Is economic progress necessarily preferable to cultural conservation? In the countryside of France, the last century has been dominated by a struggle between the impulse of modernity and a desire to preserve a way of life that many people find absolutely perfect in stasis, balanced and harmonious, its preservation worth sacrificing for. For many of them, going from 5 weeks of vacation a year to 2 weeks, trading their local (expensive) tomatoes for Wal-Mart's cheap and nearly tasteless ones, means trading the best life has to offer in exchange for increased productivity growth. I agree that Wal-Mart is much better for society and for our economy — especially for low-income people — than its detractors care to admit. But the larger philosophical point seems to me ultimately a normative dilemma, and I just don't know how best to resolve it. As France grows slowly to accept the failure of its social and economic model, it may be resigning itself to the end of la France des villages. That makes them very sad, and me too.
Brave New Wal-Mart
Thursday September 14, 2006
Uh-oh, Mario Loyola over at The Corner is demonstrating dangerous crunchy-con tendencies:
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Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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Didn't I read somewhere that their economy (and unemployment) contributed to the riots not so long ago?>
The problem is that the farmers make everyone else pay for their lifestyle. Not just other French people but other EU members through the Common Agricultural Policy. The exploitation is opposite to Wal-Mart's kind.>
We all like our things, but we envy those who haven't lost what used to be. Slow life, sitting on the porch, listening to the birds/crickets, surrounded by nature, watching the kids tumble in the grass, sweet strawberries, tasty tomatoes, barefeet......sigh.>
CS - their economy also contributed to the revolution back in 1789. A good number of heads rolled.
The "Ownership Class" should remeber that.>
It's a nice posting, thanks for pointing it out. "The failure of the French economic and social model" does seem more than a bit strong, though. France circa 1945 was a ruin. Circa 1980, it was going strong. That's an impressive recovery. It has run into some challenges since, god knows, but only in certain minds do these challenges constitute a verdict of "failure." French culture and French life offer lots and lots we could learn from, and life a la francaise delivers lots and lots in the way of deep satisfaction. All those English who have been buying up French country properties by the hundreds of thousands aren't doing it because the French thang is a failure, believe me.
Besides, America doesn't have its challenges and problems? Do we judge ourselves a "failure" because life here isn't perfect in every way?>
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