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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
Some people here and on X have expressed outrage at parts of the opening ceremony of the Olympics in France. As someone who is both natively French and a "global citizen" (lived on four continents, visited 50 countries, expat for nearly 20 years), I wanted to share my dual perspective. My goal is not to pass judgment on Friday's performance, but rather set the cultural context in which it was delivered. So, don't shoot the messenger. Also, references are annotated in brackets like this: [i] for further reading at the end. The TL;DR is that the French brand of secularism (laïcité) is unique, highly idiosyncratic, and part of the core identity of the French republic; it's understandable that it does not translate well to an international audience. Now, onto the 🧵: 1/9
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Pedro
@pedrowww
Great thread. I'm French myself and I loved the ceremony. It was a very representative display of our national trait: irreverence. I honestly think that everyone has a very vanilla perception of what French culture is (beret, baguette, charm and beauty...) and that's what they were expecting to see. But what the world doesn't see (or don't want to see) is that we love provocative stuff. Our cultural icons were shocking at the time (Gainsbourg!!) and we still celebrate people taking brutal jabs at institutions (Charlie Hebdo anyone?). All in all, I'm glad the world got to see another facet of who French people are, and one that finally puts the sticky clichés to bed.
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