60 million Frenchmen can't be wrong

[Aphex_Twin]

Can you tell us some of the arguments present in the book?

 

[stormbind]

60 million frenchmen can be wrong

However, if the French posters believe that this book accurately portrays how the French want to be seen... then it is valuable to outsiders who want to connect with Frenchies.

It must really flatter them, or we wouldn't be hearing so much about it

 

[The Last Conformist]

It was Masquerouge that posted an earlier thread about this book. It sunk like a sinking thing.

 

[Tassadar]

It was Masquerouge that posted an earlier thread about this book. It sunk like a sinking thing.

Yes , here:http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=97225


It was on page 2, i will advice a mod.

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Well, since there are a few members (me included) who will never get the book or will not want to, can someone make at least a short summary?

 

[Steph]

You'll have to wait a bit, I haven't finished yet.

It's a nice book, because they don't try to say French or others are better. They say they are different, and try to explain the origin of the difference, looking at history, traditions, etc.

Their basic idea was that as strangers, they were sometime "shocked" by French behaviour, but instead of stopping there, they tried to understand why the behaviour was different.

 

[Steph]

Sorry, my computer was broken and I missed it.

Can a mod close this thread? We don't need to on the same subject

 

[Steph]

It must really flatter them, or we wouldn't be hearing so much about it

Actually, it doesn't. The subtitle is "Why we love France but not the French".
However, what they say is mostly true, with few "errors" (and even then, it's more a matter of point of view) as far as I've read. So I think someone who read it can understand French reaction better, even if he doesn't agree.

 

[Norlamand]

I look forward to reading it. Any book that can explain the French should be worth a read. Now do they have plans for one that can explain women?

 

[Steph]

To complicated. That's why the title if 60 Millions FrenchMEN...

Trying to explain women would be like trying to explain the rules of cricket to non English

 

[BasketCase]

Sixty million Frenchmen can be wrong, after all, eighty million Americans were wrong just under four years ago.

Yeah, no kiddin'--they voted for Al Gore!

 

[test_specimen]

Sounds interesting, but I guess it doesn't save the trouble of travelling there.

I wonder if there are as many books trying to explain the German people, the Russian people or the Chinese people. I'm not really sure. It's weird that France fascinates that much, as much foreigners than French people themselves. That's something I can't really explain.

If you want a serious explanation buy a "Culture Shock", they're about every nation and mostly explain the differences from a US-American point of view. There's one about Germany and one about Austria, even if you live here and know how everything is done it is an interesting read.

For Austria there are several authors who portray them quite good (but also very cynically and pessimistic), they are: Thomas Bernhard (my favourite Austrian author) and Robert Menasse.

Thomas Bernhard thinks Austrians can be divided into catholics, nazis and catholic nazis - nevertheless his hate comes from a deep love for the country and in my opinion it's not what he writes about Austria, that defines Austrians, but that he writes it. The neverending criticism and misantropism is what makes the real Austrian.

Robert Menasse thinks Austrians are sloths, who never end what they begun, or at least not how they intended to end it.

I'm sure there's also somthing similar in Germany, but I can't think of one on top of my head.