Panderstan

The M.O. of those who feel themselves superior in their enlightenment is normally expressed in berating a straw man. Had I kept a journal of number of unsolicited lectures, attempted proviked one-sided arguments, mumbled backhand comments, and the like that I’ve heard about the US over the years (and decades before 9-11,) it would read like a prison psychiatrist’s case book.

Without irony L’État has published a 65 page guide on how to not bear down on a foreigner’s neck for things one would like associated with their nation. The rub is that it involves Chinese visitors to France.

PARIS: Here is a French government tip on how best to do business with the Chinese: Do not mention Tibet, Taiwan or the Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

The advice, offered in a new guide co-produced by France's Tourism Ministry and its tourism promotion agency, has provoked sharp criticism from human rights and free Tibet campaigners.

The 65-page guide, "Chinese tourists: How best to welcome them?" is designed to help French businesses tap into the boom in Chinese tourism by offering an array of do's and don'ts.

Do put out soy sauce and chili paste so Chinese tourists can spice up French dishes, "which they can find bland," says the guide that Tourism Minister Leon Bertrand launched last month.

What if they were at Tiananmin square, were Tiawanese, or a member of Falun Gong? Where’s the guide to pandering to them?

Frothing, dissembled nonsense about an amalgamation of gripes involving a connection between the Warren Commission Report, Climate Change®™©, Gitmo, Cuban Cigars, SUV’s, Alcoholism on the Reservation, rubbish rural ways combined with an ignorance of nature, Le ‘Amboorger, and Georges Boooch, are, quite naturally, naturally exempt, even though your garden variety Parisian wouldn’t know one tree from a lamp-post, and can’t conceive of anyone not living like them unless they’re among the ‘picturesque’ oppressed that they imagine want to be colonized all over again with terms like ‘social justice’ and ‘same-sex-marriage’.

A spokeswoman for France's League of Human and Citizens' Rights, Elisabeth Alles, called the guide's political tip "completely scandalous." Marcelle Roux, head of the campaign group France Tibet, called it "shameful."

The guide's cover bears the logos of the French tourism promotion agency — Maison de la France — and of the Ministry of Transport, Equipment, Tourism and of the Sea, with the slogan of the French republic, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity."

Franck Paillard, vice director of communication for Maison de la France, defended the guide's political tip, but acknowledged that the aim was to avoid subjects that could anger Chinese visitors.

As usual, some League of n’import quoi berating people as a matter of course is just the usual background noise. It’s the idea of leaving a tourist alone is the motive behind the pamphlet. If it wouldn’t meet with a torrent ot fake public denial, they’d likely try to get the village smurfs to be marginally civilized to Les Anglo-Saxons, whoever the hell they are.

As for the motives behind the booklet, they are entirely economic, and about twenty years too late. The free-market thinkers of the world have developed a kinship with the Chinese aspiring for freedom and prosperity years ago. As for the throwbacks left among them, well, you can keep ‘em.

- With thanks for the tip from Jeorg.