Paris is cold and rainy.
Parisians are very out of sorts with the weather, calling it “October
weather.” Unfortunately, Susie and I
packed for late spring and early summer, so we have been scrambling to pull out
the winter clothes we have stored here.
When I took my early morning walk this morning, a model in a strapless
wedding dress was leaning against the railing on the little bridge leading to Nôtre
Dame on the Île de la Cité, being photographed.
She must have been frozen!
The television doesn’t work, because I need a ten digit
client number and a four digit code, and the number and code I have don’t
work. Is it just me?
Yesterday, a man shot himself to death on the altar of Nôtre
Dame as a political protest. The
newspapers today identify him as Dominique Venner, a 78 year old veteran of the
paratroopers in the Algerian War and an intellectual of the extreme right,
well-known in those circles. Needless to
say, shooting yourself on the altar of Nôtre Dame is considered a no-no even
among the notoriously secular French.
This is the 850’th anniversary of the construction of the cathedral [which
took well over a century to build, so I am not are how they count the years], a
big tourist draw.
Every country, it seems, has its characteristic right-wing
extremists. They are alike in their
belief that the world they knew is disappearing and being taken over by barbarians,
although they differ in the precise way in which they think the world going to
hell in a handbasket . In France, the
focal point of this sentiment is the loss of the Algerian War and the influx of
North Africans, which is to say Muslims.
However, the trigger for Venner’s act of extreme protest was the new
law, just now going into effect, that legalizes same-sex marriage. Although this is now the law of the land,
there is a large backlash, and this Sunday a big “manifestation,” or
demonstration is planned in Paris in protest.
I shall report on it next week.
A simple meal this evening of dorade royale [fish], leeks,
and mushrooms.
Maing its way around the blogosphere now is Arnold kling's three axes models, professor Wolff. I wonder if you have seen it ?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.arnoldkling.com/blog/it-is-sometimes-appropriate/
According to Wikipedia, construction began in 1163 (850 years ago) and wasn't fully completed until 1345.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%B4tre_Dame#Construction_history
What an expression of faith, to launch a construction project that would only be seen in its final form by the distant descendants of the first group of workers almost two centuries later!
ReplyDeleteOver here: Lord Tebbit(Right wing loon) is ranting on about how proposed bill for same sex marriages could lead to the UK having a lesbian queen giving birth after artificial insemination. Insinuating that the tainted bloodline would deviate from the natural and indefeasible line of succession. Muppet! He ought to read British history
ReplyDeleteIt does seem to be the case that same sex marriage drives the crazies insane in a way that nothing else does.
ReplyDeleteProf.
ReplyDeleteCorey Robin (a professor from Brooklyn College/City University of New York, a Crooked Timber collaborator and blogger) wrote a thought-provoking essay[*] about a rather disburting similarity he perceives between the thoughts of Nietzsche and marginalist authors, like Carl Menger and Friedrich Hayek.
I thought, as a philosopher and a lefty, you might be interested. It may also give you a good reason to stay out of the cold!
[*] http://www.thenation.com/article/174219/nietzsches-marginal-children-friedrich-hayek
Thank you, magpie. I have just read the article, and found it very interesting [and disturbing].
ReplyDelete