"LE GABON ENERVANT" OR "ANNOYING GABON"

English version  A compatriot posted this quote from Blaise Pascal, very fitting in this second half of August that sees the nation going from one celebration to another. This blog wanted to analyze what the author meant by this remarkably elegant formula. Here is our deconstruction. This quote is taken from the  Pensées , a work in which Pascal develops his theory of diversion ( divertissement ). For Pascal, man is fundamentally miserable: mortal, finite, incapable of finding lasting rest; and he knows this confusedly. But rather than confronting this condition, he keeps himself busy: through games, hunting, social life, fleeting ambition, and so on. All of this serves less to achieve a goal than to occupy the mind so as not to think about one’s own finitude. Therein lies the full force of this formula: the remedy becomes the ill. Diversion soothes man’s misery by keeping him from thinking. But this perpetual flight is itself the deepest mark of his misery, since it reveals h...

 

English version  When a foreign head of state comes to France for a State Visit, the highest and most prestigious level of diplomatic visit, the President of the French Republic generally does not go to the airport to greet them, preferring instead to wait for them on the steps of the Élysée. But depending on the circumstances and the prestige of the visitor and their country of origin, the French Head of State will indeed go to greet them at the airport. There is a difference in protocol level, in that the airport welcome is a courtesy of arrival, whereas the welcome on the steps of the Élysée constitutes the true symbolic highlight of the State Visit, filmed and covered by the media. For example, Mikhail Gorbachev (July 1989) was greeted by Mitterrand at the foot of the plane. All Popes, such as Benedict XVI (September 12, 2008), or John Paul II, whom Jacques Chirac personally greeted at the airport on three occasions, who combine the roles of Head of State and Religious Leader, ...

English version  Angélique Kidjo, five-time Grammy Award winner, received the 2,854th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 18 at 11:30 am, at 7011 Hollywood Boulevard, across from the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, in the “Recording” category. This is a first for an African singer. More specifically, she is the first Black African artist selected for a star on the prestigious Hollywood Walk of Fame — an important nuance, since Charlize Theron, a white South African actress, already has one there. The 66-year-old French-Beninese artist was joined for the ceremony by Willem Dafoe and Harvey Mason Jr., head of the Grammy Awards. She hailed the moment as “a historic moment for the continent,” declaring: “We Africans don’t know what we have brought to the world.” This honor comes after an international career spanning more than forty years, five Grammy Awards, and a discography of 18 albums, over the course of which she blended West African styles with funk, jazz, and R...