I am anxiously scanning the heavens for airborne swine. I never thought I would see the phrase 'the damage done to French work habits by decades of Socialist administration' in the New York Times. This startling admission is contained in an article describing a new French bestseller urging the French to eschew the Anglo—Saxon work ethic and openly embrace sloth. The book, Bonjour Paresse ('Hello, Laziness') is the product of Corinne Maier, a 40 year old mid—level bureaucrat in the state electricity monopoly.

Maier believes that French bureaucracy is so ossified that capable people cannot get ahead, so they might as well give up. Learn to enjoy the pleasures of doing as little as one can. It has become an unexpected bestseller, once given a boost by the efforts of her employer to begin disciplinary proceedings.

A nation's bestseller list can tell one a lot about the people. France has seen bestsellers contending that the 9/11 crash into the Pentagon was a hoax, and a phony book by a Palestinian girl describing fictitious Israeli 'atrocities.'

I am of two minds on the advice Mme. Maier offers her countrymen. On the one hand, it would only accelerate French decline. But on the other hand, it would bring the day of a Muslim—run Eurabia years closer. And, they still have all those nukes left over from de Gaulle's era.

But it is clearly evident that France has got major problems, so serious that even the French can't ignore or disdain. That's too bad, because France used to be a country capable of making a huge contribution to humanity.

Hat tip to Ed

Posted by Thomas  8 14 04