SemperFidelis needed here

At the end of his resignation speech Tricky Dicky famously says "au revoir" and tells there's no correct word in English to convey what he meant. Why weren't "We'll meet again" or "See you someday" for example appropriate to what Nixon wanted to say? "We'll see you again" does he eventually says.

And weren't American voters somewhat flummoxed by the use of a foreign word (and a French one at that!) in such a circumstance by an American president? 

Which future for America?

There was this article in the NYT some days ago and I was musing about the perception of American identity by current white American citizens.

I explain: What do Latinos care about the history of the US or Native Indians who have nothing to do with England and the British colonies except that their arrival meant the beginning of their downfall?

And colored people as well as Americans with Asian ancestry, I guess they couldn't care less about the Indian wars, the Siege of Yorktown or the Civil War (except for Black people of course since that battle marked the beginning of the end of their plight).

Europe also knows a great influx of immigrants mostly from Africa and Arabic countries and the process of integration is far from being an easy one.

My guess is that Turks in Germany don't care a fig about former kings, princes or dukes and that they hardly know who Bach, Goethe or Kafka are or that a German monk named Martin Luther was at the origin of the most major split within the Christian Church, a split which eventually caused the migration of thousands and thousands believers to the New World. On the other hand they’re free from any guilt regarding Auschwitz or Edith Cavell (don’t mention her name when you’re having an Englishman and a German as guests in your house).

The difference between our two continents being that, according to all demographic projections, white Americans will be the minority in America about 30 years from now whereas native Europeans will remain a strong majority.

How do white Americans feel about this trend which tends to illustrate that a nation of colonists eventually is submerged by other immigrants because in a world where all nations have at least hundreds and hundreds of centuries - if not millenaries - of History, new comers just arrive too late and will always lack what lays at the core of all nations.

Marie-Antoinette in Hollywood

Seven years ago the American director Sofia Coppola directed a movie dedicated to the life of Marie-Antoinette, and it wasn't the first one coming from Hollywood, far from it. Remember Norma Shearer among others?

And I was wondering, why does this unfortunate French queen raise such interest in America?

One may expect an English queen to be the subject of an equally attentive curiosity. But which one, save Anne Boleyn? And past English Royalties probably don't sound too sympathetic to Americans.

- A very dramatic story, good script for Hollywood, yes but what else?

- Nostalgia for a time when the Ancient Régime looked like a Disney fairy tale?

- She was the wife of the French king who was on the throne when Lafayette went to the help of the American revolutionaries?

I can't see any other reason for this apparent American fondness for Marie Antoinette, something you won't find in the UK.

A former Austrian princess who became queen and who was the very image of luxury and abandon with eventually an infamous death, and all this somehow related to the very first days of the American Republic, that must be it...

I am so scared!

And now there is this joke of (fabricated) purported menaces from Al Qaeda that have been intercepted and have led to the temporary closure of some 20 American embassies in the Middle East.

This is the umpteenth time in the last 10 years that we're being told that there are impending acts of terrorism which require that special security measures be taken. Some cynical anti-American minds would be too happy to note how quickly the US recedes in front of imaginary threats as reliable as the grand story of the wmd in Iraq.

Better take it in a humorous light mood and watch delicious Jean Seberg in one of her very early movies, whose title is quite appropriate to the current situation. 

But wait! I'm told Jean Seberg too was taken care of by the infamous Ruskies.  

What a world of illusion and manipulation we live in! Once again I turn to Kant and his famous Sapere aude!

O.B.L.'s triumph

Who could ever have thought an American citizen would someday be granted political asylum in Russia? And even more stunning, that Putin would ever appear like a guarantee of freedom and human rights and the US of A. as the new evil empire in the eyes of the world?

Remember when any defector from former USSR was instantly granted political asylum in the US and hailed as a hero who had the courage to defy the forces of darkness and tyranny?

Someday Edward Snowden will be revered as an American hero for his courageous adherence to the values the Founding Fathers wanted to be the ultimate symbol of the United States of America. Just compare how M.L.K was treated in the 60's and his posthumous status in contemporary America. Or think of Nelson Mandela who after decades behind bars is now a world icon of honesty and humanity.

After it had to apologize to the natives Indians, the interned Japanese of 1942, the black community and innumerable single individuals, the American administration someday will pay tribute to the whistle blower whom half the current American population wants to be hung and the other half considers like another American hero.

After the whole world has been exposed the sinister truth that it was under surveillance by American secret services of all sorts, the US is again viewed the world over as the bad guy and the most dangerous player on the international scene.

Just that is the eventual triumph of Osama Ben laden who instilled fear and paranoia in the American psyche to the point that the US engaged in two senseless wars, has spent trillions of $ and going, killed dozens of thousands of people in the Middle east and Afghanistan/Pakistan, assassinates hundreds and hundreds innocent people with its drones, has its economy on its knees and thinks terrorism as soon as it hears a sparrow winging in the night.

After Charlie Chaplin had to leave into exile because of the anticommunist frenzy America was a victim of 60 years ago, it is now Russia which appears like a heaven of freedom against the tyrannical spying powers of the US.

Well done Osama!

