HEAR YE: THE REVOLUTIONARY FRENCH DEEM DYLAN UNWORTHY OF AWARD DUE TO HIS ANTI-WAR PROTESTING PAST

 

Younger generations might not be aware of the great contributions made by our venerable folk singers.  Aside from the Guthries and the Seegers, Dylan had carved a niche for himself where success was assured thanks to brilliant music and wording offerings that made him famous worldwide.

Why all these people, they are all synonymous with strife, and civil rights and a promise of a better world too.

Why then, did the French decline to award the aging singer an award such as the Legion d'Honneur?  Because the honoreficence is symbolic in principle of such feats as war heroism, and a French general shot into the mix with his vitriolic appraisal of the musical star's past.

How can a pot smoking, anti-war protesting folk singer then, qualify for such an award? Not if the willful general has his way. The general by the way, is the Great Chancellor for the Legion d'Honneur.  

What is more absurb about this squabble, is that the general was alerted of Dylan's past by an overzealous police checker, who did a routine background on the star to ensure his fitness as a runner up for the coveted award. 

Does someone like Dylan really need a background check? Does no one not know or remember what he did and when he did it?

That sounds like a bigger affront than excising him from the roll of potential nominees.  What? Have they forgotten the pickets? The workers struggles and the songs about freedom and racism and people wrongly accused? 

What have we come to? 

But the French are not done with Dylan. They have instead nominated him for Knightship of the Order.  

If one considers that Paul McCartney has just recently been awarded the Legion d'Honneur, one has to wonder what the placid Beatles member did to hide his obvious penchant for Cannabis.  

Anyway, we are sure to find out that mr. Dylan is probably non plussed, and uncaring about it, after all, he's not much for awards these day.  He's probably already firm in the notion that he has, indeed, given history a considerable contribution.

Op-Ed

Source: France 24/  5.10.13