In Need of 'Respect, Team Spirit, Pride, and Dignity' (Again).

I love France, despite the hideous character flaws of its youth. But I have to agree with French education minister Luc Chatel, who sums it up with brutal frankness:

"For me, as a supporter of the team, I'm obviously very disappointed. As a citizen I'm truly indignant by what has gone on, and as minister for education I am terribly angry," Luc Chatel told Canal Plus television.

Chatel said the squad had lacked "respect, team spirit, pride and enough dignity to wear the shirt of any club, from the smallest local side to that of the French national team."

A quotation from Raymond Aron about another famous French collapse may be worth repeating: "I lived through the thirties in the despair of French decline.... In essence, France no longer existed. It existed only in the hatred of the French for one another."

Comments

[oncyophaga]

According to the June issue of "Psychologie Heute", a European study of 15 countries showed that only the French (and btw. the Portugese) are more unhappy and discontent with their lifes than we (i.e. Germans). Categories chosen were (pls. excuse poor translation)
- happiness subjectively felt
- satifaction with one's life
- agree with one's standard of living
- satisfaction with level of democracy in respective country

[Véronique]

If only Luc Chatel had been angry when the French president himself insulted a citizen, the French Interior Minister proffered a racist insult for which he has been condemned since, without any consequences on his career, etc. It's not only the French football team which is rotten in France.