Lucky Americans

Last year, Prince gave, well, performed twice in the Grand Palais in Paris. All seats were sold out in less than two hours. The audience knew he's an American artist and that he kind of was an image of America by himself.

I can't think of any European artist faring as well in any American city -save a British- because European countries, by and large, have no musicians as talented as those America never ceased to produce since WWI.

Lucky Americans, both in terms of musicians or film makers worldwide famous.

When we refer to each others, Americans and Europeans, the US has an enormous advantage over Europeans: they're one nation with one language. Whatever the political dissensions between themselves, they're united. And Europeans know that.

When I see the Europeans being mentioned in America's media, I wonder if Americans actually know how divided Europeans really are. We're as foreign to ourselves as was the case one or even two centuries ago.

What do the Poles know about the Greeks? Just nothing! Is there anything common between the Danes and the Portuguese? Nope! Does a Dutch feel closer to a Croatian than to an American? Certainly not.

There are few exceptions like the Swedes and the Norwegians, the Portuguese and the Spaniards, the Germans and the Austrians because they somehow share some periods of History and their languages are more or less similar but overall, Europe is made of some 35 different countries which will never get along like Americans can.

15, 20 or even 25 century old countries with as many languages you can imagine, will never overcome this state of affair.

Nationalism is still vivid and alive among European countries and the so-called European Union is a daily opportunity for each of the 27 members to claim and demand an exception for their personal case.

Save for politicians and CEO of the biggest companies who know their foreign interlocutor, the vast majority (say 99,9% of the population) just know nothing about their neighbours.

Going back to Prince, there may exist great or just good artists in Germany, Italy, Poland etc. but nobody knows them outside their respective frontiers. Just a tiny part of Europeans interested in modern art for example or music and the film industry can name several artists in their field of competence. But these are just an ipsy-tiny bit of the 450 million people living in Europe.

Although German is the most native language spoken in Europe (85 million) English is the only way to communicate between Europeans. And we're usually exceptionally bad at it.

Lucky Americans whose unity makes their strength!

Once again, when they're told of Europeans, Americans shouldn't be fooled into thinking Europe makes an equal counterpart to America.

Europe has 450 millions inhabitants vs 300 in the US, the European GDP is bigger than that of the US and the percentage of European economy in the world trade is bigger than that of the US but it would be unrealistic to consider Europe as a united block in the world. No, it's not.

Eventually, China will settle the score...

Hanging shadows (strange fruits)

Some days before NATO was to launch the invasion of Afghanistan back in 2002, we were shown on western TVs a report picturing the public execution of a woman, allegedly for infidelity. Gruesome images, whose goal it was to describe how barbaric and backwarded these people are at the beginning of the XXIth century and the true nature of the Talibans.

The sort of scene that couldn't take place in the West, in America in particular where executing women is unheard of.

Uh... Wait a second here... Karla Faye Tucker anyone? You know, the one for whom Pope John Paul the Second prayed for mercy. Granted we weren't shown the pictures but my guess is that it wasn't exactly a pleasant show to attend, was it? Well, we'll never know.

Now, since we're at it... Does the name Jesse Washington ring a bell? We're talking death penalty here but this time it took place in Waco, Texas, less than one century ago (1916) . In the heart of the Bible belt. And the people who committed this horror where as Christian as you get.

There have been many other atrocities taking place in the US by the same sort of mob with religious upbringing (sort of) . What about the Dulluth Lynchings of 1920?

All in all, several thousand American citizens have been swiftly tortured and executed, out of any judiciary process by their fellow Christian countrymen until the middle of the 50's. And we're not talking European Middle-Ages here.

Don't get me wrong: contemporary Americans aren't to blame for the horrors their forefathers were guilty of, but you sometimes wonder if America is really the country best entitled to teach lessons of morality to the whole world... Particularly when it speaks in the name of God.

Faggots!

The most interesting artefacts in archaeology you don't find on the surface of the ground of course but in the deeper layers. This goes also for thoughts and ways of thinking.

