it’s funny, i’ve been in paris for a few hours and all i’ve heard anyone talk about is jacques chirac and jean marie le pen.
it’s nice to hear the french being so passionate about politics. i remember a few months ago having dinner with some friends in paris and when the subject of politics came up they all seemed so bored and uninterested. well, everyone’s interested now. and you can see how much it hurts people to have voted for chirac. and when i ask ‘whats wrong with chirac?’ it seems like the answer is ‘he’s corrupt and dishonest.’
ah well. politics. why do we expect politicians to be noble and honest and wise and wonderful? 90% of the time politicians are moderately competent, very ambitious weirdos. i’m not being cynical, but politicians are rarely inspirational, and it’s odd that we are so often disappointed by them. it’s odd because you think that we would, for the most part, assume that politicians are going to be self-interested, moderately competent, ambitious weirdos. and it’s hard to be too disappointed by a self-interested, moderately competent, ambitious weirdo.
oh i sound so cynical. i’m not. i know that there are some really bright and wonderful politicians. but most politicians are, as i said, moderately competent and a bit weird. which is fine. as long as they’re not corrupt and malicious then we’re usually doing o.k, right?
i ate something icky on the plane and now i have a stomach ache. ‘the bee bit my bottom and now my bottom’s big’ -homer j.s. of course. but my stomach feels icky. maybe i’ll go eat soap.
moby