TheOrator: i understand that you cannot understand what's going on here, like how people get to demonstrate. we don't demonstrate when poor teenage girls goes to the private clinic for abortion... so sorry that your people only goes down the streets (of the few cities where people have a critical sense), once or twice, when your president attacks a country when surveys say that most people don't want that. so sorry that you can not understand. so sorry that you are a sheep. in the end, i understand that it makes you feel angry... so glad to be here, after all
if you have no sufficient knowledge of how french society works, or the many nuances of french society, then please don't attempt to critique it. France is so completely different from the United States, especially with respect to domestic politics, that any american mindsets, or rather those particular to the United States, will simply not work - no amount of quick google/wikipedia research will educate you enough to allow you to formulate a pertinent and intelligent argument that can truly critique french society. That said, it does merit a significant amount of criticism, but just not from someone who can't begin to comprehend its complexity.
kids, kids, let's all calm down. my old man had a saying i've kept all these years, whenever i started to lose my temper he'd say... don't tell 'em to go to hell; just let 'em. do we go all over the USA boards (despite the fact that we are thousands of times more knowledgeable about the states than whatsisname is about france) ragging about iraqi civilians, topped levees or birdshot-peppered lawyers? no. because we've got class. so let this whoeveritis (never seen him before to talk about intelligent issues, have you?) play his games, he's obviously getting his jollies; meanwhile let's get back to the reason we're really here: enjoying each others company, talking about football and other things in an interesting and pleasant manner... as for whatsisnameagain... get a life. you'll have to sooner or later, and in my experience, sooner is better.
You guys think you're so sophisticated and educated than Americans but in reality you people are just as ill-tempered and dumb-witted as everybody else. You Frenchies just don't realize that and every once in a while you get reminded that you are just like everyone else. At least we Americans admit that we're not the smartest people in the world.
Somehow, I can understand Yankbastard reaction. Let's face it, french and francophile posters, we also hear a lot of stupid things about USA in France. We, french, tend to patronize other people a lot, especially americans. What can I say ? We are not all like this. As the old joke says : France is sixty millions of minorities.
OK, the subject of French social unrest can ce a open to discussion like any other one but not by some retard who just deposed his poopy in the lobby and comes back from time to time to check if it still stinks... And Yankbastard's post is off target -for a change...- and somewhat ironic in a sense. He just made us a lecture on the great values of America while criticising our tendency to think we're above the rest. As for ill-tempered, I wonder what reactions would have been like for something like this in other areas of the forum... Nobody here is perfect (hmm, that's subject to discussion too) but I don't see the problem in trying to be reasonably civilised with others. It's not a sin in my book...As for French thinking they're the crême de la crême of humanity, it's of course partly true and is IMO the most shared national trait in the world ; though we can all notice that within borders we -like in so many other nations- can be very harsh with our country as well. So, on the whole, saying that and just that shows your ignorance and more importantly the lack of willingness to try and begin to start to learn about things in general. There are things I would like to criticise about the US as well, yet I don't feel entitled to do it in a way that would systematically and unnecessarily hurt the eventual readers' feelings. That doesn't mean those critiques can't be expressed. Anyway, it wouldn't simply come to mind to go and troll on US boards ; losing your temper after a series of dumb posts is something else...
obviously there will always be those who make sweeping generalizations about places they've never been, and it's hard for anyone in the world not to have an opinion about the USA (why so many english and americans have a fixation about france is more of a mystery). but all in all, what i read about the states in the nouvel obs or le monde is always much more pertinent than what the parisian correspondants for time or newsweek have to say about france. and it's clear that BHL knows a lot more about america than say, jonah goldberg does about europe: the same décalage goes right through the strata of the two societies. no frenchman has ever asked me if we had photocopiers or microwave ovens in the states. these france boards show this out; the general tone here is friendly and enlightened, and the regulars are all pleasant, open-minded and knowledgeable. wandering into other sections of BS i've sometimes been shocked at the difference. dip into world rivalries, politics & current events, or even the purely football related boards for england and MSL sometime... distressing! it's tedious that posters who have no real interest in france or french football feel the need to come here carrying the same attitude, and the same level of debate. but my word to them is STAY! on the condition that you don't just cut & paste francophobe articles without giving your opinions and the reasons behind them. and leave your foxpotato ideas about france at the door; you can get them back on the way out, but once you have some real discussions with us, realize that we're not as closeminded about the other countries and ways of doing things as you think, you may not want them anymore!
there are hotter topics that would need you to focus on, dear president anyway, I would like you to know that nobody cares about the hegemony of French language and culture over the world (see why the rest of the world compares us to aliens from Mars who always come and try to invade them) besides people from his generation, who are nostalgic of that period when some idiot called De Gaulle and who is now considered as a god was president
And where have you been? lol. I was looking at the Rennes thread a few days ago and contemplating if gary had vanished off the face of the earth via large atomic explosion, had been abducted by aliens, or simply found a hot Czech girl with big boobs. Welcome back anyway.
my travels to the wilds of eastern europe are limited to shorts visits to budapest and prague back in 1983... i had the distinct impression that, where the DDR was wasting their time breeding and raising track and field and swimming champions, hungary and czechoslovakia were turning out babes with un monde fou au balcon!
