I wondered reading Belgravia Dispatch’s report of French dyspepsia over American tsunami relief efforts whether citizens of that country have the skeptical outlook many of us now do while perusing our morning papers. It would seem anyone with even average psychological insight would be embarrassed by the obvious envy hardly buried beneath the surface of the snide attacks on the US Military in Le Monde and elsewhere. It couldn’t be more evident that that same military is the only organization in the world remotely prepared to deal with a disaster of this magnitude with any alacrity.
Nevertheless, even some on our shores seem to bemoan this ability. Maybe they’re just dreaming of a “better world.”
Envy is it, Roger, and the well from which it springs is a psychological wound as old as Cain and Abel or any sibling rivalry in our own families. If the Bushies–or the Dems for that matter–understood the psychology of the most hysterical left and treated them as the wounded children they are, they would be unbeatable.
Good point, Roger. The Euro MSM is even more hidebound, more insulated from criticism or competition, more inbred and corrupt than our own. It reflects a profoundly elitist approach to information and the setting of political agendas, an institutionalized elitism that would seem strange to any American, regardless of his/her political persuasion.
Bruce Bawer had an interesting piece from Norway, where he lives, recently in which he noted the bizarre absence of any real ideological or political or other diversity in that country’s media outlets, which remain dominated by a couple of TV stations and a couple of newspapers.
France is pretty much the same. Aside from LeMonde and Liberation, there’s only slightly less left-of-center publications like Le Figaro and Le Nouvel Observateur and a couple of tabloids. TV is France is dominated by the state channels.
The result is a bizarrely truncated and stilted view of the world that more or less mirrors what the ENA-educated political elite (who themselves hold many of the top positions in these media organizations) deems correct and logique. One struggles to find the equivalent of The Nation and National Review, or Fox, or talk radio, let alone the blogosphere, in France.
Perhaps Jim Hake should extend Spirit of America to the French blogosphere as well. (That’s not entirely a joke.)
Considering the fact that France could not even save the lives of old folks in a heat wave in Paris maybe they ought shut up about what other people do to respond to a crisis.
Time and again people all over the world [and that includes Europe] have looked up in the hope and not the dread of seeing an American plane or helicopter.
This disaster is of concern to the entire human race,thus it is irrelevant who does what,when and where ,only that it be done.
Marianne is turning into a spiteful, self-centered old bitch in her old age.
I try to remember to hold the proverbial grain of salt (o.k., a big livestock salt lick block) close when reading flagship media from other countries, especially the french.
Our media is hopelessly left and grossly distorts or misreports mainstream public opinion in this country; one can only imagine the state of dissonance that exists between Le Monde and the like with the populations they are supposed to serve.
I cherish running into foreigners here in Utah; ski season or summertime, there’s always a grundle of them tooling around the different parts of the state and it’s always a pleasure to get opinion from people and not media.
When I want to remind myself that not every Frenchman is a lefty lunatic-fringe wacko, I check in on this guy: http://www.thedissidentfrogman.com/dacha/index.html
Catch the front page of the Wall Street Journal this morning entitled “Land of Babble,” as it lays out the inefficiency of the EU translators and ponder if the EU will ever effectively compete with American pragmatism.
See link: http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110488353780417028,00.html?mod=home%5Fpage%5Fone%5Fus
It is laughably obvious that the European model for unity, inclusive, multi-lingual decision-making may survive but can not compete. Le Monde’s snide cheap shots are laughable as well.
Belgravia Dispatch does a bang up job of rebuttal.
At least the France2 news have shown greatly ineffectual French “efforts”, such as
1. a group of French firefighters cooling their heels at an airport in Indonesia since they “couldn’t get anywhere because the roads were blocked”, while another group of firefighters, from Australia, were shown actively helping at a disaster location a. with medical aid, b. with clearing roads and c. with burying the dead
2. The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle trying to get somewhere (not a small feat, considering the propeller problems), while the American aircraft carrier’s busy dispensing real help.
I won’t say “to their credit” since there’s still an undertow of envy, but compared to the miserable coverage from the BBC TV news, and particularly, from the French press, France2 has done a remarkable job.
It is laughably obvious that the European model for unity, inclusive, multi-lingual decision-making may survive but can not compete.
Additionally, the sheer size and effectiveness of the American power smacks the Gaullist idea of a European Counterpower on the head. Look at EU Referendum post,
This is an example of real power, and the value one of the richest nations on earth can bring to humanitarian relief. The ships alone cost $1371 million and the helicopters cost at least another $200 million, financial muscle which dwarfs the efforts of all the other donor countries.
. . .
Thus, as the days and weeks pass, and the alphabet soup of agencies continue blathering about how much they have contributed, it will be important to remember the role played by those two little letters ñ US – and the utter uselessness of those other two – EU – or any other two you can think of.
In other words, envy, brought to the surface by a reality check.
I don’t understand why the word “bemoan” is linked to Andrew Sullivan’s front page. Is it because he highlighted the statement by the guy saying he’d rather be doing relief work than fight in Iraq, saying “you’re a soldier”. I agreed with him there. It’s a volunteer military, and obviously, the primary purpose of it is fighting not humanitarian relief. Is it that or is it something else? It’s hard to tell because there’s no link to a specific post. Maybe it was a mistake?
Roger,
I’m with Eric. I didn’t get the “bemoan” reference to Sullivan. Can you provide a direct link? It is too painful to wade through Sulli’s posts to decipher the reference. I find his blog unreadable since the moment he decided – consciously or otherwise – that gay marriage was more important than national security.
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