France, Olympic champion of discontent?
The cliché about our bad mood or our pessimism will not have resisted the Paris 2024 Games. Nor escaped the foreign press.
For Alberto Toscano, an Italian journalist stationed in Paris since 1986, this “bashing” (“collective denigration” in English) remains “very French” behavior, even a national sport.
“Some French people never miss an opportunity to criticize what is happening, with an attitude somewhere between arrogance and snobbery,” analyzes this contributor to Radio Radicale in Rome.
There is this intellectual side, among some, who do not like sport, who cultivate their elitism and give lessons to the people without mixing with them.
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The British journalist Philip Turle also sees in this denigration the sign of “a very French nostalgia”.
“France is still a little torn between its pride and its fear of change,” said the international columnist at France 24. “We feel the French are delighted to have the Games, but there is always a problem.
They complain about the works, the constructions… Deep down, we feel they are happy to have these Games and to complain.
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