Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2010 13:02:01 GMT 10
Great opinoin peice in the local paper today.
Forced to bow before alien ideals
Tim Blair From: The Daily Telegraph June 21, 2010 12:00AM
A FEW decades ago, French health authorities took steps to reduce the country's gloriously excessive wine intake. Ads appeared on the Paris Metro advising drinkers to show a little restraint.
The suggested limit? One litre of wine a day.
They take their wine very seriously in France, which is why there was considerable opposition even last year to another anti-wine campaign
- this time, pointing out in a gentle enough way the health risks associated with alcohol.
Naturally, everybody resented this. Xavier de Volontat, representing wine producers, declared: "The extremists must not be allowed to take consumers hostage."
Join Tim Blair's blog
Then France simply went on making wine (some five million litres a year) and drinking like, well, Frenchmen. Until last week, when a method was finally discovered by which a culture could be constrained.
As Reuters reported: "A giant 'sausage and wine' party planned later this week in a Paris neighbourhood with many Muslim residents risks sparking disturbances and will therefore be banned, police in the French capital announced on Tuesday."
The extremists, you might say, have taken consumers hostage. Except that, in the view of Reuters - a view remarkably common throughout the frightened, trembling West - the extremists are French citizens who had planned to drink French wine and eat French sausages in France.
We're now at a stage where being French in France is considered insensitive, provocative and an incitement to Islamic violence.
The old saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" may now be re-written: "When in Rome, Paris, London, New York or Sydney, do as much as your cowardice permits. And do it a long way from any mosques, lest there be consequences."
Those anti-party French cops are following the lead set by former UN chief Kofi Annan, who had this to say four years ago following events in Denmark: "The offensive caricatures of the prophet Muhammad were first published in a European country which has recently acquired a significant Muslim population, and is not yet sure how to adjust to it."
Residents of Paris are now discovering what "adjustment" means. Let's take a further look at that Reuters report:
"The event, called an 'apero geant' (giant cocktail party), was due on Friday, a date seen as highly provocative because that will be the day of the weekly Muslim prayer and
the World Cup soccer match between England and majority-Muslim Algeria.
"It is also the 70th anniversary of General Charles de Gaulle's famous 1940 'Appeal of June 18' from London calling on the French to resist the German occupation of their country."
What with all these weekly religious celebrations, soccer matches in Africa and ancient anniversaries, consider how difficult it must be to arrange a simple apero geant in Paris these days
Jacques: "Alain, mon frere! Are you coming to the big cocktail party on Friday?"
Alain: "Of course, Jacques! I have some delicious ham and wonderful cheese and my personal litre of wine and - hey, wait a minute. Did you say Friday? The Muslim day of prayer?"
Jacques: "Sacre bleu! You're right, Alain. Well, no problem. We'll move it to Thursday."
Alain: "Yes. That should be OK. Let me just first consult my Reuters Guide to Ominous Islamic Grievances and Forbidden Behaviour,
Volume IV, chapter 37.
"Oh, no! Thursday is Indonesian Independence Day."
Jacques: "Wednesday?"
Alain: (flicking through pages) "Nope. Iran is competing in the men's under-21 world volleyball championship."
Jacques: "Tuesday?"
Alain: "Anniversary of Protestant reformer Jean Calvin's birth."
Jacques: "Oh, forget it. Let's just have a drink right now."
Alain: "Now? Right in the middle of maghrib, the fourth daily prayer?"
Those two fellows will likely be working things out for some time, so why don't we return to that Reuters piece about the banned Parisian street party:
"The event, announced on the social networking site Facebook late last month, had drawn growing criticism from politicians and civic groups in recent days as its page, containing barely disguised anti-Muslim slogans, attracted over 7000 members
"The Facebook page also appeared to signal the party's thrust with appeals to 'native Parisians' and complaints about 'the resolute foes of our local wines and pork products'."
Native Parisians? Foes of our local wines? These are obvious examples of frog-whistling, clearly intended to excite terrible French bigotry.
Remember, though, that all these people wanted to do was eat and drink.
It wasn't as if they were going to rampage through the suburbs destroying property, something that happens during France's annual car-b-que season.
In just one night a few years ago, 400 cars and 27 buses were set afire throughout France by gangs of Islamic immigrants.
They're rarely referred to as such, however. The accepted term is "youths". Grill a few pork chops, and the media is all over you; grill a bunch of Citroens, and they actively cover for you.
It's tempting to mock the French for their surrendering ways. These days, the Resistance is apparently limited to a few gourmands whose defiance is quickly put down by their own police.
But hypersensitivity over Islamic concerns isn't limited to France. Last year, for example, Yale University Press in the US published a book about those caricatures of the prophet Muhammad mentioned earlier by Kofi Annan. Titled The Cartoons That Shook The World, the book excludes the actual cartoons, although it has a number of other illustrations.
Why no cartoons? As a publisher's statement explained: "Re-publication of the cartoons ran a serious risk of instigating violence." That excuse followed this line, just a few sentences earlier: "As an institution deeply committed to free expression ... "
So one nation with freedom of speech written into its constitution declines to exercise that freedom, and another nation shuns its centuries-long dining traditions.