Ayn and Arnie

Last week, this movie poster for Schwarzenegger's latest opus has appeared about everywhere in Parisian metro stations, in the streets of the city, in newspapers etc. And once again I wondered what was the origin of that specific Hollywood genre of cinema based on the notion of the last one, the survivor, the last cop, the last soldier, the last hero etc.

The Last Stand is translated into Le Dernier Rempart in French, but it has to be "the last" something yet.

As a matter of fact, I already had a post on this subject exactly 5 years to this day because of a flick with Will Smith that was just being shown in France by then. I am Legend was the title with the slogan : The last man on earth is not alone. 

I tentatively proposed an explanation which I knew was a partial answer to my questioning. Besides, I wasn't too assertive about it.

But now, I realise why I failed to fully understand this phenomena 5 years ago, when I still hadn't been introduced to Ayn Rand by Ned. 

For what I've understood, Rand's philosophy is a modernised version of Nietzsche's concept of the Übermensch, an apology of individualism and self reliance as well as an overall distrust of the State and the collectivity. "Trust yourself and nobody else" seems to be the core of the teaching.

I still am flabbergasted to observe what a considerable influence the thesis of Rand have yielded among the American audience and then in America's psyche but apparently, this is a proven fact and all the American visitors I dealt with when I was a street hawker were familiar with Ayn Rand and many of them had read Atlas Shrugged which I had never heard of at that time.

I can't think of any national cinema with a similar genre based on the last something theme, be it in the French, Italian, German, or Korean  movie industries, but then it makes sense since only America has been exposed on an industrial scale to the message Rand brought to Americans. 

Ayn Rand, who apparently was a wise fox, told Americans what they wanted to hear and which, seemingly, was in line with the story of her country of adoption.

What I now realise is that all these last cop, last hero, last soldier, last commander, Last Stand whatever, are reiterated embodiments of John Galt and it certainly plays well with a certain segment of the American audience since Hollywood money makers keep on cashing in with this genre.

And they will until said genre will have ceased to garner money which apparently isn't to happen in the next future, so deep Ayn Rand's influence has penetrated into the American ways of thinking. 

Pleased to meet you

I find the propagation of life to be beautiful said the mother after she had given birth to the one who would kill her and then 6 adults and 20 children some 20 years later.

How many among the casualties were against any gun-control policy? And particularly among the parents of the 20 children, how many were pro-gun? These ones are moral accomplices of the shooting of their own children then.

This must come to an end, so we hear every time this sort of tragedy happens but the perpetrator of the next one is already alive and his future victims are alive too, waiting to meet their fate, praying Jesus in their churches that he will protect them.

The killer at one time was as young as today's victims, just who's who, knowing full well that the children who have died today and the survivors as well wouldn't have turned saints but another bunch of the usual mix of good guys and bastards humanity is made of.  

Who can assure that among the 27 victims, none would have killed anybody in one's life, including future soldiers, drivers, rapists whatever?

Those who voluntarily perpetuate life tacitly accept that their children may well be victims of evil whatever the form it dons, they make the wager that yes someone will meet apocalypse on earth but that it will be the neighbour, who just happens to be another human being, but as long as it's not me...

We don't care! Really?

 

So there was a post last August where I was told that, generally speaking, Americans couldn’t care less about Bill Clinton entertaining Miss Lewinsky (unless it was the other way round). Ok then, I leave it to people who know better than me.

Let's have another try though... 

The former French president has been married thrice and the current one has been living in sin ever since he lost his pucelage some 40 years ago (I don't know the exact date). After he's lived 30 years with the former Socialist candidate to the presidency 5 years ago, he now is the companion of a twice divorced woman with three children of her own.

Now, next month there will another presidential election in the US. Am I invited to believe that both the GOP and the Dem. one would have without any hesitation picked up a candidate who would have been married thrice (and counting)  and another one with four children out of wedlock? 

Too bad they didn't have anybody filling the requirements then...

Democracy, my foot!

When Wikileak started publishing the American diplomatic cables 18 months ago, Ms. Clinton, the American Secretary of State declared:

This disclosure is not just an attack on America's foreign policy interests ... it is an attack on the international community: the alliances and partnerships, the conversations and negotiations that safeguard global security and advance economic prosperity ... It puts people's lives in danger, threatens our national security and undermines our efforts to work with other countries to solve shared problems.

Wow. The situation seems serious here.

And Franco Fratelli, the then Italian minister of foreign affairs added this incomparable und unmistakable touch of  Italian drama:

« les fuites représentent un 11-Septembre de la diplomatie mondiale ».

Now, this is really, really very serious, we're on the verge of Armageddon.

Last time I checked, Time wasn't a revolutionary outlet and seemed not quite convinced by the dramatic tone adopted by the Obama Administration. And the same goes for the NYT which had the leaks published and about all media in America (safe the Fox group affiliated newspapers, radio and TV channels.)

One of the many interesting issues with this affair is how it glaringly demonstrates the gap that exists between the masses and their "democratically" elected leaders.

