their culture. After that, let them decide whether to continue to sneer...

Excuse my ranting. Just such an admiring student of things French for so long...

My knee jerk rant was not at Bellen but at the anti-French tone this blog often adopts. Having spent nearly half my life living in other people's countries, I feel that one can be as critical as one likes about one's own country, but has to try to be more diplomatic about others.

Or at least remember Jesus' admonitions about not telling our brother about the splinter in his eye and not realizing the beam in our own...our own nation has its problems with "the loss of individual strength" these days.

On the sad state of some American feelings about France,with a rough analogy: if I meet someone intelligent and talented at a party and they move away from me, unimpressed, and furthermore refuse to join in the game of charades I am trying to organize, I can sulk and decide they are a jerk and decadent and not worth bothering with. I can attribute the fact that they are not charmed by Magnificient Moi to their bad upbringing and mediocre surroundings. Or I can just shrug my shoulders, figure better luck the next time, be civil and trust that the next time we meet we will discover a common passion for, say, 13th century castles.

But then, I had an adored French Canadian nanny. My dad's company had a branch in France. I spent numerous vacations there and grew up with close French friends. Sent a kid there to get civilized for a year...So I'm a tad biased.

S,
You are, of course, right about that.

The Brit take on the French in Monty Python and the Holy Grail is still pretty classic...much as I love things French...

http://www.mwscomp.com/movies/grail/grail-08.htm

If I didn't have to go to row my galley oar today (sigh) I would like to further research the history of American ambassador appointments to important posts. Political patronage and its rewards, and the impact on relationships with various countries...