{"id":48322,"date":"2022-05-06T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-06T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leregardlibre.com\/?p=48322"},"modified":"2026-01-01T22:37:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T21:37:58","slug":"he-state-of-the-didees-debate-in-french-speaking-switzerland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leregardlibre.com\/en\/company\/he-state-of-the-didees-debate-in-french-speaking-switzerland\/","title":{"rendered":"The state of the debate in French-speaking Switzerland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disappearance alert: where has the debate gone in French-speaking Switzerland?<\/strong> The question is put to you, dear readers. In fact, our e-mail addresses are always given at the bottom of our articles so that you can write to us. But one thing is certain: if you read Le Regard Libre<\/em>, is that you're looking for debate. Ideas. Reflection. Background!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Is there a lack of debate in our part of the world? That depends on the level of debate. Let's start by noting that not everyone is interested in intellectual dispute, and that's only to be expected. Besides, ideas don't make the world, even if they do give it meaning. But for those who are interested, there is reason to wonder about the lack of intellectual vitality in French-speaking Switzerland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the institutional level, it is clear that the debate of ideas is becoming increasingly restricted. RTS's flagship political debate program \u00abInfrarouge\u00bb is set to be broadcast only every two weeks from 2023 onwards, thinking is tending to become standardized in universities, and the mainstream media are bowing to the threat of a handful of activists, when they aren't simply abandoning thought in favor of focusing on facts... and, above all, clicks. And specialists in a given field are less and less inclined to don \u00abwide-angle\u00bb glasses - fortunately, there are still some in the Cit\u00e9, such as historian and jurist Olivier Meuwly, who are frequent guests in our columns<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abOutside the walls\u00bb debate explodes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

But \u00aboutside the walls\u00bb, the exchange of opinions is exploding! The best example is YouTube, where channels offering commentary on current events, humorous or otherwise, are multiplying. There are also fascinating interview formats, featuring personalities of varying degrees of commitment, from the radical left to the identitarian right. Dazzling insights come thick and fast. For example, Ralph M\u00fcller, a doctoral student in literature, who appears in Le Regard Libre<\/em> with this issue, boasts over 40,000 subscribers to its societal analysis channel \u00abThe Cartridge\u00bb<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Private parties, from pompous think-tank cocktail parties to watered-down merrymaking among friends, continue to offer fertile ground for conversation. Self-censorship is more problematic, more pernicious, than censorship: politics can do little to combat it. It is only through individual and collective introspection that we can grasp our betrayal of our own values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n