Jogging is “right wing” and “un-French,” according to leftish critics of French President Nicholas Sarkozy:
Attacks on Mr Sarkozy‚Äôs pastime, which he has made a symbol of his presidency, began on the internet as soon as he bounded up the steps of the Elys?©e Palace in shorts when he took office in May. That moment has become the icon of his hyperenergetic administration. The grumbling has now moved to television and the press.
‚ÄúIs jogging right wing?‚Äù wondered Lib?©ration, the left-wing newspaper. Alain Finkelkraut, a celebrated philosopher, begged Mr Sarkozy on France 2, the main state television channel, to abandon his ‚Äúundignified‚Äù pursuit. He should take up walking, like Socrates, Arthur Rimbaud, the poet, and other great men, said Mr Finkelkraut…
Mr Sarkozy‚Äôs habit infuriates his critics ‚Äì and some supporters ‚Äì because he flaunts it so hard. Le running du Pr?©sident, often clad in his favourite NYPD T-shirt, has become a ritual, like King Louis XIV‚Äôs rides at Versailles. He has practised it at summits in Brussels and Germany and he is looking forward to a bonding jog with Jos?© Socrates, the Prime Minister of Portugal, which took over the European Union presidency this week.
It might be the NYPD shirt that really pushes them over the top.
Me, I’ve brought my favorite Guinness t-shirt in for this afternoon’s run – if, like me you can so enlarge your definition of “run”to include a prolonged and shambolic forward stumble – although I do confess that the wearing of it does manifest a certain approach/avoidance conflict with respect to maintaining prime physical fitness.
I get around it by flattering myself that even if it isn’t ironic? It does represent a certain commendable tendency toward moderation in all things.
(H/T to Tom Gross)
Like the joke says (about abs), why settle for a six-pack when you can have the whole keg…
re- “He should take up walking, like Socrates, Arthur Rimbaud, the poet, and other great men, said Mr Finkelkraut…”
Finkelkraut? C’mon, somebody must’ve made that name up.
Eventually he’ll walk instead of run like the lefties want..but when that happens it will be more a function of when, not if, you want to have artificial knees.
Great aerobic exercise though- I used to love it.
b2
Lex, take up swimming. It’s easier on the knees and you can get a much higher score on the PT test with less effort than running.
Esp if the test in in a 25 M/yd pool. (more push offs that way you know?)
Could be worse, our PM walks.
Running at least makes you a smaller target, Howard found himself confronted by a bloke in speedos last week.
Well, I was going to say something about the name Finkelkraut, but b2 beat me to it…
Jim C
I call it the clydesdale shuffle, can’t even honestly call it a trot anymore.
Is jogging right-wing?
Is asking inane questions left-wing?
This is one of those questions I always get wrong, like the whole idea that everything has a gender and the modifier must reflect it. So you spend huge amounts of time memorizing the gender of everything so that you can make the right decision between “la” and “le”.
Lets take all the workout possibilities and hobbies, and decide if they are left or right wing.
Jogging – Left – uses no fossil fuel, normally done by skinny guys in little shorts.
Football – Right wing
Ping pong – Left
Billiards – Right
Nascar – Right
Polo – Left
and so on. Required study and impassioned discussion will be necessary to establish the political leanings of our leisure time activities.
It’s something to do while we wait for the war to begin in earnest.
I’m curious, did the New York Times manage to export a member of the editorial board to France recently? Because complaining about a man jogging seems to be the perfect story for the Times — it’s completely irrelevant, has absolutely no effect upon the day-to-day lives of the people, and lets the editor engage in smug superiority while expending little to no physical or mental effort.
Lex? Given your choice in two-wheeled transport the proper shirt for your motorcycling should be found at August Schell brewery in New Ulm, Minnesota. It’s a picture of a bottle of their Octoberfest and the caption, “Precision German Engineering.”
– Max