Basically, Julian Assange's initiative was to present the peoples of the world what was done in their name, what is hidden to them and to give them a glimpse of what their elected leaders do after they've been elected. Doesn't that initiative correspond more to the very definition of "democracy" than just the right to choose between a blue ballot and a red one?

This is apparently what Noam Chomsky thought when he declared:

Perhaps the most dramatic revelation ... is the bitter hatred of democracy that is revealed both by the U.S. Government – Hillary Clinton, others – and also by the diplomatic service. (here)

Another interesting issue here is to consider how the U.S. and all its allies are treating the case. 

Assange, who's not an American citizen, is being chased after like Ben laden has been for ten years. The main difference I can see is that in this case, the U.S, Sweden (shame on Sweden with its accusation of rape), the UK et al are faking to resort to fair and balanced trials and criminal prodedures whereas everyone slightly politically aware knows the case is already closed.

There apparently seems to be a possibility that Ecuador would give political asylum to Assange. Yet, the Ecuadorian Ambassador in London has flown to Quito for further talks. Hmmm... Anyone thinking the U.S. would exert any pressure on Ecuador, ranging from money to threats of all sorts, would be very misled and with a wicked mind.  

Julian Assange shouldn't worry about his fate though. Isn't he being taken care of by the most auto celebrated democracies in the World? And aren't the U.S., Great Britain and Sweden the very same countries that relentlessly tell us China is a non democratic country and should make efforts to accept political dissidence and freedom of speech as basic components of democracy?

Nah, you don't say!

Some difference though...

The interesting part in religions isn't the belief in the existence of a Supreme Being, which is the archaic stage of development of any human society, but the system of moral values that they all set up. Since they basically tend to function as social regulators, they all more or less share the same starting point: Don't do to others etc. which of course they don't apply.

Yet there are some differences though and I'm thinking Catholicism vs. Protestantism, particulalry in the field of politics.

For what I know in religion, that is next to nothing, my time is too precious to waste it in studying what the 13th surat says, I can only observe there's apparently more decency (to a certain extent) with politicians in Protestant northern Europe than is the case in Catholic southern one. And so seemingly is the case in the US, at least at the highest level, when it comes to personal responsibility.

I explain: The presidential election is over now here in France and we are rid of the former gvt which was composed of former convicts (yes) and total incompetents who just happened to be cronies and lackeys of a certain dwarf.

- The "babes" that were mentioned some times ago were totally unheard of until Sarko decided to put them on the front line. It didn't take long to learn they're just another pair of gold diggers (working hard for France and the French needless to say). Is there anything similar in the current American administration?

- The former Minister of Foreign Affaires (Alain Juppé) was convicted to a one year suspended sentence (see here, in English) as was the former Minister of Defence Gérard Longuet in 1967. And there may be others I don't know of or that I have forgotten. Are there former convicts in the American administration?

- There is also the case of an avowed paedophile who wrote a book telling about his adventures in male brothels of Bangkok. There has been somme fuss for some days and the whole thing was forgotten. Am I wrong in thinking this simply would be impossible in any A.A and the media and the judiciary would be all up in arms? Not so in Catholic France.

-  Douillet, Laporte and innumerable other names could be cited as example of totally inept and incompetent servants of Carla Bruni's husband who have been promoted Ministers. Is there anything similar in the A.A? I know money plays a fundamental role in the U.S, much more than in Europe, that's part of the deal I guess, but are donators former convicts or imbeciles like those we had in France under Sarko?

Sarko is as religious as me but since there is a certain percentage (not that much in fact in France) of voters to court he went to see the Pope (with revisionist Bigard as special guess, of all people!!! A 9/11 denier). The Pope? Does the Pope mean anything to the Protestants? Rightist politicians care only for the Catholics (75% of them voted Sako last time) and the Jews since Protestants overwhelmingly vote for the left.

It's not that politics and politicians are paragons of virtue in the U.S that would be news to everybody, but when it comes to hypocrisy and unaccountability, the French Catholic right has reached depths (or heights) not seen since the pre-war years. These people actually stink!

Whatever may be said about the new French president, he's not religious, he never used that card, nor did a former Prime Minister who lost against Chirac ten years ago after he had done a great job and vital statistics were excellent. Note that he was raised as a Protestant...

Religions may be more or less all the same but still, there' some difference...

Did Joan of Arc sail aboard the Mayflower?

When Leonard Cohen wrote a song called "Joan of Arc" in 1970, I was a bit puzzled that an English speaking Canadian would be interested in this rather distant French historical figure.

For sure, Joan of Arc isn't exactly an everyday object of interest in America, no more than it is in France for that matter, but nevertheless, the few opportunities I've had to meet this character mentioned in the American press or books, it looks like there's some sort of sympathy -if not mild fascination- with this 19 year old maid who contributed decisively to oust the English out of XVth century France.

Ousting the English out of some territories... Hmmm... Is that music to American ears?

Also, Joan, from the very beginning of her self appointed mission, never failed to recall she heard divine voices telling her to deliver France and that God was always her inspiration. Does this religious component of her story contribute to the interest and respect she may enjoy among a certain segment of the American population?

And who would have expected the great American writer, Mark Twain, to write an imaginary biography of the French national heroin?

