December 25, 2013
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, IT'S NOT AS IF THEY HAVE MUCH FURTHER TO DECLINE:
The French Disconnection : The country is in decline, according 74% of the French. And 83% say their president's policies are 'ineffectual.' (John Vinocur, Dec. 25, 2013, WSJ)
'A climate of pain and a feeling of despondency reign, which block any self-projection into a better future. It's the compost in which a possible social explosion is fermenting. Attention is called to the difficulty elected officials are having in creating a sense of proportion and inspiring confidence. This climate of pessimism and defiance is feeding extremist arguments about the impotence of the authorities."The above paragraph doesn't come from some foreign journalistic Chicken Little reveling in (or reeling through) a tough, despairing moment for the eternally contrary (or is it the gifted and ingenious) French. Rather, it is a message extracted last month from an Interior Ministry report on the mood of the nation, dispatched to high officials in the government and leaked at the ministry's displeasure to Le Figaro.
Posted by Orrin Judd at December 25, 2013 5:51 PM
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