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I think this is a general reflection on the French National Character. What can explain this? The post revolution secularism? I don't think there was even much of a humanist movement intellecutally, in France. Where are the French History majors who can give a clue as to the evolution of the mind of the French as a nation. It sure looks egocentric, arrogant, and altruistically bleak.

90% of all the deaths...can be attributed to people who weren't used to severe heat...and drank wine...lots of it...which didn't help dehydration, it actually made it worse. And when they realized they were really bad off, then they called the pitiful medical system run by the state to save them. And the emergency folks, who were cut by budget cuts over the past five years...took anywhere from one to five hours to come. It was just to late to save the old geezers. If relatives had been around...if people had drank water...if they had stayed indoors with fans on...if...if...if...the story would not be that bad. Go to Arizona and find a person who has been there 80 years and ask them if you should drink lots of alcohol during the hot part of the day. They would all have a good laugh.

Been to France dozens of times and my personal take is that the tremendous amount of (more often than not well deserved) s**t they've gone through over the past 200 years has destroyed whatever spiritual strength they may have once had.

I mean, think about it in order: Bloody Revolution, Napoleonic Wars - A**es kicked by British, 1848 Revolution, A**es kicked by Mexicans, A**es kicked by Prussians (Germans) no. 1, A**es kicked by Germans no. 2, A**es kicked by Germans no. 3, A**es kicked by Vienamese, A**es kicked by Algerians, Jerry Lewis becomes national icon, Tour de France becomes annual festival for American with comic book hero name.

That's a lot for anybody to swallow (although the French have a special talent in that area) and has led to Nihilism (belief in NOTHING) becoming their national un-faith. When a "shrug" becomes your national all purpose form of expression, leaving a few thousand of your older relations to drop dead in a heat wave seems almost inevitable.