Now, when I come across Joan of Arc when speaking with English people or when her name is mentioned in the British literature, I can feel some uneasiness. The less she's talked about, the better it seems.

And I was wondering if Americans in general don't make a connection between the story of Joan of Arc and their own experience of English purported intolerance which eventually led their ancestors to leave England and settle in the new world.

Why I root for Ron Paul

 

D'après Wiki (en français), notre homme est un libertarien qui prône la liberté comme principe absolu de philosophie politique, s'oppose à la multiplication des interventions militaires des États-Unis, a voté contre la guerre en Irak et le Patriot Act. Well, that's fine with me and as a non American, why should I care anyway? Other than that, il se prononce pour une réduction drastique de l'État fédéral, pour plus de libertés individuelles - he seems o.k with gay mariage in the name of individual freedom - et pour la liberté du port d'armes.

Too bad he stands few chances to get to the White House, it would have been interesting to observe how chaos emerges and civil war develops and expands...

Ironie mise à part, il est étonnant de considérer combien les media français couvrent la pré campagne électorale américaine. Depuis le début de l'année, les résultats de chaque élection dans chaque État sont scrupuleusement rapportés avec correspondance en direct avec le ou la journaliste sur place.

There were these two women the other day on the market place next to where I live and they were discussing the respective merits of Santorum, Gingricht and Romney. Boy, were they passionate in their opinion!

Ma foi, on ne saurait reprocher aux journalistes de faire leur boulot mais cela pose une fois encore la question de ce qui vaut d'être rapporté. En quoi les primaires du Parti Républicain dans le Delaware ou l'Arkansas (if ever Arkansas is involved) peuvent-ils intéresser le moins du monde plus de 0,0000001 % des Français, des Européen et même du reste du monde? Et à ce compte, pourquoi ne pas couvrir la préparation de chacune des primaires?

Évidemment, l'info ne doit pas être constituée de ce qui intéresse a priori les citoyens sinon c'est Jean-PIerre Pernaut à 13h sur TF1.

Mais tout de même, j'ai l'impression que les journalistes - ou plutôt leurs rédactions - se font plaisir en se livrant à cet exercice parfaitement vain qui consiste à rapporter le sifflement du vent qui passe et dont il ne reste plus rien dans la minute qui suit. Mais comme les confrères de BFM ou de Itélé le font, ils sont « au cœur de l'action », il ne faut pas se laisser distancer.

Résultat des courses de ce divertissement corporatiste des media français, nous sommes infiniment plus « informés » sur le système électoral et politique des États-Unis que nous ne le sommes de celui de notre voisin le plus proche, l'Allemagne, dont les élections régionales et nationales ne sont pratiquement couvertes que le jour où elles ont lieu.

Par ailleurs Berlin c'est moins exotique que Palm Beach et en plus il vaut mieux parler allemand... et là les journalistes français préfèrent couvrir ce qui n'intéresse personne. Ah, on a vraiment les meilleurs!

Things they said today

There is this piece by Nicolas D Kristof in today's edition of the NYT and the ensuing comments by both American and European readers. Of course, the theme isn't exactly new and is a sure bet for exchanges between pros and cons. Yet, it's still interesting to read about the other half's point of view. 

Those familiar with the Franco-American relations or, on a broader scale, the Euro-American relations, know that the key word in understanding these relations is ambivalence, like in love and hate.

Unless I'm mistaken (stuff happens...) this mindset seems to be more prevalent on the American side than on the other side of the Atlantic. Not that Europeans can be less passionate on this issue when the topic arises but I'm at a loss to figure out in which European country any politician could be attacked by h/h rivals for being able to speak English, German or French ?

By the way, Angela Merkel speaks Russian and Vladimir Putin speaks German. Blair speak French as well as does Cameron (not sure about him yet), Berlusconi was fluent in French, English and possibly Spanish (?), Chirac spoke fairly good English and translated Russian poetry into French when he was in his 20'. And Sarkozy... err... bad example, forget about Sarko.

Now, if Newt Gingrich makes fun of Mitt Romney because, like J. Kerry, he speaks French, isn't it an indication that "it works" with a certain portion of his audience?

On the one hand, for Americans who can trace their ancestry back from Europe as long ago as can be in history (say the XVIII th century or even sooner) their pride knows no limit.

On the other hand, so many of them have such disdain for Europe and Europeans, and certainly mainly among white Americans, preferably Republicans, but I guess Democrats aren’t immune from this prejudice. Remember Donald Rumsfeld’s new Europe as opposed to old Europe?

Yet they’re talking about the land of their ancestors, and you wonder how much they want not to be associated in any way with the backwarded people who live in Europe. The farther away they feel they are from Europeans (read commies), the better they’d be it seems. As if they needed to believe in some sort of out of nowhere self creation of their nation, in order to assert its legitimacy.

Now, I was listening to a radio program the other day when someone said that by the year 2.050 white Americans from European descent will be a minority among Latinos, Coloured and Asian Americans (in whichever order I can’t remember).

I thought that Black Americans couldn’t care less about dissociation from Europe since all their misfortunes came from Europe.

Asians wouldn’t care a fig all the same since they have no historical links with Europeans.

