Courtesy of Mish.
I received still more emails from French and Canadian readers on preserving culture. Since it’s a slow news day, let’s take a look at them.
Olivier writes “Wouldn’t a true conservative pay at least some respect to local cultural norms instead of trying to impose some economic diktat from on down?“
Talk about getting things ass backwards. It is the social police attempting to impose cultural and economic diktats to preserve the local bookstore and the local farm to the point of absolute absurdity.
Email From Canada
Reader Mike from Canada writes …
Hi Mish,
I totally agree with the ridiculousness of bureaucrats and their attempts “to preserve” culture. The very meaning of the verb “to preserve” implies that the object being preserved is dead. One preserves fruits after they are picked, and bodies after they are dead. One cannot preserve a living thing.
A culture must continually adapt and grow to keep living, not be preserved.
I live in the province of Quebec, and unfortunately I can provide numerous examples on the government’s inane attempts to preserve local French culture. Recently, the Quebec Language police made headlines when they tried to outlaw the use of the word “pasta” in Italian restaurants because it is not a French word. After the international hilarity that ensued and embarrassed them, the nannycrats backed down.
A great example of tax dollars being wasted.
Thanks for your posts,
Mike B…
