An Existential Crisis? Philosophy confronts the French

The streets of Paris were flooded Wednesday night, and the noise and celebrations led assumptions that France was giving Ireland a stern kick to the face. However, as it turns out Algerian pride was above French pride on the night. The Algerian side had defeated Egypt and qualified for the World Cup just hours before. The Champs Elysées was filled with cars flaunting the Algerian flags.

With such passionate pride on display in France’s most famous street, this made France’s qualification for the world cup all the more bitter to the loyal French. Compared to the Algerians celebrating, the French, due to Thierry Henry’s blatant handball, could not feasibly celebrate with a clear conscience.

So Algerian support was supreme in Paris for the night, and the next morning proved even worse for the French. The French media, known for being harsh, was cynical and disgusted with the inglorious outcome.

L’Equipe, France’s national sporting paper, was the harshest:

“It was already a miracle [for France] to have survived two hours of such an abysmal and nonexistent game comprising little boys’ passes and very ordinary players’ timidity. A miracle indeed to have survived all the Irish opportunities throughout a match that will go down in history as the biggest failure for our national team. […] These two hours prove that Les Bleus don’t make a great team; can we actually call them a team at all?”

And here lies the national existential crisis that bestows the French national team members, the French Football Federation, and more importantly, the people of France.

Henry’s “Hand of Fraud” has subsequently become “un cas de conscience”. The angst, not even talking about the unbelievable level of Irish angst, felt by the French reached a profound stage beyond football but to morality. Alain Finkielkraut, a football supporter and French thinker, declared he was embarrassed and saddened that such an “extraordinary” Irish performance could be met with such injustice by “untenable” position of the referee, as well as shameful actions of the captain of France, Henry.

Irony and disbelief has been the theme of the past few nights, as the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, announced his desire to see the ashes of writer, philosopher, and university-level goalkeeper Albert Camus installed in the Panthéon.

Regarding the experience of playing for his (French Algerian) university team, Camus told an alumni magazine, "What I know most surely about morality and the duty of man, I owe to sport.“

Aphorisms are on show in France, and surely a nation such as France cannot be at peace while reflecting on such thoughts.