La mise en scène des politiques est vieille comme le monde bien sûr, il faut assurer les masses de l'amitié réciproque de leurs dirigeants, tout va bien, on s'aime, dormez tranquilles... On est bien dans ce registre quand Sarko et Merkel la jouent « Un homme et une femme » à Deauville...Mais tout de même... ni l'un ni l'autre ne parle un traître mot de leur langue maternelle respective. Merkel doit sans doute un peu bricoler en anglais, quant à Sarko... rien, son niveau est de l'ordre du basique « Me Tarzan, you Jane »...
Alors j'imagine que chacun y va de son bobard, qui en français, qui en allemand, aucun des deux ne comprend ce que dit l'autre, qu'importe, ils sont sur les planches de Deauville comme les acteurs sur les planches du théâtre.
Alors j'imagine que chacun y va de son bobard, qui en français, qui en allemand, aucun des deux ne comprend ce que dit l'autre, qu'importe, ils sont sur les planches de Deauville comme les acteurs sur les planches du théâtre.
Les comédiens ne font jamais que ce qu'on attend d'eux, au fond nous ne sommes pas dupes. Mais quand les politiques se donnent en spectacle, cela expose surtout combien ils nous prennent, eux, pour des dupes, c'est au fond l'essence même de la politique.
Bon, c'est ainsi que tourne le monde et derrière le rideau de la représentation et de l'illusion dont se servent les politiques, sous une forme ou une autre, on retrouve toujours le clivage dominants/dominés, qu'il prenne le visage de la farce ou de la tragédie.
Farce quand on feint de se comprendre quand c'est tout le contraire, tragédie si l'on considère que le mensonge est au fondement du Politikos et que le déni du réel qu'est le mensonge finit par devenir le réel lui-même.
J'avais d'abord choisi cette photo parce qu'elle est amusante mais elle n'est pas appropriée au sujet - ou du moins je n'ai pas su m'en servir.
34 commentaires:
J'ai beaucoup aimé l'insolence du carnaval d'où provient cette image.Le type qui fait ces chars, et dont j'ai déjà oublié le nom, aurait fait un bon dessinateur satirique? Bon, c'est un fabricant de char satirique, domaine où la concurrence doit être moindre (tout comme la production et le public).
Je n'ai pas trop suivi le carnaval local, qui depuis des années a pour moi perdu beaucoup de son charme, les chansons satiriques ayant été remplacées par des choses plus simplistes servant principalement à remuer du croupion sans trop de grâce, la vulgarité en paroles et en actes ayant pris le dessus sur la moquerie, le "chambrage". Bref, je me fais vieux.
Ah, ZapPow, figure toi que tu me la bailles belle avec le carnaval...
J'ai pris cette photo un peu au hasard parce qu'elle m'a amusé sans qu'elle corresponde vraiment au sujet du billet.
Renseignement pris, elle date d'il y a cinq jours au carnaval de Cologne. Peut-être est-elle passé à la télé?
Quoi qu'il en soit, cela m'a donné la curiosité de m'informer sur les carnavals pour découvrir qu'il y en avait un à Paris! Première nouvelle... 60 ans cette année que j'y vis, jamais entendu parler...
Dunkerque, Nice, Venise, Rio ou Notting Hill (sans compter la nouvelle Orléans bien sûr) mais Paris???
Du coup j'apprends qu'il y en a un de par chez toi, avec son site officiel.
Tu m'en diras tant...
À dire vrai, sans être un pisse-frois, je ne suis pas le moins du monde festif, c'est pas mon truc, donc je suis tout à fait ignorant des choses relatives à ce divertissement collectif à visée cathartique.
Après tout, peut-être les cortèges des carnavals en France sont-ils un peu suvbversifs mais je ne les perçois pas comme ça en tout cas.
La citation de Faulkner me rappelle quelques débats houleux, Flocon!
Cette image de carnaval me fait bien rire! C'est tout à fait ça! Sauf que Tarzan avait un peu plus de chien... enfin, pas cabot, comme ici!
