MILLER

[…] With all the modern psychology and psychiatry and the level of literacy higher than it ever was, we get less perspective on ourselves than at almost any time I know about. I have never been so aware of clique ideas overtaking people—fashions, for example—and sweeping them away, as though the last day of the world had come. One can sometimes point to a week or month in which things changed abruptly. It’s like women’s clothing in a certain issue of Vogue magazine. There is such a wish to be part of that enormous minority that likes to create new minorities. Yet people are desperately afraid of being alone.  

INTERVIEWER

Has our insight into psychology affected this?  

MILLER

It has simply helped people rationalize their situation, rather than get out of it, or break through it. In other words—you’ve heard it a hundred times—“Well, I am this type of person, and this type doesn’t do anything but what I’m doing.”

INTERVIEWER

Do you think the push toward personal success dominates American life now more than it used to?  

MILLER

I think it’s far more powerful today than when I wrote Death of a Salesman. I think it’s closer to a madness today than it was then. Now there’s no perspective on it at all.  

INTERVIEWER

Would you say that the girl in After the Fall is a symbol of that obsession?  

MILLER

Yes, she is consumed by what she does, and instead of it being a means of release, it’s a jail. A prison which defines her, finally. She can’t break through. In other words, success, instead of giving freedom of choice, becomes a way of life. There’s no country I’ve been to where people, when you come into a room and sit down with them, so often ask you, “What do you do?” And, being American, many’s the time I’ve almost asked that question, then realized it’s good for my soul not to know. For a while! Just to let the evening wear on and see what I think of this person without knowing what he does and how successful he is, or what a failure. We’re ranking everybody every minute of the day. 

Arthur Miller, The Art of Theater No. 2 Interviewed by Olga Carlisle and Rose Styron.

(Source: theparisreview.org)

According to Roland Gori (psychoanalyst and professor at Aix-Marseille I – State university), France’s ‘psyche’ is far from being reassuring in 2010. A recent State report has established a psychological diagnosis of the French today : French society is ‘’psychologically exhausted’.

Examples?

In a recent State report about 50% of the French population really believe that, in the future , they could end up being homeless.

78% also think that their children would be confronted in the future with very‘hard times’.

To make things simple , Mister Gori has noticed that the French ‘fear’ that their political (left and right-wing) leaders do not have the capacity to solve BASIC problems in a globalized world.

Actual social suffering has grown to such an extent that even experts and specialists are themselves perplex about the ‘ways’ to step out of this ‘mess’.

The Globilization-crisis has increased social uneasiness leading to an unprecedented moral-crisis.

The great majority of the inhabitants are ‘angry’ and ‘depressed’.Only the 10% at the summit of the social pyramid think all is well in this world. : their wealth has increased since 2007 thus causing an even greater ’ fracture sociale ’ in French society.

The great majority of the French now think the Hesd of State is the president of ’ la France des riches’. The middle class reallizes that the ’ gap ’ with ’ lower ‘social classes is decreasing rapidly.

‘Populism’ , democratic-election discredit and a great absence of charismatic and credible political leaders explain why France ,in part ,is heading towards a brand-new historical period,with no immediate exit.

Expats and future visitors must know that the majority of the French are still totally hostile to the capitalistic system in 2010.

Something an expat would never dare do, in public, would be to declare oneself ‘liberal’.

The term ‘liberal’ has become the insult for so many French people. The word ‘liberal’ is used in France to describe non-progressive social policies.

In the UK or in the States the term will qualify right-wing economic axioms.

The French talk of ’ neo-liberalism’ , of ’ ultra-liberalism’ or of ’ laissez-aller ’ liberalism.Who would admire Reagan or Thatcher among French politicians?

Gaullists view liberalism as a socially regressive philosophy.

When American neo-liberal advocates proclaim the inevitability of globalized economy and society, they find no echo-chamber in 21st centiry France. Except in the wealthy 10%. The French talk of other ways to cope with ‘capitalism’.

Since 2007, the Head of the French executive power tries to impose his vision of capitalism.Why does the French working -class world still refuse this economic doctrine ?

American ‘ economy ’ has become for many French an evil hydra : neo-liberalism, always greater competition , fast-profit funds , etc.

The majority of the French have no intention of adopting Globalization ’ Values ’ Criticism of this new economic ‘philosophy’ is found in the majority of French social classes .

The French civil servants are totally hostile to ’ liberalism ’ despite EU laws.

The world financial- crisis and recession first appeared , a few years ago , in a country France has been related to since the 18th century. A constant ‘love and hate affair’.

The pro-American presidential policy is not appreciated by the majority of the French, except UMP supporters found in upper classes most of the time.

One French habit : governments command a multitude of reports. But , nothing really changes in depth.

As visitors , we do hope you will have a very pleasant stay.

This short intro seeks to explain what a Turkish artist said recently about France : ‘’France is sad and grey’’.

Unlike inhabitants of other countries , the French lack what Britons call ‘fighting spirit’.

The recent soccer match between France and Eire shows how a ’ weak ’ team can be part of the South African Soccer World Cup : by cheating!

The UK and Eire have adapted themselves to this brand new world where struggle for survival is essential.

(Source: welcometofrance-web.com)

Against the suffering which may come upon one from human relationships the readiest safeguard is voluntary isolation, keeping oneself aloof from other people. The happiness which can be achieved along this path is, as we see, the happiness of quietness. Against the dreaded external world one can only defend oneself by some kind turning away from it, if one intends to solve the task by oneself. There is, indeed, another and better path: that of becoming a member of the human community, and, with the help of a technique guided by science, going over to the attack against nature and subjecting her to the human will. Then one is working with all for the good of all. But the most interesting methods of averting suffering are those which seek to influence our own organism. In the last analysis, all suffering is nothing else than sensation; it only exists in so far as we feel it, and we only feel it in consequence of certain ways in which our organism is regulated. The crudest, but also the most effective among these methods of influence is the chemical one — intoxication. […]

The service rendered by intoxicating media in the struggle for happiness and in keeping misery at a distance is so highly prized as a benefit that individuals and peoples alike have given them an established place in the economics of their libido. We owe to such media not merely the immediate yield of pleasure, but also a greatly desired degree of independence from the external world. For one knows that, with the help of this ‘drowner of cares’ one can at any time withdraw from the pressure of reality and find refuge in a world of one’s own with better conditions of sensibility. As is well known, it is precisely this property of intoxicants which also determines their danger and their injuriousness. They are responsible, in a certain circumstances, for the useless waste of a large quota of energy which might have been employed for the improvement of the human lot.

Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents (1930).