Dr. Frank's What's-it

On the Ground in Old

On the Ground in Old Europe

Stephen Pollard reports on Old Europe's media coverage of Powell's UN presentation:

I'm in Brussels at the moment. Just watched Colin Powell at the UN on CNN. I flicked over my TV as he was speaking - the only stations available here carrying him were Anglospheric: CNN, CNBC and Sky. None of the French, German, Italian etc stations had a word of it.

Interesting? I think so. I think it says something about just how much they still think of this as a US/UK adventure, which really shouldn't concern them.

Interesting, indeed. Unfathomable, actually. If true (which I can't quite credit, to be honest) does it truly reflect lack of concern on the part of the public? And would the French willingly allow Anglo-American news networks such a monopoly of news coverage on the major story of the day? I know nothing of such matters, but it doesn't square with the conventional wisdom about the French attitude towards American "hegemony," in the media and elsewhere.

Alisa in Wonderland has posted an interesting letter from a correspondent in France (Nelson Ascher) who cites Pollard's observation, and adds:

I don't know how seriously we should take the anti-war sentiments of the [French] people: maybe it is just an automatic pavlovian reaction: they're giving the answer they know is expected of them. But unlike the Americans, they don't have a say in their country's foreign policy, and they know it: thus, they do not take their own positions too seriously. If you know your opinion doesn't carry weight anyway, you'll not care for holding to it, and you'll probably just choose the one which means less trouble.

Workers' Paradise expatriate Alisa notes parallels to her own first-hand experience of totalitarianism, describing her native land thus:

the people [in Soviet Russia] did not have any say in what was happening, so they stayed out of trouble as much as they could. It is amazing to me that France that Nelson describes is, in many respects, a lot like a totalitarian country, only with a much higher standard of living.

The idea that the French people are cowering powerless in the shadows, disguising their true pro-war, pro-American sentiments because the government leaves them no choice strikes me as unlikely. It is true, though, that a futile cause (which preventing this particular war assuredly is) affords a great deal of freedom: you can propose any number of loopy analyses and policies when you are absolutely confident that none of them will ever stand a chance of being taken seriously or put into practice. Political positions can then be instruments of self-actualization and personal expression, as well as means for expression of a collective aesthetic, quite apart from any substance they might have. You can put a "no blood for oil" sticker on your SUV with the reasonable assurance that doing so will have no affect on whether or not a nuclear-armed America-hating madman ends dominating the middle east and controlling 25% of the world's energy supply. Just as you can claim that you enjoyed "My Dinner with Andre" as long as you know that no one will ever force you to sit through it again. Same kind of thing. That's as true in Berkeley as it is in Brussels. (Reveling in futility's silver lining is not just a phenomenon of the Left, of course; American "conservatives" do it all the time as well.)

In either case, Brussels or Berkeley, I see no reason to question the sincerity of their anti-Americanism, though one might wonder about its "seriousness." And who knows? The French public may well share their government's assessment (short-sighted, as many would have it) that French interests are indeed best served by a policy of nominally plausibly-deniable obstructionism. Maybe it's practical: I imagine that peace demonstrations present ideal circumstances for frottage. Or maybe give peace a chance is in fact all they are saying. I have no idea. Interesting questions and observations, all, nonetheless.

There's lots more about French media, intellectual culture, and racial politics in Alisa's correspondent's wide-ranging letter. Whether or not you buy all of it, it's well worth a look.

Posted by Dr. Frank at February 9, 2003 12:14 PM | TrackBack