I shamefully admit that I experienced a bit of perverse pleasure when I first heard of the Muslim rioting in France, and I read this quote:
'As the Chicago Sun-Times reported in 1992: "the consensus of French pundits is that something on the scale of the Los Angeles riots could not happen here, mainly because France is a more humane, less racist place with a much stronger commitment to social welfare programs." President Mitterrand, the Washington Post reported in 1992, blamed the riots on the "conservative society" that Presidents Reagan and Bush had created and said France is different because it "is the country where the level of social protection is the highest in the world."'
Since then, I have been pierced with conviction of my own barbarity and have been praying for France as a nation. In my meditation, the idea struck me that often I express a vain triumphalism in my theology instead of heartfelt humility developed from unassuming gratitude to the Spirit. Please bear with me as I work through pockets of pride that I keep finding nestled in my soul.
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9 comments:
Fascinating. I thought the problem was the French didn't care enough about their culture, which proves to be too simple a diagnosis. It seems they care too much about the foolishness in their culture and not enough about the important elements.
Abe, at first I thought I was reading Froggy's blog post on this subject...he said "I have to admit that I am feeling something of a perverse sense of glee and yet a deep sadness and foreboding at the recent developments in Franco-Muslim relations in and around the capital of France."
The entire post can be found at:
http://froggyruminations.blogspot.com/
The post is entitled "Hot Nights in Paris."
Apparently great minds think alike.
~Teresa
The people of France (of which my brother is part of) and the goverment of France are two different things.
Thanks, Westy and the Dude. Islam does not have much credibility as a religion of peace.
T-bone,
I appreciate the compliment. Froggy's blog is a good read.
Jeremiah,
Great point. Does your brother know of any French journalists on the national level that oppose socialism? I'd love to read these views. Or, there may be a better way to read of the people of France that differ from their government. Any ideas?
I appreciate your admission, Oneway, and find myself making similar self-discoveries. The line between smugness and laudable applause for the truth can be elusive. But as Schaeffer, Lewis, Chesterton, and others have demonstrated, we shouldn't be inhibited in our cheering when phony "humanity" or "spirituality" is shown to be full of holes...
Dang, sarcasm still reigns. Yes, there is a better way. You can't lump all people into one big idea that easy. You have to have a writer to show you otherwise?
I must say that reading these comments have made me very disapointed. Lumping a huge group of people into these ideas is obsurd. I really don't even comment anymore because I would just assume stay out of it, but the comments I've seen on this post go far beyond politics and the like, but are just plain old nasty. I need to quit reading this blog for fear of loosing respect of people that I in person, have found to be people of great character.
I appreciate OneWay's thoughts on needing help with these feelings, but the comments have gone backwards from there.
I'm sorry that a country's government doesn't fly with the American way. Does Cuba's? Do I think the people of Cuba deserve the same kind of riots? Would I get "glee" out of it? No way.
What about China?
Nope.
What about South Korea?
No.
France?
North Korea, too.
The New York Times has a great piece on the topic: What makes someone French?
Ariel, thanks for the timely counter-balance.
Jeremiah, I wasn't being sacrastic at all. I was earnest, in fact, I spent about a hour trying to find some decent French commentary on the riots without success last Friday.
I understand a bit where you are coming from; I would guess I don't have much benefit of the doubt with you due to our different views and prior inability to discuss them.
I'm glad you did speak up in this instance. It would be great for me if you would go further with your perspective. What did you find "plain old nasty"? I don't see it.
>>I'm sorry that a country's government doesn't fly with the American way. Does Cuba's? Do I think the people of Cuba deserve the same kind of riots? Would I get "glee" out of it? No way.<<
I'm not sure what's the point of these statements. I thought I pretty clearly expressed remorse over my joy in seeing France burn, so it seems unlikely that you are trying to convince me of that failing. Who are you arguing with here?
Westy, like the Dude said, great link. That article reinforces the notion the French culture has a definite, shared philosophy that needs reform. It is fascinating that the French do not use racial or ethnic distinctions in social studies. I would tend to think this is a great idea. The article goes on to suggest that this is part of the problem in France, which may be true. But it seems the heart of the problem is that the French idea of "who is French" is based on unimportant parameters, such as skin tone, and also the failure of immigrants to let go of equally unimportant elements of their original cultures.
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