So, apparently, a country is having a mental breakdown.
September 7, 2025
"More fundamental... is an underlying national malaise that can seem inexplicable to outsiders but which has undoubtedly gathered pace..."
"Call it the 'French Paradox.' For the more than 100 million people or so who visit France each year — more than any other place on the planet — the country has long been synonymous with glorious weather and scenery, good food and wine, and the best high-speed rail network in Europe.... Many of the French themselves appear to see their country differently, however, with a traditional national grumpiness giving way to what one recent poll described as 'a collective depression.'... It could be... a 'feeling of lost identity.' Such national gloom explains the rapid spread of the discontent expressed by those behind the protests planned for Wednesday, largely on TikTok, Facebook and other social media platforms, many of them from Paris and other big cities in what has been dubbed la France périphérique...."
"La France périphérique" means "Peripheral France." I can see that there was a 2014 book titled — and translated — "Peripheral France: How the Working Classes Have Been Sacrificed" — which Grok says "analyzes the marginalization of France's working classes—often described as 'French of native stock' or 'petits Blancs' (little whites)—who have been displaced from urban centers due to globalization and economic shifts."
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There is a similar sentiment on the rise in Ireland, but the Irish are a bit quieter about it. And no, Connor McGregor will never be president of Ireland despite many Americans apparently loving him. He is widely disliked in Ireland, and for very good reasons.
Well, they did it to themselves so don’t act shocked.
The French Paradox is the French seemingly eating unhealthy diets yet remaining collectively svelte and free of disease. We hoped it was all the wine, mais malheureusement…
I liked them better when the national outrage was accent egu instead of grave…
What are the french upset about? Its so crazy. Well, they're upset at the raising of the retirement age, and Macron proposed cuts to working and middle class benefits. Meanwhile, black and muslim migrants keep pouring in and the French elite keep banging the drums for war.
I'd like to be sympathetic, but the Leftwing workers are the ones who put Macron in power. Anything rather then Le Pen, who agrees with them on many economic issues.
They're like dumbshit Libtards in the USA, who'd rather put up crime, censorship, Billionaire Oligarchs, corruption, war, and decline than help those Goddamn Republicans.
A while back, Macron wanted to get rid of several French Holidays. Don't know what happened to that.
Turns out importing a bunch of poor black people into your society to serve as underclass workers "displaces" white people.
I hope the French enjoy the multi-culteralism that their sexual-assault victim President has foisted upon them.
Whatever you do ... don't suggest that these Frenchies bring back their guillotines or Ann will delete your comment.
Reading this article, I mean did Bill kristol write it? It reminded me of his absurd "Whats all this fuss about Illegal Immigration? The unemployment rate is low, and everyone i know likes those cheap nannies and gardeners".
Its like someone going to Austria in 1937 and going "Hey whats all this fuss about? Austria is a beautiful country full of great beer and Skiing. Most people have jobs. Why is everyone so upset?"
The word peripherique is also a play on the highway that circles the city, suggesting something like "beyond the beltway" in the US.
In the 60s and into the 70s, France was a big deal. Big in film, literature, theatre, philosophy, social science, literary theory, couture, cuisine. Under De Gaulle they were still a world power of sorts. They still had an empire for a while and even made cars. It wasn't surprising if when you had to learn a foreign language in school it was French.
Spanish was a poor relation, spoken in poor countries and dictatorships without as glorious a (recent) past as French. It was for the not so smart kids. How things have turned around. Spanish has been ascendant since then, and even in the little things the French still prided still themselves on in the 70s (movies, food, fashion, tourism), Spanish has been more than competitive. The really smart kids, who learned Russian then, if they could, have moved on to Mandarin.
Elites being fashionably ashamed of their redneck/rube/trash/country bumkin cousins are going to be the death of our enlightenment societies.
As always, I blame Rousseau.
"More fundamental... is an underlying national malaise that can seem inexplicable to outsiders but which has undoubtedly gathered pace...
the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament.
The French are losing their “je ne sais quoi”.
From FrenchIceberg.com: “Je ne sais quoi” is a captivating and elusive French expression that adds a touch of mystery and charm to the spoken language. Literally translated as “I don’t know what,” this phrase embodies an ineffable quality or characteristic that is difficult to pinpoint or describe.