And the same goes with Latinos, themselves being from European (mainly Spanish and Portugese) descent but that was so long ago, they now come from Mexico and other Caribbean islands.

I don’t know about 2.050 but the trend seems unstoppable yet.

Maybe then, many white Americans will feel they’re surrounded with not real Americans of yesteryear… and they, well, their children and great-children, will remember things they said today.

(A funny detail in Kristof's article : It's stuffed with French words and expressions but not a single German, Italian or Spanish one...)

Chuck Berry et Lazarus Spengler

Comme je descendais des fleuves impassibles, je m'aperçus un jour que plus je m'informais sur la biographie de tel ou tel musicien américain de jazz, de blues ou d'autre forme musicale, plus je découvrais combien nombre d'entre eux avaient commencé par chanter des hymnes et autres gospels dans les chorales des églises protestantes (whatever the sub-class) de leur quartier.

Je n'ai pas vraiment cherché à collectionner des noms mais on peut penser à Aretha Franklin par exemple ou Chuck Berry précisément dont les pères étaient tous deux diacres ou je ne sais trop quoi dans les églises baptistes du sud des E.U. Certainement il y en a d'autres que vous connaissez et auxquels je ne pense pas.

Quels étaient les chants des chorales religieuses interprétés par les jeunes noirs d'Alabama ou de Georgie, je n'en ai pas la moindre idée mais j'imagine qu'il ne s'agissait pas simplement de reprendre les textes des quatre Évangiles tels quels, il devait y avoir des compositeurs spécifiques pour ce type de musique et des auteurs "spécialisés" pour écrire des textes à la façon du XVIIIe siècle européen.

Lazarus Spengler était l'un d'eux mais aussi Salomon Franck ou encore Christian Friedrich Henrici et bien d'autres encore qui furent actifs dans l'Allemagne d'après la Réforme.

Même si les cantiques et autres psaumes du XVIIIe allemand n'ont pas traversé l'Atlantique (sauf peut-être chez les Amish), j'imagine que des auteurs - blancs - américains ont écrit d'autres textes de la même veine pour les offices des églises baptistes du Nouveau Monde et que ce sont ces poèmes qu'ont entendus et chantés des millions de noirs depuis deux siècles.

Ce qui est intéressant c'est de considérer que nombre d'enfants noirs on été initiés à la musique au cours de leur éducation religieuse mais que loin de poursuivre et de perpétuer cette forme musicale mortifère et vieille de deux millénaires (cf. Livre des Psaumes), ils se sont servis de cette tradition blanche pour élaborer une musique qui a bouleversé le sens musical du monde entier.

Que ce soit en Iran, en Chine ou au Brésil, Chuck Berry et ses descendants, les Rolling Stones, les Beatles ou n'importe quel groupe anglo-Américain, sont autrement populaires - c'est une litote - que la musique chrétienne que n'écoutent guère plus que les fidèles des offices religieux dominicaux.

Que les descendants des Africains que les blancs sont allés chercher chez eux pour en faire leurs esclaves se soient finalement affranchis (partiellement) de la servitude que les Blancs européens leur ont imposée en se servant précisément d'une partie de cette culture blanche est une démonstration renouvelée du processus historique universel de dépassement dialectique, oppression, résistance et renaissance à un stade supérieur.

On peut tout de même mettre au crédit de l'enseignement religieux chrétien une formation des esprits qui ne se réduisait pas à l'aliénation de la raison, celle-ci étant de toute façon invincible sur le long terme. C'est même toute l'histoire de l'Humanité...

Jean Sébastien Bach et le Patriot Act

Il y avait le mois dernier dans le New York Time un article sur le Patriot Act qui m'a rappelé combien sont fréquentes dans les médias américains les formules quasi rituelles relatives à "our security" ou encore "our enemies", "the enemies of America" etc.

Je sais bien la part de l'usage politique qui est faite de cette évocation quasi quotidienne par les politiques américains mais tout de même, y a-t-il un autre pays au monde (la Corée du Nord peut-être?) où ce genre de vocabulaire est utilisé de façon courante, habituelle et qui reflète un état d'esprit qui doit bien correspondre à une réalité mentale donnée?

Ne reconnaît-on pas là l'héritage des immigrés anglais, hollandais ou allemands du XVIIè siècle et après qui se sentaient persécutés en Europe à cause de leurs convictions religieuses et qui décidèrent de s'établir dans le Nouveau Monde?

Je ne sais quelle était la réalité des persécutions que subissaient des Protestants dans les pays qui avaient connu la Réforme mais ce qui est sûr, c'est que toute croyance d'ordre religieux implique nécessairement un sentiment de rejet et d'exclusion par ceux qui se définissent dans une différence par rapport aux autres. On ne peut être in et out à la fois quand on "choisit" de se joindre à une communauté.

En débarquant dans les colonies américaines, les colons ont amené avec eux ce sentiment obsidional qu'implique une commune appartenance religieuse sensée protéger (justement!) de ceux qui ne partageaient pas leurs convictions (parce qu'ils en partageaient d'autres).