Bonjour Christine et merci de me faire connaître l'existence de Simon Hantaï...
Oui, la citation de Faulkner a tout de suite retenu mon attention, par rapport à l'ancien billet sur la généalogie tout d'abord mais aussi, plus récemment, par rapport la sortie de Guéant. D'une pierre deux coups en quelque sorte...
>>"Me Tarzan, you Jane"
"Don Adams' Screen Test", 1975:
http://tinyurl.com/86u8662
-Jan
CDN
Jan,
Good find! I always like the misshaps when actors can't control themselves. Laughters garanteed...
So I learn that it is possible to link to YouTube at a specific moment of the video. At 8'21 in our case. huh? how do you do that?
Un clic droit sur la vidéo au moment idoine, et le menu contextuel qui s'ouvre te propose par mi d'autres options de copier l'URL de la vidéo à partir de la séquence.
parmi
Merci ZapPow,
Ah tiens, je vais essayer alors... avec cette délicate petite merveille...
J'écouterais ça des heures...
Il faut vraiment être d'jeune pour connaître ces trucs qui vous facilitent la vie... ;-)
Flocon: Have you a preferred alternative to democratic government?
One could remain active in politics by seeking political power through force.
Or, one could drop out of politics altogether and become passive.
Some of your posts lead me to conclude that you favor the latter, passive course.
In the US the left has not lost faith in democratic government. If an election is lost, most explain the outcome as the result of poor persuasion by their candidates and/or dirty tricks by the opposition. The universal solution is to try harder next time.
There are, out at the margins of both the left and right in the US, those who abandon democracy and choose to leave politics altogether and establish separate lives in isolated communities. This can still be accomplished in the US.
And there are a very few who choose to seize power through force. It has been a long time in the US since anyone was able to make any significant effort at overthrowing our government. Acceptance of the system is too broad and deep.
Am I right that you are becoming more passive in your attitude toward government?
SemperFidelis
SemperFidelis,
Your comment addresses numerous issues and therefore calls for several answers.
1°- "Have you a preferred alternative to democratic government?"
Hmmm... Of course, I understand the general overtone of my post leads to this binary form of question and the blame is on me for that.
As you write at the end of you comment, "Acceptance of the system is too broad and deep."
As a matter of fact it happens that I do no longer believe in the virtues of what we call « democracy » which simply is a catch word with no reality.
The very notion and meaning of " democracy " must be questionned.
The opposition we have in mind is between an authoritarian State vs. democracy.
Like democracy cannot be an authoritarian State if the leaders so decide.
The "democratically" elected goverment of Hungary was on its way to become an authoritarian State some months ago and the European Commission had to raise some questions about it.
To some extent, France has been a very authoritarian State since De Gaulle returned to power back in 1958.
How '"democratic" are Guantanamo or the Patriot act?
"Democracy" - whatever it may mean - is no garantee against mild tyranny. North Korea is currently the epitome of tyranny but France certainly isn't the epitome of freedom and respect of human rights.
Of course, we understand there is a very large graduated scale between pure authoritarian State and anarchy.
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2°- "One could remain active in politics by seeking political power through force."
I suppose your refer to brutal, physical force and constraint but my take - and there's nothing exactly original here - is that there exists another form of force which doesn't need the help of the military or the police : That of persuasion of the mind through lies, deception, illusion, distorsion of reality etc. These are the basic tools of advertisement.
Human nature being what it is (and it is universal), all politicians the world around since the Roman Empire (in the West at least) know that the bigger the lie is, the more chances it holds to be believed and taken as "real" reality.
At the extreme, brain-washing is a force that needs not to be aided by the military.
"In the US the left has not lost faith in democratic government."
That is the core of the matter here. What exactly is a democratic goverment? One that is "freely" elected by the populace?
Neither in the US nor in France nor in any country that I can name are governments elected by the people.
