French Despair
Conservative French websites and blogs are certainly numerous, but compared to what was available when I began GalliaWatch in February 2006, they have diminished surprisingly. Three years ago there was much more talk, more heated discussion at the forums and message boards, more sources of news and commentary than today. Possibly there was too much, and it was inevitable that some sites would fall by the wayside, but the main reason for the decrease seems to be discouragement, if not despair on the part of bloggers who saw their hopes dashed with the election of Nicolas Sarkozy, the blunders of Jean-Marie Le Pen, and the virtual uselessness of individuals like Philippe de Villiers who promised so much, but did not follow through.
Now, the Swiss-based Alain Jean-Mairet, who used to contribute to the defunct Bafweb site before starting his own website, has thrown in the towel. His last post from July entitled "Gone Fishing" led me to think he was merely on vacation. Not so. He left this message in the comment section:
The carps are telling me that nothing will prevent the fall of Europe – the people who could have changed this outcome have waited too long. And the salmon too cannot make out a precise course to follow in order to traverse the next decades head held high. It will be a tempest – rivers will leave their beds, winds will blow in all directions and it will be the instinctive and intuitive decisions, more so than strategies, politicians and ideologies that will save, or not, the people caught in the storm.
And so I advise those willing to listen to look within themselves, and to prepare to use more often and more intensely their conscience and their courage. And the only concrete action, the only culture that seems to me worthy of promoting, is that of encouraging people to love one another, to have children, to love them, to resolve to fix as a primordial goal that of giving your children a better chance than what we give them today. We must place all of our bets on the future.
This blog is ended. No more comments will be published.
Alain Jean-Mairet is (or was) the French translator of Daniel Pipes. I assume he will continue in that capacity.
Without providing active links, here are some of the fine blogs that have ceased publication: France-Echos, Occidentalis, Vox Galliae, Amor Patriae, Via-Resistancia, Limes, Instinct de Survie, Bafweb, and now Alain Jean-Mairet.
Some of the contributors to the above blogs are still writing or commenting at various websites. But the great ferment of activity that used to be there has been seriously diluted.
Notwithstanding all that, I still have a plethora of excellent blogs to choose from: François Desouche, Le Salon Beige, Yves Daoudal, Bernard Antony, Le Conservateur, Gérard Pince, to name a few.
The question we all have to ask ourselves, especially now that Obama is president, is: Is it worth it? I have experienced great difficulty these past three or four months staying motivated, and overcoming fatigue. I believe I have been suffering from 'blogger burnout" – a term I am coining, although possibly it has been used – but I do not yet intend to stop. A lot will depend on what happens in the world.
As I write this, a gigantic and ecstatic crowd in Chicago (mostly white, but including Oprah), waving American flags, has gathered to hear their hero. Now, fasten your seat belts, pour a martini, and become a spectator on the endlessly amazing scene of humanity intent on satisfying its delusions...
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