Australia's self-censorship deserves a future column by itself. In the meantime, have a drink, if you dare
Tim Blair From: The Daily Telegraph June 21, 2010 12:00AM
A FEW decades ago, French health authorities took steps to reduce the country's gloriously excessive wine intake. Ads appeared on the Paris Metro advising drinkers to show a little restraint.
The suggested limit? One litre of wine a day.
They take their wine very seriously in France, which is why there was considerable opposition even last year to another anti-wine campaign
- this time, pointing out in a gentle enough way the health risks associated with alcohol.
Naturally, everybody resented this. Xavier de Volontat, representing wine producers, declared: "The extremists must not be allowed to take consumers hostage."
Join Tim Blair's blog
Then France simply went on making wine (some five million litres a year) and drinking like, well, Frenchmen. Until last week, when a method was finally discovered by which a culture could be constrained.
As Reuters reported: "A giant 'sausage and wine' party planned later this week in a Paris neighbourhood with many Muslim residents risks sparking disturbances and will therefore be banned, police in the French capital announced on Tuesday."
The extremists, you might say, have taken consumers hostage. Except that, in the view of Reuters - a view remarkably common throughout the frightened, trembling West - the extremists are French citizens who had planned to drink French wine and eat French sausages in France.
We're now at a stage where being French in France is considered insensitive, provocative and an incitement to Islamic violence.
The old saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" may now be re-written: "When in Rome, Paris, London, New York or Sydney, do as much as your cowardice permits. And do it a long way from any mosques, lest there be consequences."
Those anti-party French cops are following the lead set by former UN chief Kofi Annan, who had this to say four years ago following events in Denmark: "The offensive caricatures of the prophet Muhammad were first published in a European country which has recently acquired a significant Muslim population, and is not yet sure how to adjust to it."
Residents of Paris are now discovering what "adjustment" means. Let's take a further look at that Reuters report:
"The event, called an 'apero geant' (giant cocktail party), was due on Friday, a date seen as highly provocative because that will be the day of the weekly Muslim prayer and
the World Cup soccer match between England and majority-Muslim Algeria.
"It is also the 70th anniversary of General Charles de Gaulle's famous 1940 'Appeal of June 18' from London calling on the French to resist the German occupation of their country."
What with all these weekly religious celebrations, soccer matches in Africa and ancient anniversaries, consider how difficult it must be to arrange a simple apero geant in Paris these days
Jacques: "Alain, mon frere! Are you coming to the big cocktail party on Friday?"
Alain: "Of course, Jacques! I have some delicious ham and wonderful cheese and my personal litre of wine and - hey, wait a minute. Did you say Friday? The Muslim day of prayer?"
Jacques: "Sacre bleu! You're right, Alain. Well, no problem. We'll move it to Thursday."
Alain: "Yes. That should be OK. Let me just first consult my Reuters Guide to Ominous Islamic Grievances and Forbidden Behaviour,
Volume IV, chapter 37.
"Oh, no! Thursday is Indonesian Independence Day."
Jacques: "Wednesday?"
Alain: (flicking through pages) "Nope. Iran is competing in the men's under-21 world volleyball championship."
Jacques: "Tuesday?"
Alain: "Anniversary of Protestant reformer Jean Calvin's birth."
Jacques: "Oh, forget it. Let's just have a drink right now."
Alain: "Now? Right in the middle of maghrib, the fourth daily prayer?"
Those two fellows will likely be working things out for some time, so why don't we return to that Reuters piece about the banned Parisian street party:
"The event, announced on the social networking site Facebook late last month, had drawn growing criticism from politicians and civic groups in recent days as its page, containing barely disguised anti-Muslim slogans, attracted over 7000 members
"The Facebook page also appeared to signal the party's thrust with appeals to 'native Parisians' and complaints about 'the resolute foes of our local wines and pork products'."
Native Parisians? Foes of our local wines? These are obvious examples of frog-whistling, clearly intended to excite terrible French bigotry.
Remember, though, that all these people wanted to do was eat and drink.
It wasn't as if they were going to rampage through the suburbs destroying property, something that happens during France's annual car-b-que season.
In just one night a few years ago, 400 cars and 27 buses were set afire throughout France by gangs of Islamic immigrants.
They're rarely referred to as such, however. The accepted term is "youths". Grill a few pork chops, and the media is all over you; grill a bunch of Citroens, and they actively cover for you.
It's tempting to mock the French for their surrendering ways. These days, the Resistance is apparently limited to a few gourmands whose defiance is quickly put down by their own police.
But hypersensitivity over Islamic concerns isn't limited to France. Last year, for example, Yale University Press in the US published a book about those caricatures of the prophet Muhammad mentioned earlier by Kofi Annan. Titled The Cartoons That Shook The World, the book excludes the actual cartoons, although it has a number of other illustrations.
Why no cartoons? As a publisher's statement explained: "Re-publication of the cartoons ran a serious risk of instigating violence." That excuse followed this line, just a few sentences earlier: "As an institution deeply committed to free expression ... "
So one nation with freedom of speech written into its constitution declines to exercise that freedom, and another nation shuns its centuries-long dining traditions.
Australia's self-censorship deserves a future column by itself. In the meantime, have a drink, if you dare