We "freely" choose one individual who in turn does choose the staffs that will be in charge of their respective domains through the hundreds of bureaucrats that depend on them.
I understand money plays a non insignificant role in US politics (correct me when I'm wrong), very much less so in Europe (notwithstanding the usual exceptions), but bootlickers reign suprem among French politicians, particularly on the right.
"Democracy" would entail some responsibility of the elected leaders toward the people who gave them their voice.
When did that happen? Berlusconi has ruined his country and so what?
The former Greek goverment has brought Europe on its knees and then what?
Tony Blair had his country involved in a war the majority of his countrymen didn't want to be associated with and then what?
Speaking of which, one can ask how should qualify the frenzy effort the Murdoch medias put into making dozens of millions of American believe the security of the US was at stake with the purported WMD Saddam had at the ready for it?
Isn't that another form of force and violence, not on the bodies (save for those serving in the battlefields) but on the minds?
Sarko (compared to whom Tricky Dicky is a choir boy) and his cronies have been stealing the French tax-payers for their personal advantage and whims, so what? Will he ever be held responsible for the five calamitous years he has spent as a president?
"Democracy" à l'occidentale... ? I think the Chinese system has its merits.
One of the next post will be about the immorality of democracy. Stay tuned... ;-)
Flocon, je te recommande la lecture du petit livre de Jean Salem, "Élections, piège à cons" qui porte en sous-titre "Que reste-t-il de la démocratie?"
Je ne suis pas sûr de ne pas te l'avoir déjà recommandé.
Il parle des limites de nos démocraties représentatives et montre comment cette représentativité, justement, aboutit à un semblant de démocratie.
Étienne Chouard préconise le tirage au sort des représentants. Ce qui ferait que la démocratie représentative ne serait plus élective. Une piste qui donne matière à réflexion, et sur laquelle je n'ai pour l'instant qu'une critique à faire, mais de taille : elle suppose qu'il y a déjà consensus sur le modèle économique, le type de société.
La Confédération Iroquoise a longtemps pratiqué la démocratie. Dans un sens, elle était représentative, mais les représentants avaient un mandat précis, et ne pouvaient en sortir. Bien sûr, ça pouvait énormément ralentir les prises de décision, mais elles étaient véritablement prises démocratiquement, pas par une chambre de représentants qui, entre deux élections, n'a de compte à rendre à personne (et, sachant que les peuples sont amnésiques, se fait réélire grâce à quelques bonnes paroles au moment crucial, juste avant les élections).
For one thing, I am surprised at so many comments on what I see as a rather bland post.
"J'écouterais ça des heures...", maybe brain turnoff is the reason.
Both you and Semper Fi forgot two important things. One is the 19th century recognition of a corporation as an person by the Supreme Court, two is the 21st recognition by the SC that they as persons can contribute as much as they like, the so called "Super PAC's".
Both these decisions go against reason. Therefore, there is even more reason to support the "Reason Rally" in Washington on March 24th.
Reason Rally
@ Ned
Le retour du culte de la raison ? Des admirateurs de Jean-René Hébert ? Une saine initiative, en tout cas.
Zappow,
Je me souviens que tu as mentionné
Étienne Chouard il y a quelques mois mais je ne me souviens pas de Jean Salem. Sa page WP donne des infos qui indique qu'il est le fils d'Henri Alleg. Effectivement il est bien placé pour parler des vertus de la démocratie française (ce pourrait être n'importe quelle autre) relativement aux droits de l'homme, à la liberté d'opinion etc.
La confédération iroquoise dont tu parles me fait penser aux limites de la démocratie athénienne. J'y reviendrai.
Relativement à l'amnésie des peuples, qu'il y ait encore une douzaine de millions d'électeurs prêts à réélire Sarko donne le vertige... C'est proprement sidérant!
Ned,
"For one thing, I am surprised at so many comments on what I see as a rather bland post."
Je suis bien d'accord avec toi, c'est un billet qui est mal né, j'ai juste essayé de sauver l'enfant mais il n'en est pas moins tordu.