Avec une culture aussi imprégnée de religion que celle des États-Unis dont la religion est bien à l'origine même du peuplement et donc de la raison d'être historique, il est tout à fait dans l'ordre des choses que ce qui composait les mentalités collectives il y a trois siècles en Europe se retrouve intacte et inchangé sur un autre continent où le sentiment religieux semble aussi vivace qu'au temps des immigrants des XVIIè et XVIIIè siècles.

Le rapport avec Bach vous demandez-vous? Il se trouve que je suis engagé depuis bientôt trois mois dans la rédaction de l'intégralité des articles consacrés aux cantates de J.S Bach sur Wiki français et que je lis donc les textes qui étaient chantés avec ces cantates (il y en a 240!).

Tirés des Évangiles, soit écrits exprès pour telle ou telle célébration religieuse par les poètes de l'époque en Allemagne, tous Chrétiens et Protestants, les contemporains même de ceux qui quittaient l'Europe pour l'Amérique, tous ces textes évoquent et invoquent la protection de Dieu contre les ennemis ou les puissances menaçantes, de l'amour qu'il prodigue, de l'obéissance qui lui est due etc., on connaît tout ça...

Il est saisissant de considérer combien ces gens qui vivaient il y a trois siècles baignaient dans un univers mental comparable à celui des enfants ou des peuples « primitifs » qui, tous, s'inventent des créatures et un monde fantastique que l'anthropologie et la psychanalyse nous ont permis de considérer d'un œil rationnel.

J'ai choisi cette cantate BWV 85 Ich bin ein guter Hirt (je suis un bon berger) parce que son titre est bien significatif de ce que toutes les religions et croyances prétendent apporter aux hommes : la protection du surmoi, l'image du père à la fois tout puissant, aimant et terrible mais aussi le berger qui rassemble et mène les brebis qui seraient perdues et à la merci des prédateurs (les ennemis) s'il n'était pas là.

La croyance religieuse est la même avec les mêmes obsessions que du temps de Bach, la protection contre les ennemis, le réconfort et l'assurance d'une puissance supérieure pour affronter le monde hostile. Est-il exagéré de supposer que cette attente d'une puissance supérieure s'est sublimée et s'est réalisée aux U.S dans la constitution d'un monstrueux appareil militaire parfaitement inutile pour se défendre (de qui? des Canadiens? des Vénézuéliens?) mais tout à fait adéquat pour transformer en chaleur et lumière le reste de la planète qui est potentiellement rempli d'ennemis?

L’Europe elle, s'est considérablement sécularisée et ses habitants ne voient plus le monde au travers du prisme religieux, les Européens n'ont pas cette obsession de l'« ennemi » qui vivrait en permanence à leur côté pour leur nuire et les détruire. Contrairement aux États-Unis, les pays européens ne sont ni militaristes ni bellicistes (il est vrai que Anders Fogh Rasmussen est un contre exemple assez terrifiant, mais n'est-il pas de culture protestante lui aussi justement?) et je considère que c'est aussi une conséquence positive du recul de l'obscurantisme religieux que les hommes n'aient plus la propension à se considérer ennemis les uns des autres parce que les superstitions tendent « naturellement » à les séparer les uns des autres. 

New York, an American crime free city

Il y a quelques mois SemperFidelis nous rappelait que le perp walk faisait partie du système accusatoire du droit anglo-saxon et que la procédure était applicable dans tous les pays relevant du common law system. Bon d'accord. Quand le dernier perp walk a-t-il eu lieu au Royaume-Uni qui est tout de même le pays d'où émane le système accusatoire moderne? Bon, question suivante...

Quand le dernier perp walk a-t-il eu lieu aux États-Unis? Ou du moins à New-York? Le dernier dont j'ai entendu parler concernait un Français il y a quatre mois. Depuis, unless proven otherwise, plus de perp walk à New-York, la ville est débarrassée de ses derniers criminels.

Au-delà de la nature éminent sadique de la pratique (si j'ai bien compris il s'agit de montrer une tête à la foule durant les quelques mètres qui séparent la sortie d'un commissariat jusqu'au fourgon cellulaire) j'ai beaucoup de mal à ne pas croire que Cyrus Vance - puisque c'est lui qui décide de la mise en scène - n'ait pas songé que se payer un Français aux yeux de ses électeurs ne pouvait pas être un handicap pour se réélection prévue l'an prochain.

Et je reste convaincu qu'il n'aurait pas été si zélé et précipité s'il s'était agi d'un Russe, d'un Chinois ou d'un fils d'émir arabe. Until proven wrong, I'll still have my doubts...

I want to be in America, life is easy in America...

Bon, cette fois-ci j'ai bel et bien regardé Strauss Kahn à la télé dimanche et il semble que je ne sois pas le seul à avoir trouvé courageuse son attitude de venir exposer sa version, qu'on n'avait encore jamais entendue puisque toute cette affaire a été menée à charge - c'est son boulot mais il pouvait le faire de façon différente- par le D.A de NY.

