Nothing to say

…but I love the guy’s blunt honesty and direct follow-through.

The current French president is a private man and does not discuss personal matters with the press.  He is happy to discuss his opinions on politics, though.  He wants Americans to know “that they can count on us. But at the same time, we want to be free to disagree.”  Seeing as how the United States were founded on the ideal of the freedom of the expression of contrary ideas, that’s simply brilliant.  In fact, it says something about the current state of this nation that it even needs to be said.

That quote is from an interview Sarkozy did for CBS program 60 Minutes a few weeks ago (and two weeks before his divorce.)  During the interview, the interviewer asked about his relationship with his wife.  Sarkozy replied, “If I had to say something about Cecilia, I would certainly not do so here.”  He then removed his mic and left the set.

I’ve got about three thoughts on this subject:

1. Sarkozy is awesome.  This wasn’t an arbitrary insult to CBS, his interviewers, or the USA.  He made it clear that you don’t ask about his personal life, and when asked, he expressed his frustration.  I think that’s far.
2. Shame on the interviewers for being pushy, attempting to invade Sarkozy’s privacy, and for wasting his time.
3. Shame on the consumers of the media who favor the sensational, personal-life details over actual, intelligent, political discourse.  These are the people who create the media, and mold it into what it is.  If you buy it, they will produce it.

It’s back to supply and demand.  If there was no demand for the photos that paparazzi take, there would be no paparazzi.  If there was no demand for cheap puppies, there would be no puppy mills.  If there was no demand for cheap, fattening, carcinogenic, mass-produced fake foods, it would disappear from supermarket shelves.

If there was no demand for the intimate details of Sarkozy’s personal life, we all would have had another 5 minutes in our day to actually enrich our lives with something worthwhile.