We've seen before how the ingredients of French-bashing that were to be found by the thousands in the American media from 2003 and on were the same you'll find at the basis of racist thinking and colonial mentality.

May I propose the same unexpected reading of another staple of French-bashing, probably the most prevalent of them all? I'm talking of the equation French = Surrender, which even Jon Steward made use of here. It seems it has become an unavoidable cliché about the French for most Americans.

An interpretation of that stereotype/trope has been offered here, cogent and apparently satisfying but this thesis remains on the surface of the ground, in my opinion. It's not false but somehow beyond the point.

Now, some historicization of data are indispensable at that point.

1°) We still have to return to the 1940 defeat.

The German army was the mightiest the world had ever known. The English engineers had the good idea to dig a trench between the continent and their beautiful island. They named it the English Channel. This brilliant idea saved the British's butt in June of 1940. Dunkirk wasn’t exactly a great victory for the Brits but what could they do in front of the Wehrmacht?

The American engineers were even brighter and much cleverer than the Brits: they dug an ocean between the Germans and the US.

Had America had a frontier with Germany at that time, the American army would have been smashed into pieces by the Germans.

Is it necessary to recall the Germans nearly reached Moscow and that it took more than 3 years for  America, the Ussr and the Brits (mainly) to defeat the Germans? The US could never have won against Nazi Germany were it not for the Russians.

So here comes the catharsis part: allowing the projection of the inner fear that America could and (would) have lost against the Germans, no doubt about it.

By making such a fuss about the French defeat of 1940, the American media make Americans forget that they wouldn’t have faired better than the French under the same circumstances.

Ha ha (giggle) the French surrendered (Thank God we weren’t in their shoes, pwfff!). What a bunch of faggots!

2°) The second most important pillar of the American society after religion is the army. Like it or not, the figure of the soldier is an icon in contemporary America. Well before WWII, the myth of the courageous, brave, incorruptible hero was founded at Alamo where all 189 combatants died. Now, these were real men who never would have surrendered to the enemy. John Wayne himself directed the movie, not the heroes of "Brokeback Mountain".

To surrender is the worst act of weakness and treachery you can expect from a soldier. Particularly an American one of course. To surrender is the unmistakable sign of unmanhood, hence feminity. Only faggots are capable of surrendering.

Is it just a coincidence that the French are often portrayed in the US as rather effeminate, walking down the streets with their French poodle at their side, with a certain affected genre? Just remember the cartoons we were entitled to 5 years ago.

But now, we're in the XXIth century and it is no longer possible to print such insults as "faggots" in the papers, or to call people "faggots" on the radio and TV networks. So a code word had to be found. What about "surrender"? That's what makes the audience of Jon Stewart laugh when he has a go with the "surrender" stereotype. There's an unconscious, homophobic reference which doesn't pass unheeded to the American audience. All jokes based on sexuality, particularly homosexuality, are a guarantee for laughter in the world. All the more when foreigners are involved.

Just like the usual arsenal of French bashing was evidence of a racist/colonial mentality, the overwhelming use of the word "surrender" is the expression of an underlying homophobia. Hence, the complete analogy reads thus: Surrender = French = Faggots. Are you surprised this could take place in such a religious, military, conservative country as the US? No kidding...

Note: The painting is "Amor vincit omnia" by Caravaggio)

Annoying Frenchies

Back in 1780 a young Frenchman set sail to the shores of America and landed in Boston’s harbour. He was bound to join General Washington. No further clue is required, right*? Well, the name of the frigate on which he travelled was “l’Hermione”, a boat that sank unceremoniously on September 20, 1793 off the coast of Brittany.

The Association Hermione-La Fayette has now made it its “raison d’être” to rebuilt the warship exactly as it was 225 years ago with techniques and tools of the time!

And while it took approximately 6 months in the 18th century to build a frigate, it will take as much as 12 years this time around, essentially due to financing concerns. But as this undertaking was launched in 1997 it should be completed by 2012 and launched with a maiden trip to Boston 2 years later.

So after Yorktown, the Statue of liberty and the always friendly approach France has had toward America, now comes another symbol of friendship. Notwithstanding the hard times she’s sometimes having from America, France simply doesn’t pay attention and keeps on displaying gestures of goodwill and amity towards America.

