#jesuismaurice

The affair caused quite a stir in the Kingdom of France. It's the story of a rooster named Maurice, whose morning squawk bothers a retired couple. The couple are city dwellers vacationing in Saint-Pierre d'Oléron. Their neighbor Maurice's cock-a-doodle-doo is such a nuisance that they've gone so far as to file repeated complaints and initiate bailiff visits. Facing them are the owner of the gallinaceous bird, Corinne Fesseau, and the mayor of the commune, Christophe Sueur. The mayor, Christophe Sueur, doesn't see it that way: banning cockerel noise is tantamount to imposing a city lifestyle on the countryside. Why not ban bell-ringing and birdsong, while we're at it?

A wave of people took to social media to show their support for Maurice the rooster and his owner. She even launched a petition titled «We Must Save Maurice the Rooster of Île d’Oléron,» which has garnered no fewer than 139,000 signatures as I write this. I, too, of course, support Maurice. What kind of society is this that seems intent on eradicating the natural order? After all, this is hardly surprising: in an era of ’gender theory,« the rise of transhumanism, and extreme cosmetic surgery, nature seems like an outdated relic that must be denied.

To transcend nature by complementing it—yes; that’s what we call culture and civilization. But to deny nature leads to the worst excesses. So what—will the countryside soon be nothing more than commuter towns inhabited and governed by city dwellers at heart? Is nature shrinking? That’s hardly surprising: the phenomenon is well underway; the rural exodus is in full swing… But in the case of Maurice the rooster, another factor is at play: our relationship with noise. And here, it must be said, the discussion becomes more interesting. Because generally, it’s the noise of the city that we like to criticize. Granted, Saint-Pierre d’Oléron isn’t exactly a tiny hamlet either, but the crowing of a rooster belongs, by definition, to the rural world. It is the result neither of urbanization, nor of the entertainment industry, nor of the rampant proliferation of sound systems in our living spaces.

Read also | The virtues of silence

How could there possibly be any comparison between a rooster’s crow and the unbearable music that invades our elevators and restaurants? None. I tend to think that a rooster’s crow is soothing, just like the sound of bells or the melody of rain falling on the earth. What ruins our peace of mind often doesn’t come from the outside, but from within ourselves! Let’s have the courage to accept the idea that our peace of mind would increase if we spent less time watching videos, listening to background music constantly, or… yelling at our neighbors.

Because, at the end of the day, there’s an invention that’s a real lifesaver for people who don’t want to be woken up in the morning by any kind of noise: it’s called earplugs, better known as “Boules Quies.” What a waste of energy to pick on others when we can improve our own well-being. Returning to a healthy lifestyle would mean not only tolerating the sound of the rooster, but even appreciating it when we have the chance. Country animals don’t have to be civil; it’s up to humans to show civility toward their owners.

For all these reasons, #jesuismaurice. The rooster: an animal that symbolizes France more than any other. But are the French, of all people, the ones best suited to complain about it? In Switzerland, it’s clear that we sleep with our eyes open, just like cattle. Because yes, the Swiss do like to keep an eye on their neighbors. And grumbling isn’t the exclusive domain of the Gauls. For example, in 2015, residents of Zurich complained about the noise from the bells of cows grazing in neighboring alpine pastures. The Court of Appeals ruled in their favor, even though the bells are useful for tracking down runaways, as the owner of the twenty-seven dairy cows had pointed out.

Let's tackle real noise and celebrate its two opposites: silence, of course, but also music.

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: Wikimedia CC 3.0