A tale of two cultures. While a sober, relaxed British middle class man reacts to the cuts by making tea in a kitchen with sunlight streaming through the window and his adoring cat looking up at him, a Frenchman with hunched shoulders reacts by making a Molotov cocktail in his poorly-lit kitchen overshadowed by his neighbours, with an empty wine glass and even a lighted cigarette close by (that’s how stupid he is). Such is the implication in this cartoon from today’s Independent. It is difficult to imagine such a crude stereotype of any non-European racial group coupled with an implication of white British superiority being printed in a newspaper that prides itself on its liberalism.
A search of Le Monde shows just one reference to a Molotov cocktail in recent days:
A Montpellier, un lycée a été la cible de jets de cocktails Molotov, provoquant 200 000 euros de dégâts, selon la région. (In Montpellier Molotov cocktails were thrown at a secondary school causing 200,000 euros worth of damage according to the regional authorities.)
That is most certainly to be regretted but one incident is hardly a basis for a cultural or racial stereotype. However, as I have mentioned before, the Independent has form for this kind of thing.
Recent Comments