Quote:
Originally Posted by saoir
And if the French Gov think they can hold back the tide in some idiotic effort to 'save and protect the French culture from Americanisation' then it is even more deluded than usual.
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As far as I understand, the idea was to protect small bookshops who would not be able to compete with large outlets, pricewise. But I may be wrong, and maybe there is some hidden motive of protecting the French culture. Most intellectuals and politicians seem to support this policy, but then, most French intellectuals and politicians seem to be afraid of any kind of freedom. We are a nation of irresponsible children, and now it sometimes looks like we have elected a child as our president. But I digress.
I used to be very much opposed to this policy, but now I honestly don't know. I wouldn't like the French publishers to become too much like American ones. Except that they probably already are... I don't like the idea of culture as a mass-market product, at the cost of quality. However, I doubt that protecting the publishers' margins has much influence on that. Or on protecting small bookshops...