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2004-10-07 Europe
Chirac warns of 'catastrophe' of world 'choked' by US values
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Posted by Fred 2004-10-07 7:19:28 PM|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [11136 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 HANOI, Oct 7 (AFP) - French President Jacques Chirac warned Thursday of a "catastrophe" for global diversity if the United States' cultural hegemony goes unchallenged.

Speaking at a French cultural centre in Hanoi ahead of Friday's opening of a summit of European and Asian leaders, Chirac said...

Gosh, I just love France and its leaders more with each passing day.
Posted by Dave D. 2004-10-07 7:28:49 PM||   2004-10-07 7:28:49 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 French is the Esperanto of the 21st century.
Posted by ed 2004-10-07 7:32:08 PM||   2004-10-07 7:32:08 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 
Vietnam is a former French colony, but only around 375,000 of its 81 million people speak French. English is considered by most people a far more valuable and practical second language, particularly among businessmen.

Don't think the message is sinking in, Jake.
Posted by tu3031 2004-10-07 7:36:30 PM||   2004-10-07 7:36:30 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Choke on this ya Frog bastard!
Posted by Rex Mundi 2004-10-07 7:38:39 PM||   2004-10-07 7:38:39 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 Sound like he was hyper-ventilating as he was mouthing off...

France is the ENEMY!
Posted by BigEd 2004-10-07 7:40:29 PM||   2004-10-07 7:40:29 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 Maybe if France actually produced something of cultural value, it wouldn't be so bad. 17th century doesn't count. Neither does post-modern art.

"Only with governmental assistance can countries maintain their cultural heritage"??? WTF...only a European would say this.

Oh, and the French are still sick about their language not being the world's lingua franca anymore. That's what happens when you're relegated to "regional power" status.
Posted by gromky 2004-10-07 7:42:19 PM||   2004-10-07 7:42:19 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 Jack,

The world rejected French values long ago. It's not at all clear that it accepts US values. Why don't you just let people alone to chose what they want. If US, OK. If french, OK. If something else, OK. As long as they don't shot eachother and children and fly airplanes into buildings or bomb trains or night clubs or other islamofascist things, I could care less what values they adopt.
Posted by Mrs. Davis 2004-10-07 7:48:04 PM||   2004-10-07 7:48:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Let's see... the French took 1.7 billion dollars from the Iraqi Oil-for-Food Program, leaving millions of Iraqi's short-changed on food and medicine. And their values would be superior to whose?
Posted by Tom 2004-10-07 7:48:29 PM||   2004-10-07 7:48:29 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Was not aware the french had any values. I was aware of their belief that God was created in the image of the french.
Posted by John (Q. Citizen) 2004-10-07 7:51:09 PM||   2004-10-07 7:51:09 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 Snicker

Pathetic....I can't even work up a good bit of ire over this. Gahhh, I would hate to be French.
Posted by whitecollar redneck 2004-10-07 7:51:46 PM||   2004-10-07 7:51:46 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 The French govt thinks that they are such cunning linguists that they need to preserve the mother tongue against the onslaught of the uncultured foreign words. Things change, and language evolves, but the French govt does not. After their perfidy with Iraq and the oil and bribes for palaces program, plus all their UN vetos, I consider the French govt an enemy. We do not need to militarily attack them, but their diplomats need to be restricted in travel and they sorta need to be looked at the same way we look at a country like...........say, Syria.
Posted by Alaska Paul 2004-10-07 8:08:34 PM||   2004-10-07 8:08:34 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Actually, if you read closely, Chirac is saying that the French and the French culture are endangered species and will become extinct if not protected.
Posted by RWV 2004-10-07 8:12:55 PM||   2004-10-07 8:12:55 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 Had to pass it on.

Chirac announced that due to the recent terrorist's bombings in Spain and the Beslan school massacre, France's Terror Alert would be raised from "Run to Hide." If the terror continued, the Terror Alert would be raised to "Surrender and collaborate."