I had that fleeting idea of Sarko and Merkel pretending to speak to each other (in European summits when they go out of the doors for example) whereas they don't understand what the other says and they actually wear headphones and microphones in case of press conferences.
The basics of Politics is lying, nothing new here and that was the starting point. Then I botched the job since my brain was turned off (but not because of the lovely piece of music I linked to) and I even had Paris Hilton part of the post...
The more I was writing the more I knew I was drowning, all the more since I had posted in advance this pic from the German carnival and I didn't know what to do with.
To make a long story short, il fallait bien m'en sortir d'une façon ou d'une autre mais le résultat ressemble à un bonzaÏ anorexique ;-))
I'm all for the Reason Rally, you can count me in, I've seen Jessica Ahlquist will be part of it.
Is she 16? Really? Hmmm... now I need your concelling advice Ned. Right now! :-))
Flocon, I'm not sure of what you mean "now I need your concelling advice Ned. Right now!" Cancelling what? Did you mean counseling? You could always contact at her blog Jessica and maybe she has a Facebook page. You can always try to get on the VIP party list.
Or maybe this high school student is more to your taste, Krystal Myers, No Rights for Atheists
She created a scandal because the school newspaper refused to print her atheist manifesto. She's even 18.
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Long a ago I was staying with a friend in Cologne during Carnaval time, but we didn't go to the parades. We went to parties at disaffected industrial buildings where local music groups appeared and drinks were cheap and little or no cover.
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I don't understand Super Pacs. Real persons are limited in how much money they can give to a campaign, but apparently corporations are Super Persons who can give as much as they want. As someone(I Think Greg Palast)said, "America has the best Democracy that Money can buy."
For what I know, young trendy Germans are fond of derelict places or disaffected industrial buildings where they can entertain each others. Il doit y avoir un côté "end of the world" qui fait partie de ce qu'ils appellent « die Bühne ». Je crois que cela est encore plus marqué à Berlin, probablement pour des raisons historiques et géo-politiques.
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Not knowing what the Super Pacs are, I went to see what WP had to say about it and it's called Comité d'action politique in French.
Il y a un lien vers le Colbert Super Pac where it says he raised over 1M $ within weeks.
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Never heard of Greg Palast before but his quote hits the nail on the head. In the end "democracy" is a fraud but who can accept this proposition save l'avant-garde du prolétariat comme dirait Lénine?
Semper Fi, you are right on "And there are a very few who choose to seize power through force. It has been a long time in the US since anyone was able to make any significant effort at overthrowing our government. Acceptance of the system is too broad and deep."
This poses a problem for the right-to-own-guns-crowd, some of whom are silly enough to say that the population having is what keeps the country free from tyranny.
As we can see in Syria, whatever guns they have will be worthless against the fire power of the government military.
Flocon,
Just for fun, here is a possible sample letter to write to your sweethearts.
Dear Jessica[for example],
News of the success of your action has even reached France and is well deserved. Your determination and persistence--as well as being in the right--is admirable.[don't start about yourself with "I"] Unfortunately, being right doesn't always mean winning. Good luck with the Reason Rally.
[now you can talk about yourself] I run a modest blog from Paris, France where people discuss different subjects: sometimes intellectual, sometimes humorous, sometimes political, etc.[modesty, even false, is often a good idea at first] If you are curious [avoid using any form of the word "interested"] it is called ______ and the address is _____. You can contact me directly by email at ______.
The blog varies between English and French. If you have the inclination, your contributions will be welcome. Should you ever have the chance to visit Paris, you are almost sure to find it a charming city. Please don't believe those who say that the French are curt or unfriendly or don't like Americans. Nothing could be further from the truth. Paris is simply a big city and people may be in a hurry, as in other cities.
But even then they often take the time to try to be helpful. If you do plan such a trip, I can email[you maintain a bit of distance]you some hints that will make your stay and your contact with Parisians much easier and more pleasant.
