Friday, July 14, 2006

Happy Bastille Day!

Things have been a little bit rough between France and the U.S.A. for a while now, but I think it's important that we recognize that France has indeed made some real contributions to the world. Some examples:

Dark roasted coffee and fine chocolates

Charlolais and Limousin beef cattle

Say and Bastiat in political economy

Hundreds of different cheeses

Baguette

Multi-shipped "Gothic" churches (e.g. Notre Dame with seven "ships," or areas between support columns, or Chartres)

And no, not French Fries. They're actually Belgian. That said, however, when I look at some very real cultural accomplishments from Gaul, I must call my self a cheese eating surrender blogger today.

And one final contribution? The trebuchet, and in honor of that, I'm using that font today. What it has to do with the medieval siege engine is beyond me, but I got caught up in the spirit.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate to spoil the party, but Bastille Day is also the day thr French commemorate the French Revolution, one of the most secular takeovers ever. Christians were literally ran out of the nation, many were murdered. It was truly a sad time.

Yet, I still appreciate a good Burgundy from time to time.

Bike Bubba said...

Too right--to this day, you can see bullet marks in Notre Dame from where the revolutionaries de-consecrated her to be a temple of reason. I would simply hope that, by mentioning France's glories, we might reduce the impact of her faults.