Let them eat cake

(Okay, I want to say somethings before my real post.  1)  I have had a tough couple weeks and I am sorry if I come across as harsh and overly critical towards the french people.  I love living in France and the French people but I just think I had to get this off my chest.  2)  I am sorry if my point wonders or makes a sharp right angle bend along the way - I was just ranting a bit.  3)  I started off trying to describe the dichotomy of the things I love about France are created by the same things that make living here difficult and it sorta wondered from there.  So in short I hope this makes sense and isn't too critical)

She said "Let them eat cake" (which is actually inaccurately attributed to her) and they cut off her head.  But the mentality that caused Mary Antoinette to be beheaded is still very much a part of french culture today.  I don't want to call it arrogance because that isn't entirely accurate, but the trait of the french that many people call arrogance is a focus on their own culture to the exclusion of the rest of the world outside of their world view.  Of course for Mary Antoinette this didn't end too well for people that existed in the gap between her responsibility and her world view got a little mad. 

However, many of the wonders of the Paris, France, and the World have been created by this world view.  For example, the Louvre, Versailles, and many of the other architectural wonders of Paris were made by the focus of MA's world (I am too lazy to keep typing her name), while French cooking, art, and the sexiness/love/romanticism  of Paris is because the french have in many ways focused exclusively on their interests.  Even the relaxed culture and the concept of having a drink outside at a cafe can be considered to be caused by the the focus of the French on the French.  For how else can you view a country that has a legally mandated work week of 35 hours and gives more then a month in vacation time be considered other than as one focused on relaxing (Of course the quandary becomes how France is then the 4th largest economy in the world, but that is for another rant).

So when people comment on the "arrogance of the French," but worship the amazing and romantic city, or revel in the glory that is french food and wine they must consider that the two are linked.  For the trait that is called arrogance (okay it is arrogance but that is only part of the trait) is also an internal focus that has allowed the French to do amazing thing and be an amazing people.  Of course this mentality is running into problems.

Modern French people to some extent are running into a similar problem as MA.  They want to focus on just France and the french people, but are forced to meet their responsibility as a world power and a member of the EU in a world that becomes smaller on a daily basis.   It is this conflict between the French and the world that leads to "French arrogance".  This problem can be seen on a daily basis when you live in France.

Taking an example that I have recently had many problems with:  Getting my residency card.  Okay the horror that was me getting my "titre sejour" is either inappropriate for Facebook or for another post (I have yet to decide).  But while waiting in line for hours at multiple "Bureau de Etrangers"  it becomes clear that the French aren't interested in anything outside France.  For when the only way for people to get health care, work, etc is to arrive at 4 am in the morning (the Bureau opens at 9) to get a ticket to be seen at some point in day (maybe) something is wrong.  And then when the budget of the Bureau is reduced when the demand only increases (and I am not just talking about the current economic crisis either) it is clear the government isn't particularly interested in the internationals living in France (I am not saying that we should be a huge priority for a government, but still ....).

But you say it is only the government the people can be completely different, I point out that the scientific community of France, which tries its damnedest to not speak English even when in an international context.  Or when French scientists (not just one or two but most) insist on speaking french at meetings with international scientists living in France when they know that they have to write all papers in English, and then wonder why so many of their papers get comments like "English must be fixed for this paper to be considered for publication." (I am not going to go into details of other Counties but most are better then France in this regard).

Now I don't want to dwell too much on my only really two (admittedly big) complaints about living in France for it is doing a grave injustice to many French people I know.  Who in many cases are some of the nicest most caring people I have had a pleasure to interact with period (my boss who speaks principally English to me yet is still encouraging of my use of French and who went through the bureaucratic nightmare that was finding me an office in Paris just because he found out my (now) wife was moving there, and several other friends who have bent over backwards to help Beth and I, the lady at the cash register at lunch who goes out of her way to engage me in conversation (in french but in an easy way to understand to help me out), and many others).

However, these two complaints do show my point of the conflict of France and the outside world.  However, in some ways the exceptions I point out above are proof of the changing world.  A large number of PhD students, Post-docs, and interns, as well as many younger or forward thinking Faculty, are starting to open up and embrace the globalization of science.  Many more younger scientists then even 10 or 15 years ago are seeking to learn/speak/care about English, to get degrees from outside of France, to spend time abroad.

Okay so I am not really sure of the final conclusion of this note but I think it is important to see that many of the problems and complaints that arise from living in France are first of all caused by the same things that I love about living here, and second of all that things are changing, more slowly then I truly wish at the moment but changing none-the-less.  I guess I just hope that in the process that the things I love here don't go away as well.

(This is an old "post" from Facebook that I copied over - I actually had a few comments on it so it is a pitty I am not going to bother to transfer them over)