It conveys an enigmatic allure, an intangible essence that captivates and fascinates. Used to describe someone or something that possesses an indescribable charm or appeal, “je ne sais quoi” encapsulates the notion that certain qualities are beyond words, leaving an air of intrigue and fascination in their wake.
Today, we explain all about the origins and meaning of “je ne sais quoi”, which happens to be one of the oldest French expressions still used today.
Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Petite Annonce, newspaper ad for a mate song
Google translates (to make sense of the video)
I'm looking for a man who's five foot three.
I'm not the King's daughter. Either I'm fine.
Or I'm not fine.
Please answer me.
Whoever announces receives a reply.
Whoever asks for a reward.
Whoever announces receives a reply.
Whoever asks for a reward.
I'm only five foot two.
Yet I'm not lame.
Is that too much?
Is that too little?
Answer me for the love of God.
I'm tired of being alone at home.
It breaks my heart and then my liver.
I keep the dogs away.
I scare the cats.
I scare the little children.
I only smoke good tobacco.
I like mice, I hate rats.
Two or three-legged.
Or four-legged.
Villains or aristocrats.
Five two, five three.
Glass eye, wooden leg.
Military.
Good-natured.
And above all, know-how.
What do they have to be upset about? How about collapsing fertility, a stagnant economy, an impotent military, out of control immigration, and an arrogant leftist elite that brought them all this.
Even if things are generally OK, people can see the direction society is taking. France has had that direction visible for many, many years. The change is gathering speed and the brakes have been tampered with.
Gemini AI Says:
Recent reports indicate French hospitals are preparing for a potential armed conflict by 2026, a measure that could involve expanding military-related medical capacity, though the article doesn't specify the nature of the expansion itself. Meanwhile, France's national military healthcare system, the Service de Santé des Armées (SSA), is already responsible for supporting the French Armed Forces, and the country maintains the largest military in the European Union and the ninth largest global defense budget.
"phantommut said...
.....
As always, I blame Rousseau."
Added to the list:
Trump
Climate change
The Parents
Rousseau
French expats set up a boulangerie nearby so I see an upside to all this.
Elites being fashionably ashamed of their redneck/rube/trash/country bumkin cousins are going to be the death of our enlightenment societies.
YouTube Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson were having the same conversation from the lived experience perspective of different guests.
Dillon (the comedian) was telling Joe how the same people deriding him for accepting a well paid gig in Saudi Arabia, are the same people spousing -- to the point of fomenting civil disobedience if need be -- that we should welcome people who live and breathe Sharia. The most stringent, divisive and intolerant doctrine in the religious sphere. There people are so 'enlighten', they are totally blind to the inescapable result of their conceit.
I wonder if it will go as well as their last major “shake-up”?
I passed on commenting on the Shipley thread even though I almost always pop in when music is part of the post or discussion. But, there's always another chance. Thanks rhardin for the Kate and Anna link. I've been a fan of theirs ever since I first heard one of their songs (that would be Heart Like a Wheel by Linda Ronstadt in 1974). One of them married Loudon Wainwright III and gave birth to Rufus and Martha Wainwright. The McGarrigle Christmas Hour is one of my favorite Christmas albums.
"...collapsing fertility, a stagnant economy, an impotent military, out of control immigration..."
All the things French people either chose personally or voted for. Now that they have what they wanted/chose, they howl for someone to "give" them something different. Much like the people voting for Mamdani, they will find that nobody can "give" them what they want. They can only have what they chose, whether or not they realized what they were choosing.
My French teacher recently moved back to France, because of her hatred of Trump. Her life will be improved in many ways (better cheese, bread, schooling for her kids) but her standard of living will go down about 30%. It's worth it to her.
The political influence of the so-called “working class” in France and England has been superseded by the jihad. Donald Trump has intervened for the “working class” here by pushing back against the antisemitic jihadists and Democrat communists on campus and by closing the border.
They're drinking alone and listening to Merle Haggard.
The article doesn't mention immigration from third world countries, and the strain that puts on governmental programs. When a formerly Christian country finds that their major international city is trending Muslim, that can unsettle the native stock.
Surprising that the London Times didn't mention that. Perhaps the New York Times will cover that angle.
Protests. Always protesting...something. But what? Protests are more about inconveniencing others than 'the cause'.
