February 18, 2007
OBLIGATORY FASCIST REFERENCE:
French thinkers abandon 'archaic' Royal (Henry Samuel, 19/02/2007, Daily Telegraph)
Battle-lines are being drawn in the salons of Paris' Left Bank after several eminent philosophers did the unthinkable and publicly disavowed the Socialist presidential candidate Ségolène Royal in favour of "la droite".France's traditionally Left-wing intellectual elite has been ablaze since one of its leading members, the former Maoist André Glucksmann, wrote an article in Le Monde entitled: "Why I choose Nicolas Sarkozy."
Jean-Paul Sartre will no doubt be turning in his grave, but Mr Glucksmann, who co-founded the influential New Philosophy movement in the 1970s, said that the Right-wing interior minister is the only candidate who represents France's tradition of anti-totalitarian humanism -- "the France of the heart".
Conscious that his backing of Mr Sarkozy would earn him many enemies, he described the Left as fatally out of touch and "marinating in its own narcissism".
Which would explain why they smell. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 18, 2007 10:18 PM
"France's tradition of anti-totalitarian humanism"
Ha.
Ok, seriously, I've got Elie Halevy, Raymond Aron, perhaps Maritain, and maybe we can throw in a Tocqueville or a Montesquieu, though with the latter 2 anti-totalitarianism is kinda ahistorical, but after that I'm running into a brick wall. Francois Furet? Jacques Barzun -- does he count as French?
Who else is in that so-called tradition? I thought the rest of French political thought was obsessed with the dispute concerning whether it was to the Soviets or the Nazis that one traded one's women for some chocolate and cigarettes?
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at February 18, 2007 10:48 PM"marinating in its own narcissism"
A good phrase. Here in America, we'd probably speak of barbeque sauce, but it would apply to almost the entire left, from Murtha to the nutroots to Schumer (who wants a resolution a day, it seems) to Harry Reid ("Iraq is the worst American policy mistake ever"). And think of all the poor schlubs like Jonathan Chait and Hendrik Hertzberg et al. who feel so morally superior to Bush - they're practically swimming in it.
Jim: Jean-Francios Revel? Does he count?
Posted by: jim hamlen at February 18, 2007 11:01 PMJim in Chicago: Can't they have a "tradition of anti-totalitarian humanism" without having a tradition of lots of big-name anti-totalitarian humanist intellectuals? Certainly France from the late 19th century through the early 20th wasn't all that terrible a place.
Royal, though, is a piece of work. She's what Hillary would like to be: a hot-looking feminist politician who made it on her own, forthrightly pushing the old socialist snakeoil. None of this pseudo-New Democrat/centrist stuff for her!
(P.S.: OJ, when are you going to fix the comment preview? Ever since the move it shows up unstyled.)
Posted by: PapayaSF at February 19, 2007 12:09 AM"Narcissism? Why, you're soaking in it!"
Posted by: Bryan at February 19, 2007 7:01 AMCamus on the4 days he realized he was just a stubborn Christian.
Posted by: oj at February 19, 2007 7:44 AM