| 61. "The French are immoral. They are morally decayed." That is a very broad and vague statement. How can it be proved ? The French, like many other European peoples, are far less Puritanical than we are in their manners, love-making, conversation and conduct. Europeans often say we Americans aren a young and "unsophisticated" nation ; we retort that they are old and "immoral". Their morality differs from ours on certain matters. Whether it is less "moral" or more "uninhibited" depends on your point of view. Don't judge France by the Montmartre: the Montmartre caters to foreign tourists in search of the risque. France is a very devout nation. It has a religious Catholic population (only one million Frenchmen are Protestants). The French have a very strong family system, a very low divorce rate, and a much lower crime rate than we do. From the American point of view, what is more important than anyone's manners or customs are the things he believes in and fights for. In this sense, we agree with the idea of Thomas Jefferson: "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." For over 900 years France has been one of the greant civilizations of the world. "Within the framework of the Third Republic.. there lived and flourished a civilization so brilliant, so human, so gracious and beautiful, that mankind will be in its debt forever... When free men look back upon this Republic, they will remember... the artists and thinkers, the poets, musicians, and scientists who made France a temple of the Western spirit." (New York Times.) |