dagblog - Comments for "François Hollande's Affair: Scandal Reveals a Changing France "

I read that NYT piece a few

Donal — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 20:25:58 +0000

I read that NYT piece a few days ago, and thought it echoed Sarah Palin's plaintive appeals to the real America. As far as France, when I read that Hollande has four kids with one woman, is partnered with another and now linked to another, King Louis' father having his Madame de Pompadour doesn't seem that long ago.

I have often noticed that when married people cheat in French films, their partners often just accept it and move on. (There was Cousin, Cousine, though). Americans either start shouting, start shooting or move out. The Brits can go either way.

This is the most

artappraiser — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 17:00:12 +0000

In reply to I read some opinions to the

This is the most thought-provoking piece I've read lately along the lines of "France is over" but it has nothing to do with Hollande's love affairs. (Admit I immediately thought of Ta Ne-Hisi Coates' recent love affair with the French language and Paris and wondered if he saw it.)

As far as the "it's over" theme, I could quote Yogi Berra but I think any culture that guards a language that vehemently is never over. (Poland, for example, has been "over" many many times. Still there were people who always said their nationality was Polish and spoke the Polish language to prove it, whether there was a country there or not.) The culture just changes, evolves. Is France the same culture they were under Louis XVI?

Go back to Hollande, his policies, not his love life. He seems to be very interested in getting heavily involved, often militarily but also in other ways, in the politics of any country that was at one time part of the French Empire. (Well ok, not Haiti! ) While some citizens at home obviously have a problem getting used to immigrants from former colonies being part of their culture, the Hollande interventionists seem to see them as part of their culture precisely because they continue to speak the language.

I read some opinions to the

Donal — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 10:53:56 +0000

In reply to François Hollande's Affair: Scandal Reveals a Changing France

I read some opinions to the effect that Hollande may have released the rumors himself to appear more virile. Those were answered with opinions that the French simply don't care. Then again I've read other articles bemoaning that being French - the twentieth century-and-before identity - is over.