Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Beware the Singing Scotsmen

I've always known that Paris is one of the most cosmopolitan, international cities on earth. And the best place to prove it is in the Metro.

Today, I hopped onto a train at Chatelet, the huge Metro station right in the center of the city. The doors closed, but we only went a foot before we stopped and the conductor announced a small delay. Nothing unusual about that.

A minute later, a large pack of Scotsmen dressed in kilts came down the platform. This, however, is quite unusual. They didn't let the fact that the doors were closed dissuade them as had most everyone else outside the train. And wouldn't you know that they headed toward my car.

In Paris, the older Metro cars are not automatic but open by pulling up on a small lever. Once the Scots had opened the doors, they all piled in at once. I didn't count, but there must have been about 15 burly guys. Some were draped in the Scottish flag, a couple were middle aged although most were probably in their late twenties and thirties. And they were loud.

Last summer when Ellen and I were here, the World Cup (football -- or soccer, depending on where you live) was on. But this time it's the Rugby World Cup, and Paris is hosting the tournament. That accounts for the Scots.

We were still sitting at the station when suddenly they decided to sing -- apparently without the aid of drink. The first song, believe it or not, was the theme to "Dallas," the global TV hit of the 1980s. Then a Scottish song. Then, when a woman (hopefully one they knew) went by the still-open door, they sang "Hey, Baby (I Wanna Know Will You Be My Girl)," some with their heads out the door just to make sure she heard it. Then another Scottish ditty. A truly cosmopolitan group of men in one of the most diverse places on earth.

This episode also reminds me of Franklin Foer's very good book How Soccer Explains the World. Foer discusses how soccer as a sport reveals a very powerful tension within the world today. On the one hand, it is the most global sport of our time with clubs from nearly every nation competing on a truly international stage. In many ways, soccer helps everyone to understand each other by providing a common culture the world over. But soccer has also been a way for old national and regional identities to find a very powerful expression, sometimes at the expense of tolerance and a world-wide sense of the common good. Soccer clubs can be downright nasty toward each other, and the result can be racism, hatred, and even violence.

These rugby fans demonstrated that same kind of duality. They were fiercely loyal to their Scottishness, but they mixed American songs into their performance on the Parisian subway. We may sometimes be glad that it's a small world, but the distances between us can still be comforting to a lot of people.

1 comment:

Jean-Paul said...

Hey Jeff, long time no see. I found it interesting the comment about Soccer and its universality. Of course, the only country that hasn't truly embraced this sport is the United States. This is interesting to me because the United States, especially represented by the current administration, seems to think itself above the rest of the world.