Do you play French billard?

Remember the climate between our two nations five years ago, during the warm up to the Iraq war? Oh yes, you do…One of the most worn out argument that was then hurled day in, day out at the French who dared oppose the American urge to go to war was that the French may be good at talking but they were absolutely unable to tackle real situations and act decisively when needed.     

The American MSM made sure that the American people would see the French as congenital impotents as opposed to the glorious and virtuous Americans who have the guts to face the fights and act accordingly.    

Yet, the French president, Jacques Chirac, tried as much as he could to warn our American friends that they should consider the long term consequences of their choices. To no avail alas, his appeals were deemed only empty talks whose function was to try concealing the innate incapacity of the French to act and fight. Oh well… nearly five years later… But never mind…     

And here may be the place for a little metaphor involving American pool and French billiard, commonly known as Carambole billiard. If it is true that games can be seen as representative of the mind of the peoples who practice them, it may not be exaggerated to see how some of our national traits reflect in our respective ways of playing the billiard.    

As every self respected American knows, there are several versions of the American billiard but, basically, the players face a dozen balls of different colours with each its number. The players shoot straight in the balls and bing, bing, bing, fall the balls into the pockets, with no further fuss and the game is over. Not very subtle but quite effective indeed, one doesn’t need to think much about the day after…     

The French billiard may not appear so effective but, wait, have a second look… Just three balls, white, yellow and red as seen on the picture, no pockets, no numbers painted on the balls and the counting goes 1+1+1+1+1+1 etc. until the players reach the limit they set beforehand. Here, there’s no shoot, shoot, shoot in the pack but the goal for each of the two players consists only in touching the red ball and the ball of the adversary with his/her own. Doesn’t look that difficult, does it? Ho, excuse-me, just one small detail: before hitting the 2 balls, the player’s own ball must first rebound up to three times on the cushions of the table. Now, here you really have to think on the long term consequences of your choices. Sounds familiar?    

How many times have the French been mocked for their propensity at too much thinking and analysis with no conclusion in the end as opposed to the Americans who don’t waste their time on lofty considerations but act and get results? Now, try play the Carambole without thorough analysis and calculation of the reaction chain that each shot will trigger...     

Considering the outcome of the Iraq war they’ve launched while insulting the French who were desperately calling their attention on the risks involved with action undertaken without sufficient foresight, shouldn’t some American politicians get familiar with a little more thinking and analysing? Like learning to play the French Carambole for example? And when I think of it, does the metaphor apply only on the Iraq war?     

Note: The painting is “Night Café at Arles” by Paul Gauguin, The Pushkin Museum of Fine Art, Moscow, Russia.