Bonjour! Today I continue to explore clichés about the civilizations on every continent of this planet. But instead of exploitation, let me take this opportunity to disabuse you of a cliché that hails from the fifth continent. This cliché is about the auk.
In cartoons, we see auks and penguins sharing the same ice, but in reality, they do not. First, auks live in the northern hemisphere and penguins in the southern hemisphere. Second, auks can fly and penguins cannot. It’s a great example of how we are born full of assumptions. It’s as if you, the American, are traveling in Europe and someone asks if you’re Canadian. You might be upset and answer, “Hey, guy! I’m not a lumberjack. Do I look like I’m wearing a plaid shirt and pants with suspenders? Furthermore, I don’t wrestle bears.”
Actually, I suppose I was born in a cabbage patch inside a garden full of clichés. In one little corner, I can find clichés about Asian civilizations, in another, African and in the middle, America is separated from Mexican clichés by a fence. It’s a veritable garden of clichés, and certainly no utopia.
However, I’m not pretentious enough to lecture you, even if my ego is bigger than Greece’s debt load. You’re free to question things yourself.
Let’s talk for a moment about politics. In fact, I was wondering about our ancestral heritage. At first sight, you may think absolute monarchy and current democracy are totally different. Gad! (Bollocks!) Think again. Plenty of democracies have serious problems with corruption. Indeed, most political parties are illegally subsidized by arms sales. We can’t but wonder if democracy didn’t create corruption. Indeed, absolute monarchies never have problems of corruption. Just ask Caesar. Okay, you can’t talk to Caesar, but if you could, he may have answered, “I already stole all of Europe’s money. Why would I steal my own cash? You’re crazy, buddy.” By the way, I know Caesar was an emperor, not a king. How many kings do you know except Burger King and Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings?
Then, the right of cuissage (“law of the first night”) isn’t a bygone idea, I don’t think. Take the Dominique Strauss-Kahn story, for example. It bears a striking similarity to Molière’s “Don Juan,” no? Buckle up and follow me. Don Juan wants to practice the ancient right of cuissage; he hunts for prey, which eventually gives in. He renders her defenseless with his seductive political and financial power. Does Don Juan not remind you of the erstwhile IMF boss?
Concerning the United States, I’d like to discuss the first Western movie that I watched, My Name is Nobody. I suppose these were my first images of America. Today, I ask myself, could America still exist in such a rustic state? Suburban gangs don’t ride horses, but they do drive roaring cars (which, incidentally, have horsepower). Was the Gold Rush simply supplanted by the conquest for oil? The sheriff is still here to maintain order in the county.
To conclude, we can’t ignore our heritage, we can’t forget our past. The only thing we know is that tomorrow is born in the garden of yesterday, laden with yesterday’s mistakes but infused with accomplishments. We can only hope that the larvae of utopia will transform into a butterfly of accomplishments, because as I always say: The greatest accomplishments are born of utopian dreams.
Sebastien Vilfayeau is an intern in the fire protection engineering department. He can be reached at sebastien.vilfayeau@gmail.com.
