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French President Emmanuel Macron is at the center of an online storm upon his arrival at Monaco, which some have considered societal inaccessibility. The backlash followed what should have been a totally harmless post consisting of a single capital letter “S,” joined by some sort of video clip-the strong remains of what the contents of the said video are are left uncertain.
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The backlash started in a few moments and carried out by anyone who came to reply. One sarcastic commentator wrote, “Yes, Monaco is so eco-friendly! Billionaire jets are parked outside the city!” Another one calmly stated, “The gravedigger of France,” and from the background came a voice, “How’s the taxpayer-funded vacation going?”
Many described themselves as disillusioned while others accused him of aloofness; one of the comments is, “You are and will remain an impostor. The gravedigger of France.” Others were resentful of Macron’s elitism: “Just say you’re on a tourist trip taking a few days off with your buddy, and that’ll be fine, clown!”
Several activists appeared to add turbo power into this political cocktail with the visit to Monaco. “Protect the Freedom Flotilla and recognize Palestine instead of parading with kings and princes!” shouted one commenter. Yet another sarcastically made mention of domestic politics: “So, so, so slow on sanctioning Russia, but so hard to deliver weapons to Ukraine.”
There was not an entire gallery of negativity, however, for a more diplomatic account formally greeted Macron upon his arrival in Monaco, but the overall public opinion leaned heavily toward scorn. Another stain left by the common thread is that Macron appeared to be a man of appearances, not actions-a notion that many users ridiculed somehow attached to a closeness from the wealthy elite.
While several sharp exchanges were seen wandering freely in cyberspace, one called him an “useless idiot,” with scatological insertions in reference to his wife, Brigitte. Another one compared him to the infamous dictatorship of Ceaușescu in Romania, insinuating that Macron lives in much luxury at the expense of the public.
This will shed light on some of the ongoing problems faced in the territory of public perception of Macron in France, where many consider him a person detached from the lives of the common French man. His policies, from economic-reform measures to foreign relations, have given rise to protests at various points in recent memory, but the polar opposite voice that has emerged of late would seem to indicate that such frustration is not going away anytime soon.
Whether the Monaco affair was official business or mere personal leisure has brought all this brouhaha to the fore-the backdrop is reflective of just how extreme the gulf lies when people’s perception of Macron is concerned.
Until the sunset of his term-in-a-little-over-two-years’ time, it becomes clear that every act of his, be it as minuscule as a post containing only one letter, is bound to be scrutinized, ridiculed, or condemned by a selected faction of the populace.
The President has yet to issue a counterstatement to backlash; if history serves any indication, these marches of indignity will not spur him to step off his mark. Whether that counts as a positive or a negative weighs differently on anyone’s opinion.
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And by how these comments are pouring in, it is obvious many have their curiosity piqued. Meanwhile, tensions with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have also heightened, indicating that diplomatic relations are still under strain.