Res Publica 2005

hubris n : overbearing pride or presumption

Jacques Chirac accuses the Americans of hubris.

French President Jacques Chirac warned Thursday of a “catastrophe” for global diversity if the United States’ cultural hegemony goes unchallenged.

Speaking at a French cultural center in Hanoi ahead of Friday’s opening of a summit of European and Asian leaders, Chirac said France was right to stand up for cultural and linguistic diversity.

Citing Hollywood’s stranglehold over the film industry as an example, Chirac stressed that only with government assistance could countries maintain their cultural heritage.

Slobokan's Site O' Schtuff aptly notes, though:

The French occupied Vietnam for 95 years. Keyword: Occupied. During this time the French imposed their culture on the people of Vietnam, refusing to even recognize the Vietnamese peoples’ desire for independence, as most occupiers do. The French took Vietnam by force and only relinquished control of it because of force, yet Le Worm has the gall to speak of countries maintaining their cultural heritage in the very place where France itself tried to squash the very thought of such a thing.

If he really wanted to make the point stick he should have made the comments while he dedicated a new “Vietnamese Cultural Center” funded in full, by the French. Its one thing to try and maintain that the culture of the United States will choke the other cultures of the world if left unchallenged, but it’s quite another thing to be the pot calling the kettle black. French colonization attempted to choke the cultures of the world many, many years ago. Maybe next time Jacques Chirac should look in the mirror of his own country, identify the mistakes they made, and fix the problems of their past, before insinuating that French culture is being choked by the United States.

I am reminded of a pot calling a kettle very black. I seem to remember a nation that encouraged it's aboriginal allies to slaughter the English colonial settlers on the frontier in the 1750s, then passed themselves off as the friends of the American revolution so that they could spit in the English eye, a nation that caved into and cooperated with the Nazis much more than they would like to admit, whose ties to the Americans was one of the big reasons the Americans got involved in Vietnam to begin with.

One more incident like this and I am returning my grandfather's medals that he recieved for helping to save their butts during WWI. I don't think he would have appreciated the sacrifice he made being spit upon and considered dross by such as Chirac.