DSK s'est référé 11 fois je crois au rapport de C.Vance, le montrant autant de fois à l'écran. Alors je suis allé le lire ce rapport, accompagné de la traduction française et je me demande ce que fait encore N. Diallo aux E.U. Il faut le lire pour le croire. Rien, absolument rien n'est reproché à DSK, par contre c'est une totale démolition de la plaignante à laquelle se livre le bureau du procureur. Il n'y a pas une page où Cyrus Vance lui-même n'admette qu'il avait affaire à une menteuse pathologique..

"nous sommes confrontés à une situation dans laquelle il est apparu de plus en plus clairement que la crédibilité de la plaignante ne résistait même pas à l'évaluation la plus basique."

A propos de l'appel qu'elle avait donné à un de ses amants/maris emprisonné en Arizona :

This call was translated and certified as true and accurate by two Fulani-English translators. While differing in their precise word-for-word transcription of the call, both translations are materially similar in their discussions of making money with the assistance of a civil lawyer. On August 8, 2011, the complainant filed a civil suit against the defendant, seeking unspecified monetary damages.

Cette note 17 de bas de page devrait convaincre les derniers sceptiques that she was in it for the money. 

Une fois encore, une femme peut accuser de viol n'importe qui, elle sera crue a priori et plus encore si elle possède les fondamentaux de la comédie, ce qui est assez courant to say the least. Il est même écrit dans le rapport qu'à une question précise des enquêteurs elle s'est roulée par terre en feignant le désespoir. Come oooooooon...

Résultat des courses, on sait ce qu'a vécu DSK, je n'ai pas entendu parler d'excuses de la part du procureur (c'est partout pareil et depuis toujours) ni de réparations financières pour l'inimaginable préjudice qui lui a été causé.

Comme il est de rigueur - parce que telles sont les conséquences de la diffamation - on entend dire et on lit que DSK n'est pas innocent, c'est juste qu'il n'a pas été possible de prouver qu'il était coupable. 

On devrait enseigner aux enfants de 7 ans dans toutes les écoles du monde les deux adages latins :

"Affirmanti incumbit probatio" et "Quod gratis asscribur gratis negatur". Autrement dit, prouvez-moi qu'il n'y a pas de petits hommes verts sur la Lune et je vous croirai mais comme vous ne le pourrez pas, il y aura toujours un doute. Prouvez-moi que DSK (ou tant d'autres d'ailleurs) est innocent mais comme c'est impossible, il y aura toujours un doute. Prove me there's no God etc. Being a womanizer is one thing, being a rapist is another one.

Il est donc possible de mentir à plusieurs reprises à des enquêteurs judiciaires américains, de faire de faux témoignages sous serment devant un Grand Jury (which is a crime in the U.S!), d'accuser de crime quelqu'un qui certainement (il le reconnaît lui-même) n'a pas agi de la façon la plus intelligente qui soit, de frauder les services fiscaux et autres et life goes on in America... 

This woman is a delinquent et la justice new-yorkaise s'en lave les mains. Ah bon...

(et un bonus)

My teenage American girlfriend

 

The most unexpected letter I ever received in my life landed in my letterbox during the winter of 1983. The first thing that caught my attention was the American stamp on the envelope. Uh?

Inside was a letter in French from a young American girl. Uh?

She was a student in French and asked me how the French did celebrate on the third or fourth of January (that wasn't her precise wording of course).

Now this happened nearly thirty years ago and I don't precisely remember the details but I eventually found out - and maybe did she explain it in her letter- that her teacher (for some reason I imagine she had a female teacher) asked the students to pick up names randomly (probably in a phone book) and send letters to the French people whose names and adresses they would have found. And I was at the receiving end...

Needless to say I answered the girl, don't remember her name, about the Galettes des rois (that's how I remember it was during the winter) and congratulated her etc.

And I couldn't help thinking that was a brave move by the teacher (and an extremely positive and pedagogical one at that) that I considered at that time, and still do now, so symbolic of what is usually considered the American mindset at its best.

I explain: Here are the notions of  taking risk, being open minded, taking initiative, going outside of one's own little world and, aptly, making contact with people speaking the language the teenagers were learning.

I mean, what where the chances, that all letters would arrive by curious and interested French people who would take the pain to answer? Did all the students receive an answer? Not counting the addresses that weren't valid any more etc. So I imagined the teacher asked the students to write two letters just in case, 'cos it would have been so devastating for one or two of them not to get any letter back from France.

Now, I admit I was impressed by the pedagogical skills of the teacher and I sort of remember I asked the girl to congratulate her for her bright idea, just a bit worried that she may not receive my letter, stuff happens...

And then what happened will you ask? Well, I kept the letter of the girl for some months? Some years? Until I eventually lost trace of it, maybe during the time I spent in London between 1984 and 1985, but at the end of the day I was unable to possibly write her another letter.

That could have been the end of the story but not quite so.

Since I never forgot this episode, in the first months I had a computer (2003) I sent an email to the American association of teachers of French with the vague hope they could locate the teacher (by then, 2003, I think I still had a confused idea the letter was from the East Cost). To no avail alas, I never had any mail back, be it just to inform me they had received my query. Fair to say, twenty years had already elapsed betwen the day I received the winter letter and the day I wrote to the association. I could try again but it's been nearly thirty years now...

