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Reader comment on:
McDonald's Takes Paris
in response to reader comment: "Gallic disdain"

Submitted by Kyle, Jul 6, 2007 08:10

Consumerization. Capitalization. Market saturation. Fast-food nation. Not much romantic about lines of sweaty Americans herded in like cattle at the gates to get their sausage-like fingers on some salty, greasy french fries and the lettuce-filled ode-to-cholesterol known as the Big Mac. That being said, in principle (the term being used in contradistinction to being anti-american "in principle"), Americans are not to be loathed or thought of paternalistically by those who (usually rightly) know better. We should all wish that our fellow humans would jump a few rungs on the evolutionary ladder every once in the while. but as we see from history, this takes fortuitous preconditions (like those found in classical Athens, which, after all, relied on slave labor) or remarkable brutality (as Stalinist attempts to turn peasants into Soviets proved). Blessed American exceptionalism, in contrast, has forged a creature content with his gourmandian tastes, salacious interests, and ham-fisted greed. No, Americans are exotically mundane creatures - at turns obnoxious, patriotic, vapid or all three at once. Despite being an American I can yet sympathize with French animosity towards our culture. I simply wish Frenchmen would not let such stereotyping interfere with the cooperative pursuit of mutual interests. As far as anti-French sentiment goes, I have plenty of cannon fodder at my disposal to wither a Gallic opponent in a "lesser-of-two-evils" argument. But since both France and the US face the Herculean task of "updating" primitive cultures before they explode in pyretic nationalistic fury - globalization, again, is not all a glass of beaujolais- we best both get on with making the world a safer and better place. McDonald's is the least of France's worries -the barbarians have entered the gate and have commenced to burning the Peugeots.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.

Other reader comments on this article

Comment By Date

I love McDonalds it is the best fast food restuarnt in the world!!!!!!!!!!!! [MORE]

Ashley

Dec 12, 2007 13:46

Because I live here, and because I was raised in New York, I find myself forraging about for traces of... [MORE]

MATTHEW ROSE

Jul 12, 2007 04:57

i want the characteristics of mcdonalds company [MORE]

ell

Jul 10, 2007 00:49

This line about a Munich, Germany, McDonald's pretty much indicates what is happening to Germany as well as to Western... [MORE]

Bob J.

Jul 6, 2007 20:25

Editor: If you think the French "love" McDonald's you obviously have spent very little time in France. [MORE]

Daniel Guenzel

Jul 6, 2007 10:06

This is not surprising since pro-Americanism is forced upon Europeans nowadays from about kindergarten years, or even before. The situation... [MORE]

Alphysicist

Jul 6, 2007 05:31

Wow. I don't know how you've come to interpret things the way you have, but what you describe is not... [MORE]

Valerie

Jul 15, 2007 13:02

Easy to understand. They are providing food that appeals to local people rather than the same old plan developed in... [MORE]

Frank

Jul 4, 2007 01:23

I am really surprised at the increase in sales. The local Mickey D's has gotten my order wrong 11 out... [MORE]

bikerbob

Sep 26, 2007 18:42

On-target about the food, which has done well in many parts of France (and there are local French restaurant chains,... [MORE]

Michael

Jul 3, 2007 14:11

On the article in general, I did find it very interesting if not a little worrisome that France, a stalwart... [MORE]

Matt

Jul 4, 2007 02:55

Consumerization. Capitalization. Market saturation. Fast-food nation. Not much romantic about lines of sweaty Americans herded in like cattle at the...

Kyle

Jul 6, 2007 08:10

You honestly want to try to make other people believe that you've never been on the receiving end of French... [MORE]

Valerie

Jul 15, 2007 12:48

...but then, 35+ years would be a long time for pure luck alone to hold up. I don't expect to... [MORE]

Michael

Jul 15, 2007 17:23

Well, thanks for that answer. You've been living a charmed life. And, no, my personal experience won't be changing until I... [MORE]

Valerie

Jul 16, 2007 13:11

Will McDonald's Inc. please makeover the restaurants in the United States. The garish red and yellow monstrosities that pollute the... [MORE]

Don Elote

Jul 3, 2007 10:08

Which is it? [MORE]

Machida1

Jul 4, 2007 13:32

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