Apres le jour

[tealin]

So ... what was up with Bastille Day this year?

I mean, not in France; obviously there were parades and fireworks and stuff. I mean in the U.S. of A. I never remember this much attention being paid to Bastille Day outside of 'Learning about the culture is just as important as learning the language' bloody useless French class. Did I just never notice it before? Is it a California thing?* Or is it, as I cynically suspect, because we have a new administration and thus it's OK to not hate France anymore so anyone with an international perspective is celebrating this by overcompensating?

*very much doubt this

Comments

[noodledaddy.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, like NPR took marching orders from G. Bush.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

They do pick up on popular sentiment, if it is pervasive enough to reach to the collective subconscious of the folks who run the circus ... I can easily see them running pieces mocking the anti-French nomenclature of Freedom Fries while at the same time gradually, unconsciously, forgetting France exists. Besides, plenty of media organizations you decry as 'liberal' and 'anti-Republican' were gung-ho for the invasion of Iraq, at the time – I wasn't listening to NPR on account of being in Canada but it proves the press can shun its political prejudices to chase a story, or that it's run by human beings who are just as prone to mob psychology as the rest of us, take your pick.