‘Cultural Revolt’ Over Sarkozy’s Museum Plans
President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to open a history museum in Paris has stoked a debate over what it means to be French in a multicultural nation. READ ON: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/arts/design/sarkozy-wants-his-history-museum-in-paris.html
Maybe asking what it means to be French in the 21st century shouldn’t really be the main issue. Having many different religious in one country could bring up the question if being French isn’t the person that considers himself as catholic. However other religious point of views has helped French people to create a more understandable and open minded nation. For instance the ones that believed in Enlightenment have helped France to become one of the well known modern countries with its so many controversial ideas. Despite its current economy issues, France is still one of the strongest countries in Europe. The main problem is how France is keeping up of being a modern country where its classical values have been forgotten because of its modern identity crises.
ReplyDeleteFrance does need a regional history museum in order or not to celebrate its increase on multicultural nation. People have not immigrated to France because it is only a great place to dream and love, but it’s a place that for its past has attracted people to work and make their dreams come true, and that is because, France has been the first country in history to support Enlightenment ideas and eventually fight for other countries’ independence and personal liberty.
I do agree when the author brings up the idea that the History museum would illuminate France’s “soul”. The museum is a way to show the matters of national identity and maybe a solution to the nation’s “identity crisis” present still in the modern society. By reviewing what was made in past, it would be easier to understand future consequences to the country and its society when the present could be repaired by past mistakes and the rediscovery of the meaning of what to be French really is all about.
Supporting my view about the French identity I found this quote in Kimmelman’s article that proves that the museum could be one of the medicines to the cure of the lost identity in France. “Sarkozy said this was a museum to give French people a stronger sense of identity,” he continued, “that history is the cement that binds together French people. Whose history? ‘Soul’ is not a subject for scientists and historians. It is a moral and political concept.”
The museum in my opinion would be a symbol of France’s success after so much involving in the world’s history. It would be a way to remember how glorious the past and present of France has been. French history museum should displace some of the very public records on which French historians still rely, so that people could really see all the mechanisms that France has believed for centuries.
There are a lot of comments in the article focusing on politics. However I see this museum as an action of something that can be really good for society. It does not matter if it will really help politician to be elected, but surely, it will help society to get more involved with its own history. Surely the national crisis today may reflect the choices made in the past. And I agree as the writer asks about what being French is really about, because the museum can not only give all the benefits as I mentioned above but also it can explain why people have been linked for so many years in a place called France.