What do you call a frenchman advancing on Baghdad?

A salesman.
Posted by John (Q. Citizen) 2004-10-07 8:24:26 PM||   2004-10-07 8:24:26 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 Well RWV, just like the wooly mammoth, maybe their time has past. I think deep in their hearts they know it is true.
Posted by whitecollar redneck 2004-10-07 8:25:54 PM||   2004-10-07 8:25:54 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 Imagine there's no French language/It's easy if you try/No corrupt tyrants/Only democracy/Imagine all the people living like the USA...
Imagine there's no corruption/It isn't hard to do/No one to bribe or belittle/No pessimism too/Imagine all the people living like the USA...
You may say I'm a dreamer/but I'm not the only one/I hope some day the French will stop/tring to ruin it for everyone.
Posted by Anonymoose 2004-10-07 8:34:13 PM||   2004-10-07 8:34:13 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 Quick survey:

Have you bought any French products this year?
Posted by Classical_Liberal 2004-10-07 8:38:02 PM||   2004-10-07 8:38:02 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 RWV---I think that you hit on the main point. Chiraq's ravings are based more on the French becoming irrelavant and an endangered species than the rest of the world's cultures losing their identities.

However, I do not think that the wooly mammoth is a good example for the French. May I suggest the dodo bird?
Posted by Alaska Paul 2004-10-07 8:39:12 PM||   2004-10-07 8:39:12 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 A picture is worth a thousand words!!!

France surrenders at the UN Security Council, cartoon

Posted by Poison Reverse 2004-10-07 9:32:20 PM||   2004-10-07 9:32:20 PM|| Front Page Top

#19 (Saddam's victims') Blood for (TotalFinaElf) Oil Contracts.
Posted by lex 2004-10-07 9:39:22 PM||   2004-10-07 9:39:22 PM|| Front Page Top

#20 RWV is right. The French have been fighting a losing cultural battle against the Anglosphere for decades. (Quebec is a major front in that battle.) Knowing the French are losing this battle fuels much French animosity towards the US.

To a lesser degree other non-English speaking nations have a similar reaction and a similar resentment.

Languages and cultures do go extinct. Many American Indian languages are extinct. The trend will continue with thousands of languages being replaced with dozens.

Global media is also shaping English. Worldwide movies, music, and TV are harmonizing the language. Even British vs. US spelling is merging as people online accept both as “standard”.

This is also happening in the Spanish world. Announcers learn and use standard international pronunciation instead of regional dialects.

(While French continues to lose influence, it is in no danger of going extinct. Darn it!)
Posted by Anonymous5032 2004-10-07 10:19:48 PM||   2004-10-07 10:19:48 PM|| Front Page Top

#21 Chirac.....I can't think of a more contemptible little worm than ol' Jacque himself.
Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2004-10-07 10:56:57 PM||   2004-10-07 10:56:57 PM|| Front Page Top

#22 One really needs to wonder how much of Saddam's money is in Frog 1's offshore bank accounts.

Posted by Mark Espinola 2004-10-07 11:38:04 PM||   2004-10-07 11:38:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#23 I think Chiraq is under the influence of some Jamaican cultural hegemony.
Posted by Super Hose 2004-10-08 12:24:54 AM||   2004-10-08 12:24:54 AM|| Front Page Top

11:22 tu3031
11:22 .com
11:13 WhyNot
18:34 Sock Puppet of Doom
18:18 DustbinUK
23:37 ex-lib
17:25 jules 187
17:20 BigEd
10:55 lex
06:54 Poison Reverse
02:39 Sock Puppet of Doom
00:24 Super Hose
00:08 tu3031
23:58 BigEd
23:53 BigEd
23:50 WhiteHouseDetox
23:38 Mark Espinola
23:37 Sock Puppet of Doom
23:36 Pappy
23:33 Asedwich
23:33 tu3031
23:24 Bored with knee jerk reactions.
23:20 Bomb-a-rama
23:19 Bomb-a-rama
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