Yours truly,
Flocon
So, I don't think that there is anything too direct or lubricious in this kind of letter. It is just a start, a little formal, and off the top of my head. On paying more attention, I may change some things. Maybe I'm being just a bit cynical in giving such advice ;-) and perhaps you will want to erase it from the site if you get a response.O:-)
Flocon:
//In the end "democracy" is a fraud but who can accept this proposition save l'avant-garde du prolétariat comme dirait Lénine?//
I am surprised. I thought you would be inclined to assign a plague to both houses, retreat from politics and take refuge in the arts.
I have difficulty picturing you in a black leather trench coat, Tokarev in hand, lining your political opponents up against a wall.
It will be more difficult for you than it was for Lenin. After all, the Mensheviks now know how the play ends. They may not wait for the Black Marias to bear them away to the Gulag. They may fight.
Are you willing to go as far as Lenin was willing to go to enforce your will?
SemperFidelis
Ned,
Yes, it was "councelling" (not cancel nor concel) I was calling for the other day and I was referring to a 6 month old post where you would provide advice from your councelling agency.
Now, this is a valuable model you're providing here and I already am very grateful for your help.
I particularly appreciate the personal details such as
don't start about yourself with "I",
"modesty, even false, is often a good idea at first",
you maintain a bit of distance
These are precisely my weak points...
Wow, I can see you know the rules of the game, I'm both impressed and intimidated...
But maybe Jessica (for example) could hesitate at replying, not being sure who's behind the message so I've added a recent picture of me (let's pretend it was taken a couple of months ago, it will always be time to explain the malentendu).
Thanks again for generously helping me with your experience Ned, I'll keep you informed...
"perhaps you will want to erase it from the site if you get a response.O:-)"
Hmmm... I'm not holding my breath though... :-(
SemperFidelis,
"I thought you would be inclined to assign a plague to both houses, retreat from politics and take refuge in the arts."
This option is still on the table...
"I have difficulty picturing you in a black leather trench coat, Tokarev in hand, lining your political opponents up against a wall."
I share the same difficulties (and thanks for giving me the opportunity to learn who Fedor Tokarev was).
Kidding aside, the next post will try to expose why I think "democracy" (what is it exactly?) is a fraud.
Not sure Jessica (for example) will be any more sure with that recent picture, since it can be anybody's picture, and she doesn't have the means to check if it is really yours.
Jessica,
I promise it's me and I prove it!.
Besides, I'm an honest and decent contributor to Wikipedia and I'm currently working on Japanese woodcuts of the early XIXth century.
Fear not Jessica...
I thought you would be inclined to assign a plague to both houses, retreat from politics and take refuge in the arts.
Good idea. Bonne idée. Rather tempting in the end.
Anijo: It is a pleasure to see your electrons. Even if only for a cameo appearance. Almost like the good old days.
Affectionately,
SemperFidelis
Hi SemperFi! ☺
I was just about to go out into the garden and pull a few weeds, but thought I'd first check out Flocon's blog. Thank you for this lovely message that I shall carry with me as I head outside into the warm New Mexico sun.
And, yes, fond memories. I think that you and I share the desire to attempt to understand the philosophical viewpoints of all the various peoples in this old world. It is rather fascinating how different individuals arrive at their individual conclusions re life, politics, spirituality, etc etc etc
I remember the old days on SF's forum debating the notion of what defines that which is right and that which is wrong. I don't believe we ever did complete the topic.
You know, to this day, whenever any one mentions the Marines, I think of you straight away.
Also affectionately,
Anijo
Ned,
And now Anijo is showing her electrons to SemperFi...
I can tell your councelling agency works wonders...
Et toi aussi, tu montres tes électrons. A la fin, c'est gentille ta photo de tes électrons.
Salut Flocon ! ☺
ah, thank you for the smile..
Oh, and forget about Jessica, she wasn't my type anyway
lol
vraiment tu me fais rire ! merci... c'est telletment gentille. ☺
tellement... oof
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