Historian, Maxime Tandonnet is the author of numerous works, including
History of the Presidents of the Republic
(ed. Perrin, 2013).
Panem et circenses.
Escapism through gambling is undoubtedly as old as civilization itself and it would be in bad taste to despise the enthusiasm of part of the planet for the football world cup which ended on Sunday December 18 in Qatar, as a diversion from his anxieties and his sufferings of the moment.
The Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan, prophet of globalization, announced in the early 1970s the emergence of a “global village”.
To use his famous formula, we are now at the
“planetary stadium”
.
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However, if the passion for football is a normal and easily understandable phenomenon – collective escape in a globalized context –, the excesses to which this passion, which has become a real religion – or idolatry – raise many questions.
Thus, a controversy rages on social networks about the attitude of President Macron after the final lost by France on Sunday.
The latter is accused of
"devaluing the function"
.
Vain and permanent criticism: no function has any “value” in itself in a democracy, where only the political choices which proceed from it and the results obtained should count.
No doubt this accusation is as excessive as the nationalist surge (in the past we spoke of chauvinism but the word has gone out of fashion) around this emblematic competition of the globalization of passions.
With this emblematic gesture, the current President of the Republic abolishes the barrier between politics and the game or the sporting spectacle.
Maxime Tandonnet
Apart from any spirit of value judgment or controversy, the attitude of the French head of state on this occasion is revealing of the evolution of the presidential institution.
So, after the lost final of the World Cup in Qatar, the President of the Republic descended on the lawn to console the French players.
He showed particular attention to the best player in the France team, Kylian Mbappé, allowing admirers of the Head of State to praise his "
beautiful gesture
".
However, this is the first time (it seems) that a head of state or government of a European country descends on the lawn to mingle closely with the post-match antics of the players during a competition of this level.
At the end of the July 1998 victory, President Chirac had strongly expressed his joy, but he had not (from memory) descended on the lawn at the end of the match in the middle of the players.
With this emblematic gesture, the current President of the Republic abolishes the barrier between politics and the game or the sporting spectacle.
This involvement of the Head of State is a transgression.
He no longer positions himself as a privileged observer or supporter, but as an essential post-match player, that is to say, indirectly as a virtual player in the match that has just ended.
Media sport is thus entirely confused with the exercise of political communication.
Kylian Mbappé's grief is perfectly dignified and legitimate.
The defeat is always bitter especially after the exceptional performance achieved by the player.
But it deserves to be put into perspective.
Maxime Tandonnet
But we are well beyond simple political or electoral recovery (which moreover would make little sense knowing that President Macron is not re-eligible).
This gesture also goes beyond the desire to flee, in the footballing dream, the harshness of times, political chaos and the trials of life.
It is all this, but much more.
Through this gesture is accomplished the destiny of a presidential institution less and less turned towards political action, the concrete service of the common good of a Nation, and more and more towards the sublimation of a personality or its totemization.
The president intertwines his personal image with a phenomenon that is the epitome of planetary emotion.
It positions itself at the heart of the universal media sun.
The President of the Republic defined himself,
traditionally, as the embodiment of the national state.
By interfering in the center of the planetary spectacle, through his gesture of fraternity towards the players, he positions himself as the embodiment of universal emotion.
Kylian Mbappé's grief is perfectly dignified and legitimate.
The defeat is always bitter especially after the exceptional performance achieved by the player.
But it deserves to be put into perspective.
This grief is that of a man benefiting from a contract worth several hundred million euros over three years.
It is a sorrow without unhappiness.
Other inhabitants of this planet deserve at least as much consolation: the parents of the two hundred tortured young people massacred by the Ayatollahs' regime in Iran (only 1,000 kilometers from the great planetary celebration in Qatar);
those of the 450 children killed by the bombs of the war between Russia and Ukraine;
the Armenians annihilated by the barbarism of Azerbaijan;
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But no, universal emotion is concentrated, through the gesture of the Head of State, on one of the wealthiest men on the planet, however meritorious he may be for his talent.
Thus we have witnessed in recent days an impressive sign of the disorder of minds in a world which is flying away from the lights of thought, in other words, a world given over to idolatry.