May 25, 2006
WHAT THE FROG IS HE TALKING ABOUT?:
The French malady: Philosopher Andre Glucksmann diagnoses the ailment that has been troubling the French Republic for decades. (Andre Glucksmann, Sign and Sight, 5/24/06)
Extravagant France! In just a year, four crises have confounded international opinion. A year ago, there was the Non to the European referendum, followed last autumn by the suburban riots, then in spring by the student revolt and now the Clearstream scandal (news story). Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, currently no. 1 in the government, is said to have put the secret service onto the activities of no. 2, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, and cast suspicion onto no. 3, Defence Minister Michele Alliot Marie. [...]If the French no longer believe in the sacrosanct left-right alternative, it's because they see that in several decades of cohabitation, alternation, mobilisation and counter-mobilisation, neither the left nor the right have done a thing to solve France's problem of problems: the unemployment rate. Here France is the long-standing Western European champion. As long as the country has 10 percent unemployment (over 20 percent among young people and almost 40 percent in disadvantaged neighbourhoods), the situation will not improve.
Did he really just say that the employment situation won't get any better until the unemployment rate drops?
Posted by Matt Murphy at May 25, 2006 10:32 PMIt's an article by a Frenchman, that originally appeared in Italian and German, and was translated to English by a Canadian. So I think we should avoid parsing too finely.
Posted by: PapayaSF at May 26, 2006 2:13 AMEmployers have very little wiggle room in France. Once someone is hired it appears that it's a life-long commitment. I guess many small businesses run on skeleton crews (if they exist at all).
Posted by: Bartman at May 26, 2006 7:40 AMMatt - It's true, is it not? That's better than average for French philosophy.
I can't think of it right now, but computer programmers used to have an amusing term for that kind of circular thinking.
Posted by: erp at May 26, 2006 9:02 AMinfinite loop?
Posted by: pj at May 26, 2006 9:52 AMThe French malady is, of course, egalitarianism, which they've achieved. Everyone is equally miserable and no one believes in anything. They just don't like it now that they've got it.
Posted by: oj at May 26, 2006 12:11 PM