It never would have occurred to me that a big strike in France would need any explanation other than force of habit.
they seem to want the wrong solution to the problem, inflation is largely do to spending, also aggregate energy costs,
Marathon man, set in the 70s, but mostly shot in LA, has a scene with a garbage strike, where Scylla is driving through it,
Purchasing power is not always the best definition of standard of living. If contentment is measured by how big your boat is or what kind of cars you have, then wealth is the most important thing, but if you are not poor then other intangibles can be much more meaningful. My life when I am in Ireland is far more pleasant that my life in the USA even though things are cheaper and money more plentiful in the US. Better cheese bread and schooling are not small items, neither is the general way of life.
"Peripheral France: How the Working Classes Have Been Sacrificed... analyzes the marginalization of France's working classes—often described as 'French of native stock' or 'petits Blancs' (little whites)—who have been displaced from urban centers due to globalization and economic shifts."
No. The French have been driven from the cities by the criminality of African and Middle Eastern Muslims assisted by Macron's two-tiered justice system that turns a blind eye on Muslim rioters and rapists, but vigorously enforces tax collections from working class Frenchmen to provide the indolent migrants with all the amenities of honest labor without a bead of sweat dropped or a finger lifted.
from paris with love, a luc besson project, showed the nice part of Paris, along with the banlieus, this was years before battaclan and charlie hebdo,
Leave it to a nation of Bernadette Devlin-lovin’, baby-rapin’, priest humpers to hate Conor McGregor.
h/t Don Imus
Well McGregor is a coked up rapist who beats up old men in the pub. Other than that, he's a terrific guy.
This French general strike is Wednesday. Tommy Robinson's big London rally is the following Saturday. Any other similar events in nearby countries this week? RR,JSM
Did you call the Garda or just wait for the ambulance, old and slow?
'a collective depression.'... It could be... a 'feeling of lost identity.
i do NOT understand?
they should be feeling GLORIOUS, and touting their VICTORY!
France is now one of The LARGEST muslem countries on earth!
They've WON! they OWN IT! they should be rejoicing!
wait a minute? are you talking about the infidels that USED TO live there?
SCREW THEM! IF they want to stay, they Need to pay the jizzrag
If they WON'T submit, and Bow DOWN.. Off with their heads!
If McGregor is someone you admire, then it says a lot about you. Probably just that you are ill informed, there's a lot of that about.
This is all simple to understand. The left ruins everything it touches, and after fondling most institutions in the world, it continues to touch, and all that touching continues to rot everything that we once loved or counted on. Will it require a major violent world changing event to reverse this? Probably, because many people have been touched too, and the rot also affects reason and values.
its the agenda of Herr Schwab, to make the world more nasty brutish and short, his no 2, Larry Fink is all in on this,
Once Brigette Bardot rolled in their sparkling sand. Now she is convicted of race hatred for speaking out against the Islamic terrorists their betters imported.
From the City of Lights to the Camp of the Saints.
Ah, go polish your shillelagh, old and slow. I’m just having the solid craic.
People leaving the U.S. are just like many leaving blue states. They are running from the policies of their own ideology and choices, but the ones leaving the U.S. think they are running from the what is really just the inevitable result of those failed policies in a place with an individual rights-respecting Constitution and culture. They're just not made for that. They prefer to be coddled and controlled with wine and cheese.
It may be a surprise to some, but you can buy French wine and cheese anywhere, but why?
The French are so depressed that Chat GPT has managed to talk several of them into eating Miracle Whip.
he prefers the kneecapping plastiquers of Sinn Fein my mistake,
I have said here before that I prefer Texas, California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and more states on the way becoming more Mexicanized rather more than more Islamized. Poor Michigan, Minnesota, and Maine.
They're overdue for one of their revolutions. They've had a lot of revolutions. Is the left on the side of this one? Leftist revolutions generally get good press both in the media and the history books.......Also, the Germans frequently get together and try to overthwrow western civilization. Not so often as the French have their revolutions, but it happens. They're re-arming. It won't be long before those Germans who think Palestine should get their lands back, will look at east and demand the return of Konigsberg........None of this would have happened if Biden had been re-elected.
Sinn Fein are nothing but socialist gangsters who support massive immigration. They are mostly about enriching themselves and always have been.
Macron stopped for heron soup in Hebron
On and on, on and on, Stephen Bishop song.
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