If you invite a Frenchman to have a Big Mac at MacDonalds he will snort[1] “Merde! Fast Food! Pour quoi? Why not take three hours over a leisurely lunch, washed down with liberal helpings of fine, vintage, wine and follow that with an afternoon nap? And, what’s more, if you try and make me work more than 32 hours a week, I’ll roll out the barricades and burn down a few public buildings”. It seems to me, this attitude personifies Frenchness, and what’s more, it’s an attitude that I consider entirely laudable and one we may all do well to emulate. The fact is that the French exist on a high fat diet topped with liberal helpings of Foie gras, excessive consumption of alcohol and a healthy disregard for the warnings on the side of their cigarette packets and yet they are slimmer than us, healthier and live longer lives. To what can we attribute this apparent anomaly? I’d like to explore this in this last essay of the series.
In Britain we live in a society that is driven to consume, indeed our worth as individuals in society is largely determined by our spending power. We subscribe, if you like, to the “American Dream” namely: we can all be famous, get rich, have a better-paid job, a nicer house, a bigger car, a more satisfied, fulfilled, family. All it takes is a little application, a lucky break or a lot of hard work. We devote ourselves to the “Dream” to the point of obsession. A glance at our TV programmes is salutary: Who Wants to be a Millionaire; The X Factor; The National Lottery Jet Set. We have developed an unhealthy fascination with the houses we live in and what they’re worth – Location, Location, Location, Property Ladder, etc. etc. ad nauseum infest the channel listings. A house is for living in – not just an investment – you can’t live in a cheque book. UK house price inflation has set prospective mortgagees on a treadmill to the delight of both employers and property speculators. The British Homebuyer spends over 50% of household income on a mortgage.
We have whole channels devoted to shopping. We worship the Cult of Celebrity. Mindless so called celebs who lack talent, wisdom and sincerity and whose only claim to fame lies with their ability to maintain themselves in the public eye by profligate consumption and outrageous public behaviour. Britney Spears and Paris Hilton have problems with drugs and alcohol and how to spend their millions. Ooo! Poor things – frankly I don’t give a s***! Are these people suitable role models for our children and future generations?
We fuel the “Dream” by working long hours in low-paid, dead-end jobs. We lack the time, energy or imagination to cook proper healthy meals preferring instead fast food takeaways or supermarket ready meals. We have given up on spending quality time with our families leading to marital break-up, divorce and family fragmentation. No wonder then we need to build 3,000,000 affordable houses. We flop in front of mindless TV screens at the end of a long day – we forget to reflect on our lives. We don’t know how to relax any more. We miss the point that the fun of the trip might be the journey not the destination.
It’s my contention that the American Dream is a lie. It has led to the enslavement of huge swathes of the world’s population. Coca-Colonialism, globalisation and the drive towards a consumer society has infected cultures across the globe and eroded traditional values and beliefs. Everything has to be American, sanitised, standardised. Everything the same wherever you are. Why? We pay lip service to ideas of cultural and ethnic diversity while allowing ourselves to be ridden over roughshod by the world’s multi-national corporations. If I go to Japan I want to eat Sushi, Spain – Paella, France – Moules Mariniere – I want us to celebrate diversity – immerse ourselves in it.
So what are the effects of the “Dream” on the good old British public? Are we happier? More fulfilled? Better adapted to our environment? I could leave you to answer these questions for I’m sure you’re aware of the answers – but I’m going to carry on anyway – it’s catharsis you see – getting it out of my system. The fact is that we have become a stressed, overweight and ultimately unfulfilled society – the “Dream” is unobtainable for the majority of our citizens, meaning that most of us will never realise our ultimate goals. We’re driven towards the achievement of what we can never achieve. This has led to the fragmentation of society and a breakdown in family life. I used to wish for a society that was judged on the way it treated its poor, its dispossessed, its strangers, its vulnerable, its old – indeed I still do but now this society seems further off than ever, concomitant as it is on the accumulation of wealth. Even the USA the most powerful nation on earth cannot deliver a fair and equitable society for all.
In my student days at St Andrews, as an International Socialist, the war cry was “Come the Revolution” but the revolution never came. Capitalism triumphed in the Cold War and for the time being that was that. But now we’re entering a new era – the ballpark is changing – tilting - there are new players, as the emerging Asian economies compete for scant resources. The price of oil has risen above $100 a barrel. If China calls in the USA’s accumulated debt we’ll be faced with another Wall Street Crash and Great Depression. The cracks are already showing, ever heard of the US Sub-Prime Mortgage Market? The recognition of the need for more sustainable economies, that resources are finite and that the carrying capacity of the planet is already compromised will inevitably mean a reduction in the availability of what we consume at all socio-economic levels. What now the “American Dream?” Will the populace be bereft? Having sacrificed a good deal of our cultural identity and traditional values how will we cope with this Brave New World? What new gods will we follow? Can we re-create what is broken and lost?
I hope you’re not expecting answers – I’ve far more questions than answers but I’d like to speculate on what the future might hold. Back to our hypothetical Frenchman – he seems to be doing something right – while we spend over 50% of our income on our house he spends 50% of his on dinner – he lives to live not to secure some notional future that may never happen. He’s relaxed and confident. He realises that we get but once time on this earth and he’s resolved to enjoy it. His strength is his Frenchness - his sense of belonging – his cultural identity – this has served as a bulwark against the advance of the American Dream. He retains many of his traditional values but the rest of the world perceives him as surly, parochial and nationalistic. I guess this is just jealousy on our part. I deliberately selected a Frenchman for this example but all over Europe, particularly the Mediterranean Fringe, there exist enclaves of resistance to the Dream. The tragedy for the UK was that post war governments turned their eyes towards America rather than joining wholeheartedly in the European Community.
So what will a post- consumer society select as core values? Well the only way through the transition is education, educating the populace to consume less without compromising their ability to enjoy life to the full. Personally I’m not impressed by power or wealth, indeed I think money is rather vulgar once you’ve got enough to service your needs, but I consider education, learning and scholarship as beyond price. Culture clearly will fulfil a key role – pride in one’s Scottishness perhaps or indeed one’s Europeaness – a sense of belonging to a tribe. An inclusive society every individual valued – everybody inside looking out not freezing at the gates looking in. Family values restored? Well it’s difficult to put the toothpaste back in the tube – but efforts to effect a more equitable society certainly wouldn’t go amiss. Sport, leisure, recreation – healthy living – healthy eating – a role for all in society – why not? Music, art, dance, theatre, literature, poetry - will these figure large in coping strategies? As I said earlier I don’t know the answers but I know there are some pretty smart people out there. Perhaps the legislators, movers and shakers, powerful men and women from all walks of life can forge a blueprint for our rapidly changing world.
And what of you and me – the common man? Will you be instrumental in choosing your future? We need to participate not accumulate. What future will you create? Will it be business as usual? Or will it be life in the pink – La Vie en Rose?
John Salter 08/11/07
[1] Why is it we British always refer to Frenchmen as “snorting” when they reply to a question?
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