Althouse: "This Notre Dame Fire turned into people bragging about their vacations to Paris very quickly."

April 17, 2019

"This Notre Dame Fire turned into people bragging about their vacations to Paris very quickly."

Ha ha.

Exactly.

And doesn't it show how optimistic and resilient people really are? I mean, it sounds awful, and it really bothered me on the day of the fire, but it's awful in that specially, utterly human way that's so hopelessly trivial and self-involved. Hopelessly... hopefully...

27 comments:

mccullough said...: Vacation Porn.; 4/17/19, 11:36 AM
Fernandinande said...: And doesn't it show how optimistic and resilient people really are?

As near as I can tell, it's just an unsubstantiated claim from someone on the internets. Here's a similar claim:

"This Notre Dame Fire stopped people from bragging about their vacations to Paris very quickly."

Now they brag about their vacations very slowly.

I've always bragged about avoiding Paris whilst in France. Very slowly.; 4/17/19, 11:40 AM
Michael K said...: Humble brag by those who never leave home.; 4/17/19, 11:40 AM
Birches said...: My spouse texted to bet how long it would take some people we knew to post their pics. It was under an hour. Heh.; 4/17/19, 11:42 AM
Darrell said...: I've been around Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Just like Mayor Pete.; 4/17/19, 11:53 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Humble brag by those who never leave home."

If that's directed at me, you're wrong. I've been to Paris twice. I consider that the ultimate in things not worth mentioning when commenting on the fire. I'm only mentioning it here on the theory that you think this post is influenced by my failure to see the sight before it burned. I have seen it.; 4/17/19, 12:03 PM
tim maguire said...: We all like to feel we have a personal connection to major events. That's why Buckingham Palace was buried under teddy bears and flowers after Diana died and seemingly every building in America lit up in purple after Prince died.

It can get annoying after a while, but really, people save for months or years to go to Paris and they're supposed to keep quiet about it just because something big happened while they were there? That's dumb.; 4/17/19, 12:16 PM
glenn said...: If you had any idea how many times I’ve been to Paris you would think i ought to have stock in Air France.; 4/17/19, 12:20 PM
MadisonMan said...: There are a lot of defensive re-tweets there. (laugh)

I saw Notre Dame, but as I said, I think, I neglected to take a single picture! Why take a picture of something that you can find easily online?; 4/17/19, 12:27 PM
Wilbur said...: Paris? Hell, I played high school basketball games in Paris.

Illinois.; 4/17/19, 12:29 PM
RNB said...: The Most Woke Man I Know posted his selfie standing in front of the cathedral within hours. You could kinda make out part of Notre Dame behind his head.; 4/17/19, 12:34 PM
Anonymous said...: Haha. I was thinking that as I typed comments on the earlier threads. "Hmmm, am I engaging in the same swipply place-dropping that I always sneer at other people for? Why yes, I probably am." But I did it anyway.

But I'm recovering my sense of superiority by laughing at all the people on that thread being so sniffily defensive about the accusation. At least I'm not *that* much of an asshole, right?

If that's directed at me, you're wrong. I've been to Paris twice. I consider that the ultimate in things not worth mentioning when commenting on the fire. I'm only mentioning it here on the theory that you think this post is influenced by my failure to see the sight before it burned. I have seen it.

But in the end, you could not control the impulse to swank in the face of so crude a provocation.; 4/17/19, 12:50 PM
fivewheels said...: The comments under that tweet are surprisingly not terrible. They make a good argument against it. Me, I could go either way.

I'm usually the first to pooh-pooh Americans' over-romanticization of Paris, which I haven't been to but am not significantly more interested in seeing than, let's say, Nashville. And less so than Vienna or Tokyo. But it's natural to speak of your own connection to what's been lost. Like if someone dies, and you met him. You might tweet, hey, he was a nice guy. Doesn't mean much, but it's a natural response.; 4/17/19, 1:03 PM
Birkel said...: And architecture professors decrying religion.

Fucking Harvard!; 4/17/19, 1:03 PM
wwww said...: Some could be vacation brags. Others are posting pictures because they are pained for religious or historical reasons. Ubisoft has extensive models of the church done by experts for their Unity game. May be helpful in the reconstruction. Grateful what was saved, was saved.