Now the question is: why are the French so annoying?

L’Hermione, La Fayette and America:

“The frigate which the King gave me”, as La Fayette phrased it, was the frigate “L’Hermione”, entirely built and outfitted in the shipyards of the Rochefort Arsenal. She was appointed - by order of Louis XVI’s royal cabinet - to the secret mission La Fayette had been entrusted with, a mission consisting in informing General Washington of the imminent arrival of sea and land military supports which were meant to help him in the rebellion of the American “insurgents” against British tyranny.

My friends's friends are my friends. Huh... wait a second here...

Remember the fairy tale-like story of Jessica Lynch? 

You'll appreciate the story by Tania Head!

What have these two stories to do with each other will you ask?

Well, maybe we can take them as evidence (among million others) of how easy it is to manipulate the masses.

7 years ago, the most hated foreign politician in America was LAS's favourite French head of State. Now the wheel has turned, it's an Iranian about almost nobody had ever heard of in the US when Chirac was in pole position.

His sin? He's at the head of a country which is purportedly trying to built an atom bomb. Like the US? Or like Israel? Is Iran really pursuing this goal? Or isn't that another case of Iraqi WMD? Should we rely on the Media to know? Why shouldn't Iranians be allowed to possess the same weapon the US, the USSR, Israel, Pakistan, north Korea (not sure) etc. have as the ultimate deterrent?

When reading and listening to the American MSM, you feel like they want to persuade the Americans that there's an actual and near immediate danger that Iran would use its bomb to attack the US. Well, didn't the MSM succeeded in making most Americans believe Saddam had WMD and was on the verge to use them against America and its allies? Remember T. Blair and his infamous quote?

In the precinct of the UN, Ahmadinedjad had the audience laugh when he said there were no homosexuals in his country. Like in Saudi Arabia, America's closest and most sincere friend in the region?

Not to say Ahmadinedjad is a nice person, sharing western values but is he really the new Attila the American MSM try to portrait? Isn't he a close friend and ally of Iraq's PM, Al Maliki?

And I thought the saying had always held true that my friends' friends were my friends.

Dubious company

Pope John-Paul II himself called for clemency upon this new-born Christian. To no avail, another new-born Christian refused to grant clemency on his sister in religion. Karla Faye Tucker was put to death on February 1998 whilst the governor (*) is said to have been mimicking her pleas for mercy. Had Jesus Christ returned on earth, those Christians would have been ready to hang him for objecting the killing of a sinner.

Since then, Texas has proceeded to more than 400 executions. Meanwhile there have been over 1,100 executions since the death penalty has been deemed not anti-constitutional back in 1976.
 

In 2006 alone, 53 persons have been put to death in the U.S. which has the privilege to share some dubious company:

1.      China (at least 1,010 but sources suggest the real tally is between 7,500 and 8,000)

2.      Iran (177)

3.      Pakistan (82)

4.      Iraq (at least 65)

5.      Sudan (at least 65)

6.      United States (53)

7.      And we don’t even know for North Korea…

Ever heard of the axis of evil?

Now, this is a topic where France would certainly be ill advised to teach lessons to the US since the death penalty has been abolished in 1981 only (last execution 1977). Nevertheless, save for the Terror period over 2 centuries ago, such a horrific number of executions was never even approached.

Many Americans wonder why they are often perceived as a boorish, crude and unsophisticated lot the world over. Maybe they could understand if they knew how this savagery, remnant of barbarian times, will mark another indelible stain in their history. Like slavery and the not-so-fair treatment of the native Indians have forever tainted their moral pretension to give lessons to all people of the world.

(*) The same governor, now a former president of the US, is personally responsible for the death of more 4,000 American soldiers and hundreds of thousands Iraqi lives. And he had the words “peace” and “democracy” on his lips each time he addressed his fellow American citizens. God told him what to do…

Note: The painting is “Dead Christ” by Andrea Mantegna. c. 1500. Oil on canvas. Galleria Brera, Milan, Italy.