Word: dion
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...CELINE DION receives Legion of Honor medal from France, global capital of good taste...
...sharp and profound as Marx would, no doubt, not welcome induction into club whose ranks have begun to swell with people nominated purely for their celebrity rather than any loftier merits. That list grew further, Thursday, when President Nicolas Sarkozy conferred the title on Canadian singer Céline Dion, welcoming her into the company of Alexis de Tocqueville, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Gustave Flaubert, Alexander Graham Bell and Albert Dreyfus - and also Jerry Lewis. Not surprisingly, some observers suggest that the contrast in achievements of its various honorees has cheapened the medal to the point of self-parody...
...After this, all that's needed is the induction of Jean-Claude Van Damme to justify a name change to the Legion of Bad Taste," says comic author and France Inter radio commentator Didier Porte of Dion's selection. "The Legion is now the way powerful politicians honor people for having attained celebrity and fame. It's basically now the manner in which VIPs get together to smell one another's behind...
...What those laws should do is ban Céline Dion from singing, and award the the Legion of Honor to people who listened to her and survived," suggests Porte - who was hardly alone in decrying Dion's selection as the most egregious example to date of the institution confusing fame with substance. "Has she saved the planet? Found a cure for AIDS? Legalized adoption for gay parents?" asked the weekly magazine Marianne. "Not at all, she represents success." Pinning the decoration on schlock goddess Dion, warned daily France Soir, risked "transforming it into a chocolate medal...
...potshot at Sarkozy: The hip culture magazine Telerama cited the fact that he presented the award in person as yet another instance of the notorious admiration of the wealthy and famous that has some calling Sarkozy "the bling-bling President." To be fair, Sarkozy had nothing to do with Dion's selection, which was made in 2005. Nor is there anything new in the Legion inducting honorees whose selection induces a blanching response among people of taste. While professional cynics such Porte lavishly mock a national joke (and Sarkozy pal) such as wrinkled rocker Johnny Hallyday enjoying Legion membership, they...