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.; 4/17/19, 1:08 PM
wwww said...: Oddly enough, got 2 high school friends living in Paris and 1 living in Corsica. Paris is just a city & some people live there because of work.; 4/17/19, 1:12 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "I saw Notre Dame, but as I said, I think, I neglected to take a single picture! Why take a picture of something that you can find easily online?"

Take a picture of little details that you discover for yourself.

I used to avoid carrying a camera though. I've never taken photos outside of the United States. I used to carry a little sketchbook and look for things to draw. It made me look at things very carefully and be very selective (because it takes some time to do even a quick drawing). But I can see in my Paris notebook that I didn't draw anything in churches. They can actually be awfully gloomy. Some things are beautiful, but not in a way you feel you can draw. What would be the point of trying to draw a big stained glass window. Maybe some little detail in it. Maybe something that seemed funny or incongruous. But it's hard not to feel you're making fun of the believers (for example, at Notre Dame, I saw the jawbone of St. Louis on display, but to stop and draw it would look disrespectful and it could never convey the many thoughts I had looking at it).; 4/17/19, 1:20 PM
Anthony said...: I need to look at my slides from that trip; I don't remember if I took any pictures of ND or not.; 4/17/19, 1:34 PM
Anonymous said...: My wife posted a few shots that we took during our visit in '17. I barely think of taking photos but she's enamored of the whole smartphone thing. (She took a few of me in front of the statue to my ancestor Charlemagne*, which stands on the ND grounds.)

What struck me most inside was not the stained glass but the wood-carving of the Stations of the Cross. A different kind of window--into the faith and the art of a great culture. I wonder how much of that survived.

Narr
*It's a joke, child, although it wouldn't surprise me.; 4/17/19, 2:18 PM
rhhardin said...: I was in Paris for two days in 1960, and got within 20 feet of Khrushchev, in Vienna. Paris was a slum. The Eiffel tower was okay. They didn't shoo you off.; 4/17/19, 2:49 PM
stevew said...: I haven't been to Paris. I have been to Italy, several times, and visited the famed sites in Rome, Florence, Venice, and others. Every church, cathedral, duomo and basilica that we entered, even in the small Tuscan towns, had a person, usually a pretty, young Italian women saying, over and over, "No photo, no video" in English with a beautiful Italian accent. We have no photos.; 4/17/19, 4:09 PM
Howard said...: We'll Always Have Paris in the
the Spring; 4/17/19, 6:03 PM
Bunkypotatohead said...: The streets of Paris are full of dogshit these days. Does anyone post photos of that?; 4/17/19, 6:26 PM
rcocean said...: I never take pictures of buildings or tourist sites in Paris. However, I wish I could have taken pictures of the people. I've never seen so many fashionable, good-looking women. Or the crazy Parisan/tourist behavior. Once, I was only their for two days, and saw three traffic disputes. Not fender benders. No, someone would do something the other person didn't like. They would get out of their buses/cars and then argue with each other, and then drive off.

Once I saw a tiny french car stopped short, and young woman (very good-looking) bicyclist hit the car. She sped up and gave the driver a piece of her mind through his open window. He then parked the car and got out they both jabbered at each other for five minutes and then went on their way. Hilarious!; 4/17/19, 6:39 PM
Leland said...: I understood that, so I was careful with whom I mentioned seeing Notre Dame recently. I'll also say that although I did see it; I never got a chance to go inside, and I didn't walk along the side. I never really saw the spire that fell. If it were completely destroyed, I'd be happy for wife and myself that we saw it. But I would be sad others wouldn't get a chance. I was hopeful the building would outlast the fire. It did. I hope others will get a chance to see it in the future.; 4/17/19, 7:10 PM
William said...: I think I visited Notre Dame. I don't remember anything about it though. I'm a lapsed Catholic, but I usually say a Hail Mary when I visit great cathedrals. Those cathedrals were built on prayers, and every little bit helps.......I went to the top of the WTC. I remember that.....I'm glad Notre Dame has survived and sorry that the WTC Towers fell.; 4/17/19, 8:30 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I figured it was good that people at least took an interest.; 4/17/19, 10:14 PM