The French First Lady Valérie Trierweiler was apparently admitted to hospital when she read in a stupid magazine that her boyfriend, the French President François Hollande, had an affair with a pretty French actress. The personal bodyguard of Mr. President himself went every morning to buy two Croissants in a Bistro close by and brought these to the passionate couple before they started their usual working day.
What I like about these relatively meaningless stories is the reaction of the Newspaper’s readers in the comment’s section of the respective articles. In particular when you cross-compare different countries. And here is what I learned (please forgive my tendency to generalize tonight):
France. More than the majority of French people (according to newest statistics around 87%) don’t care about this love affair. They wonder how long the actual First Lady will still be First Lady. They forgive him unless he really puts the country into big economic troubles. Who wonders, in France it’s all about enjoying life without moral concerns and eating Foie Gras. Tolerant country.
Switzerland. Swiss people wonder for God’s sake how this very boring and bad-looking guy was able to charm this beautiful and intelligent actress. They don’t think that it’s due to his conversation skills but rather bet on something different (big one). No comment.
United Kingdom. English people care very much about this love affair: from a moral point of view but also because the office of the French Lady is financed by French people and the Bodyguard and the Croissants as well. They also wonder whether the First Lady knew about this affair before it got public and await official excuses. More than one-third of BBC World News was devoted to this affair. Empathic country.