Remember the “Freedom Fries” controversy a couple years back when the U. S. first went to war with Iraq and the French protested this decision?
Well, once again another Anglo-French conflict has arisen and this time over books. Jean-Noel Jeanneney, who heads France’s national library is beating the war drum over Google’s plans to put some of the world’s great libraries on the Internet. Jeanneney in a protectionist and what he calls a “multi-polar world” view wants to insure that France is not being bombarded with American ideas from the world’s leading search engine.
According to Jeanneney, “I favor a multi-polar view of the world in the 21st century,” he said. “I don’t want the French Revolution retold just by books chosen by the United States. The picture presented may not be less good or less bad, but it will not be ours.”
In his latest move, Jeanneney has put 22 French periodicals and newspapers on the Internet for public viewing.
As the head of France’s national library, Jeanneney is in the perfect position to work with Google, if he chooses to do so, in disseminating the information from the French point of view. He can also open up the national library to other French search engines, directories and publications as well. I think making this a positive rather than a negative will serve Jeanneney and France better in terms of getting what is needed and building international relations.
Some U. S. citizens may take this opportunity to do a little French-bashing over this controversy, but there is a greater opportunity here. There is an opportunity to dialogue and clarify, be a good neighbor and to realize that not everyone in the world wants us to impose our ideas upon them “for their own good.”
