A Frenchman who loves America


"Bernard-Henri Lévy hates the Iraq war, but loves America. "
Tunku Varadarajan does a great profile on Bernard-Henri Lévy. I didn't know who he was either, but I have to say I like how he thinks.

"In France, with the nation based on roots, on the idea of soil, on a common memory . . . the very existence of America is a mystery and a scandal." This is a particular source of pain, Mr. Lévy says, for "the right." Contrary to what is thought generally, he insists, anti-Americanism "migrated to the left, to the Communist Party, but its origins are on the extreme right." America gives the French right "nightmares," as the country is based on "a social contract. America proves that people can gather at a given moment and decide to form a nation, even if they come from different places." The "ghost that has haunted Europe for two centuries"--and which gives fuel, to this day, to anti-Americanism there--"is America's coming together as an act of will, of creed. It shows that there is an alternative to organic nations."

Good stuff. I plan to buy the book.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Sat - January 21, 2006 at 03:41 AM  Tag


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