15 min
Reading the Globe #013: Éric Zemmour, CRT, Book-Burning and the Tet Offensive Reading the Globe: A weekly digest of the most important news, ideas and culture around the world.
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- News Commentary
Zemmour Rising
One of the most widely reported phenomena on the French political scene is the rise in opinion polls of Éric Zemmour, who looks set to rival the incumbent president, Emmanuel Macron, in next April’s election. While Zemmour has decided views on many issues, he opposes unchecked immigration above all as an existential threat to France.
Zemmour has long been a fringe figure. Some know him as an essayist who states in a polemical form certain of the themes, ideas, and messages found in the work of the enfant terrible of French letters, Michel Houellebecq.
An article by Angelique Chrisafis in theGuardian Weekly’s October 15 edition, “From pundit to president? The far-right rise of Eric Zemmour,” quotes two sources who are fiercely hostile to Zemmour. Stanford University Professor Cécile Alduy tells the Guardian that Zemmour’s message is not new but that it is quite unprecedented for someone espousing such views to gain the platform that Zemmour has acquired. The article also quotes French comedian Yassine Belattar calling Zemmour a provocateur and making the questionable assertion that never before in history has racism run so high.
Radical Fist-Pumping as Education
An article in the Economist’s October 23 issue, entitled “Race and class,” (paywalled) denounces the moves that eight U.S. states have made to ban critical race theory from public school curricula, and makes a case for ethnic studies lessons. The Economist details how San Francisco’s school district launched an ethnic studies pilot program in 2010-2011, relying heavily on faculty of San Francisco State University. The article cites findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that purport to show that the implementation of ethnic studies curricula in San Francisco schools has had positive effects. The same Economist article reports findings of Sade Bonilla of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and her colleagues purporting to show that the program boosted high-school attendance by six to seven percentage points and also had an effect on graduation rates. But perhaps the most significant finding reported in the article is the UMass researchers’ claim of a higher GPA for those who have enrolled in ethnic studies courses.
The radical educators have the last laugh. The Economist notes that California plans to make ethnic studies a requirement for graduation throughout the state by 2030.
Books Are Burning
When published in 1953, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 stood as a warning about where consumerism, instant gratification, and anti-intellectualism might lead. It depicts a dystopia where corps of firemen make the rounds, not putting out fires but gathering whatever books they can find and setting them ablaze.
From our vantage point in 2021, the awful truth is that Fahrenheit 451 is a more literal prophecy than readers, critics, and maybe even the novel’s own author believed it to be. Yes, ideologues and fanatics are burning books. One example cited in my recent review for Book and Film Globe is a book-burning organized in Ontario in 2019 as part of a supposed effort at reconciliation with indigenous people who have been the victim of racist stereotyping in the past. And more...
Zemmour Rising
One of the most widely reported phenomena on the French political scene is the rise in opinion polls of Éric Zemmour, who looks set to rival the incumbent president, Emmanuel Macron, in next April’s election. While Zemmour has decided views on many issues, he opposes unchecked immigration above all as an existential threat to France.
Zemmour has long been a fringe figure. Some know him as an essayist who states in a polemical form certain of the themes, ideas, and messages found in the work of the enfant terrible of French letters, Michel Houellebecq.
An article by Angelique Chrisafis in theGuardian Weekly’s October 15 edition, “From pundit to president? The far-right rise of Eric Zemmour,” quotes two sources who are fiercely hostile to Zemmour. Stanford University Professor Cécile Alduy tells the Guardian that Zemmour’s message is not new but that it is quite unprecedented for someone espousing such views to gain the platform that Zemmour has acquired. The article also quotes French comedian Yassine Belattar calling Zemmour a provocateur and making the questionable assertion that never before in history has racism run so high.
Radical Fist-Pumping as Education
An article in the Economist’s October 23 issue, entitled “Race and class,” (paywalled) denounces the moves that eight U.S. states have made to ban critical race theory from public school curricula, and makes a case for ethnic studies lessons. The Economist details how San Francisco’s school district launched an ethnic studies pilot program in 2010-2011, relying heavily on faculty of San Francisco State University. The article cites findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that purport to show that the implementation of ethnic studies curricula in San Francisco schools has had positive effects. The same Economist article reports findings of Sade Bonilla of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and her colleagues purporting to show that the program boosted high-school attendance by six to seven percentage points and also had an effect on graduation rates. But perhaps the most significant finding reported in the article is the UMass researchers’ claim of a higher GPA for those who have enrolled in ethnic studies courses.
The radical educators have the last laugh. The Economist notes that California plans to make ethnic studies a requirement for graduation throughout the state by 2030.
Books Are Burning
When published in 1953, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 stood as a warning about where consumerism, instant gratification, and anti-intellectualism might lead. It depicts a dystopia where corps of firemen make the rounds, not putting out fires but gathering whatever books they can find and setting them ablaze.
From our vantage point in 2021, the awful truth is that Fahrenheit 451 is a more literal prophecy than readers, critics, and maybe even the novel’s own author believed it to be. Yes, ideologues and fanatics are burning books. One example cited in my recent review for Book and Film Globe is a book-burning organized in Ontario in 2019 as part of a supposed effort at reconciliation with indigenous people who have been the victim of racist stereotyping in the past. And more...
15 min