Balzac immense writer of the 19th century, wrote a novel called "Lost Illusion"
a moment in the novel he writes this
"The Journal, instead of being a priesthood, has become a means for parties; from a means, it has become a trade; and like all trades, it is without faith or law. Every newspaper is, as Blondet says, a shop where they sell to the public words of whatever color they want them. If there existed a journal of hunchbacks, it would prove night and morning the beauty, the goodness, the necessity of hunchbacks. A journal is no longer made to enlighten but to flatter opinions.
Thus, all the newspapers will be, in a given time, cowards, hypocrites, infamous, liars, assassins; they will kill ideas, systems, men, and will flourish for that very reason. They will have the benefit of all beings of reason: the evil will be done without anyone being guilty of it. I will be Vignon, you will be Lousteau, you Blondet, you Finot, of the Aristides, of the Platos, of the Catos, of the men of Plutarch; we will all be innocent, we can wash our hands of all infamy.
Napoleon gave the reason for this moral or immoral phenomenon, as you will please, in a sublime phrase dictated to him by his studies on the Convention: Collective crimes do not bind anyone. The newspaper can afford the most atrocious conduct, no one thinks they are personally sullied by it. "
Vous etes tres gentil. That is about where my limitation is though, I haven’t had much opportunity to practice since then, and without knowing how to do accents on a phone keyboard that could lead to a lot of misunderstanding.
What you know is already very good. My English is also very limited and I sometimes misunderstand things, which usually leads to amazing Asse conversations lol.
There is enough medieval French in English that I’m sure you’ll do just fine. You are doing great so far as I can tell. When I was at university to do my undergrad degree in English Literature, I had to take a course which included Law French in Middle English and had to read about the influence of The Song of Roland and how it influenced language development, as well as stories such as The Green Knight and the Lais of Marie De France.
Oh was that what gave it away🤣 Yes, American. I probably would not have heard of le Chanson de Roland if I didn’t study it in university, as it is not generally taught in public schools.
Looks beautiful. My city…not so much. Ever since boomers sold their children and grand children out to China for quick profits and cheap labor in the 1980’s, my city has been losing population and businesses. We used to be involved in a lot of heavy industry (Xerox, Kodak, Bausch and Lomb, Rochester Carburetors (used by many GM vehicles worldwide for decades) and Gleason Works all once called Rochester home) but sending jobs and sometimes even whole factories overseas has destroyed what once was a thriving city. Now it’s in the top ten for homicide nationwide, but that’s about it. I know better than to try to compete with a French city for beauty.
Well, I'm sure there are many beautiful cities in the US, and everything is much bigger in your country.
For the industrial questions I understand you and I can imagine the difficulty that it causes.
However, not at the level of your city according to what you describe to me, but at the national level, the USA is still the richest country, the most powerful at the military level and the most advanced in terms of technology.
Apparently we can make a good nuclear missile but we can’t refine diesel fuel? Which one gets used more often?
I understand France went a different direction in the 1980’s to solve manufacturing difficulties; where the US sent production jobs overseas for cheaper labor, French companies brought cheaper labor into France. Both plans seem to have failed. I don’t know how much longer we are going to be the richest country in the world at the rate national leaders keep war mongering, giving away money, and signing impossibly stupid trade deals with foreign enemies.