Thirty years... sigh... By now Isabelle must be 45, have married and mothered two or three puppies...

Now, Isabelle, is that you calling after me? 

Sissi et le 11 septembre

Je n'ai plus de télé et je m'en passe merveilleusement mais tout de même, j'ai la possibilité de m'énerver presque tous les jours en regardant quelques minutes ce qui est supposé nous informer et qui n'est que l'organe d'un système destiné à nous enfumer.

Dimanche c'était donc le dixième anniversaire des attentats du 11 septembre et les media français ont fait comme leurs confrères du monde entier j'imagine, ils nous ont sorti des émissions ''spéciale commémoration'' avec diffusion et rediffusion ad nausaum des images que tout le monde connaît.

Une pseudo catharsis à l'échelle mondiale est organisée par les médias qui n'informent de rien du tout mais qui savent qu'avec ce sujet et les images qui vont avec, ils vont faire le plein de leur audience pour pas un rond : ce sont des images d'archives et des micro trottoirs que l'on diffuse, sûr de sa bonne conscience et de son professionnalisme. 

Contenu informatif : néant mais tout le monde est invité à partager la même gelée sentimentaliste qui noie dans sa viscosité toute capacité de réflexion et d'analyse.

Surtout c'est l'occasion de voir et de revoir des avions se crasher dans des immeubles, ça c'est du spectacle coco et on t'en donne, en veux-tu en voilà. L'avion vient de droite, et puis un autre avion arrive par la gauche, et en ralenti s'il vous plaît, on ne s'en lasse pas. C'est du voyeurisme pur et simple, le téléspectateur est dans son fauteuil ou à table et il ne faut pas laisser inassouvi son insatiable appétit de spectacles hors du commun.

Panem et circences encore et toujours mais évidemment c'est pour honorer les morts, pour se rassurer sur notre moralité occidentale qui elle tout de même est étayée par des valeurs qui interdisent ces horreurs et quand on voit ce que l'on voit, quand on sait ce que l'on sait, on a bien raison de penser ce que l'on pense. 

Ces soirées consensuelles portent un nom : Pornographie mémorielle !

Pujadas et consort organiseront-ils d'ici 18 mois une soirée spéciale les 10 ans de la guerre d'Irak, avec de belles images de Shock and Awe à Bagdad? Des entretiens compassionnels avec des rescapés d'Abou Ghraïb? Un reportage sur les centaines de milliers de morts (avec visite pèlerinage des cimetières) dont le criminel de guerre qui assistait à la "cérémonie" de ground zero est l'assassin par procuration?

Pour les medias télévisés, le 11 septembre et autres événements de ce genre c'est comme Sissi impératrice : Audience garantie, on diffuse la même bande à intervalle régulier, aucun esprit critique n'est requis (ce serait même plutôt mal vu) et ça entretient l'inaltérable vision d'un monde facile à comprendre où les bons sont d'un côté (le nôtre) et les méchants de l'autre.

Avant de se quitter ce serait dommage de ne pas en prendre une dernière non? Alors pendant le générique de fin, on va encore nous montrer les images des zincs au ralenti mais avec un petit plus, une petite sophistication à laquelle a travaillé toute notre équipe de pros : Ils coupent la bande son : plus de bruit d'ambiance, pas de commentaires, on est dans la sobriété hiératique qu'installe toujours le ralenti qui nous fait sortir du temps réel. On est au seuil de la transcendance là...

Ah je suis bien content de n'avoir plus la télé, j'échappe aussi bien à Sissi qu'au bourrage de mou quotidien des pseudo infos qui in fine présentent l'actualité et la marche du monde comme Sissi représente la vie quotidienne de ceux qui n'appartenaient ni à l'aristocratie ni à la bourgeoisie de l'Empire Austro-hongrois.

Is this supposed to be funny?

Anglo-Saxons songs are covered the world over in about every existing languages, Italian and Japanese films at the heights of their glorious period were distributed all over Europe and America, novels from all countries are translated in many languages from Arabic to Norwegian and from German to Korean and one may consider these exchanges are a positive effect of globalization (although there's nothing new here save the size of the audience market)

This is all fine and dandy but yet, there is a segment of the entertainment industry which has definitively stayed within national borders and it's the stand up comedians' performances.

Not that humor is absolutely confined to each and every national culture, although it certainly is a major factor when it comes to political references or strictly historical facts or characters. 

I've chosen Lenny Bruce because that's the first name I could think of, not being familiar with the American entertainment scene, but certainly hundreds of other comedians could as well have been picked up. Needless to say, I don't understand one single word of what he says and it probably is totally meaningless to a non-American listener.

But there's no doubt that there exist many, many comedians whose performances could be translated and re-enacted by European or Chinese comedians and it would be funny all the same.

Of course there are such stand up comedians in every country and culture in the world whose wit, quirks, repartees, imagination and observation skills could benefit to millions of people in the world, simply it seems this market is totally ignored by the entertainment business and I don't know why.

Above is a video of a French female stand-up comedian's act (she's also an actress, a theater director etc.) which I suppose could perfectly be translated into German or Polish and it would be as efficient in these languages as it is in French.

By the way, how funny is that comedian???