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RE: BIG TROUBLE IN FRANCE - 9/27/2008 10:53:46 PM

Kirata

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If you were trying to convince Me that I should be happy I don't live in France, you've succeeded.

K.

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RE: BIG TROUBLE IN FRANCE - 9/28/2008 7:19:59 AM

NorthernGent

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quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

Educate the confuzzled American then. Is FRANCE so repressed that mailing a dirty postcard is in itself a form of performance art?

I don't believe you can draw a conclusion on the basis of one event. Moreover, you would have to understand French history to understand their culture. They've had a relatively turbulent history, stretching back to the religious strife that tore the country apart in the 15th/16th centuries (and beyond that for all I know), when compared with England. The importance of this turmoil is in shaping French thought and a tendency to lurch between left and right politics (in comparison with England where centre ground and compromise are constants in English life).

The point I was making was this: in some respects the United States has more in common with France than we do. I'll give you an example: generally speaking, you will get an invite to an English home only where you are a close friend or a family member; we do not like acquaintenances in our space. The French are different in this regard. Based on those I know who have been to the United States, Americans are more open with invitations to their homes, too. Ultimately, England has had a relatively peaceful and stable existence, which means we don't think like the French and Germans (in many respects).

France repressed? I'm sure you could find examples to support such an argument........but the same applies to England and the United States.

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RE: BIG TROUBLE IN FRANCE - 9/28/2008 7:44:04 AM

kittinSol

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Kirata

If you were trying to convince Me that I should be happy I don't live in France, you've succeeded.

K.

I don't even know You. Why should I care where You want to leave? It's Your business, and I am not the French Tourism Advisory Board.

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RE: BIG TROUBLE IN FRANCE - 9/28/2008 9:31:47 AM

Kirata

Posts: 15477
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quote:

ORIGINAL: kittinSol

I'm not the French InTourist.

quote:

ORIGINAL: kittinSol

I am not the French Tourism Advisory Board.

Gee, that's twice. It must be difficult to be so often misunderstood.

But seriously, that quote you posted says pretty much what I said (unh, I think).

Freedom of expression must be total to the degree that it strictly respects the property rights of others, but also and especially the people and their sensitivities... Freedom is acceptance of the constraints of a social life and respect for others.

When French postal workers are subjected to having to view galleries of naked women with pieces of metal stuck through their bodies, or whatever else some idiot decides to send through the mail without an envelope, the sensitivites of others are being impacted. I don't see how anyone, even a liberal, could consider this just another sad case of freedom of expression being "repressed".

K.

< Message edited by Kirata -- 9/28/2008 9:34:05 AM >

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RE: BIG TROUBLE IN FRANCE - 9/28/2008 10:07:24 AM

kittinSol

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Then we agree on one thing at least.

As for the tourism thing, it's obvious to me that I am not in the business of selling the idea of a country (be France, or the United Kingdom) to anyone - I reiterate this point often, because being a citizen of a country doesn't mean that one is accountable for that country's perceived mistakes. Nor is one personally responsible for its glory.

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Post #: 45