Join Cockburn in a thought experiment. Close your eyes — and think of the phrase “toxic masculinity.” Who is the first person that you picture in your head? Recently charged Andrew Tate, perhaps — or maybe Floyd Mayweather. French Member of Parliament Sandrine Rousseau sees someone a little less likely: Monsieur Le President Emmanuel Macron.
Macron was filmed downing a bottle of Corona this weekend in the dressing rooms of the Stade de France, after Toulouse had beaten La Rochelle in the French rugby final. Urged on by victorious Toulouse players, the president necks the bottle of beer in a modest seventeen seconds.
“Toxic masculinity in political leadership in one image,” tweeted Rousseau. Hardly, Cockburn thinks: she’d have a much more valid accusation had Macron gotten his elbow up and managed to sink the beer in under ten.
In an ever joyful, French fashion, BFM TV asked two addiction experts what they thought of Macron’s behavior. “He’s associating sport, parties and the consumption of alcohol in a context of virile peer pressure where everyone drinks a bit too much,” said Associations Addictions France’s Bernard Basset. “It’s inappropriate,” doctor William Lowenstein agreed. “You could do it, but not in front of the cameras.”
On the contrary, Cockburn thinks Macron’s conduct is not only exemplary, but a step in the right direction. Given his recent track record of getting slapped in public, scolding teenagers who call him “Manu” and not “Monsieur Le President,” kowtowing to China and, worst of all, celebrating weirdly, Macron has all the cause in the world to make the case that he’s a vaguely normal human being.
Besides, the French leader offers a refreshing contrast to the sorry recent spate of American presidents who drink at all. It’s better to see Macron following in the footsteps of legendary Australian prime minister Bob Hawke, who was regularly spotted chugging beers at cricket matches and who was said to have once held the Guinness world record for drinking a yard of ale (2.5 pints) in eleven seconds — or six seconds faster than Manu managed one Corona…
Of course, Cockburn encourages all readers to drink responsibly… and a little faster than Macron…
