January 08, 2014
— Ace Interesting article by Theodore Darymple about the Dieudonné controversy in France.
What is that? Well, there's a comic. He's half-French, half-Cameroon by descent. His name is Dieudonné M'Bala M'Bala, but he is only known by his first name. ("God-Given," it means.)
This guy is literally in the French papers every day. Because, you see, he is accused of being Anti-Semitic, and brazenly so. And the anti-semitic flavored act he performs at his own theater in Paris is -- now I want you to sit down before I shock you with this -- quite popular in France.
Now, he claims he's not anti-semitic per se. He says he's "anti-systeme," against the controlling powers that run the system generally. You know, a populist, a rabble-rouser. But a lot of his "anti-systeme" stylings seem to be directed against the Jews.
For example -- this is what is the French papers constantly -- he and his legions of fans make a gesture called une quenelle, which is judged to be, as Darymple says, a forme frustre (incomplete or arrested form) of the Nazi salute.
This is Dieudonné doing the quenelle:
I mentioned the gesture being a forme frustre of the Nazi salute not to show off but because when I write a term I tend to remember it, and it's a useful term. And also, until Darymple described it this way, I could never understand how the gesture was supposed to resemble a Nazi salute.
But now I can see it -- if it's a forme fruste of the full Nazi salute, that means it's arrested before completion. And now I can see, the hand pointing down like that seems poised (as Barack Obama might say) to come up into the Sieg Heil position.
Among the other things he says which are perceived as anti-Jewish is his use of ananas -- pineapples -- as provocations. The reason an anana is considered anti-Jewish is that he's linked the anana to the Holocaust, referring to Jews as Shoahanas. Belittling the Shoah.
I think... I gotta confess, my French is not very good and I barely read this torrent of Dieudonné stories I see on Twitter every day.
People pay actual money to see this form of "comedy" in France...
No but this stupid pantomime code-gesture
(which he always does) is supposed to mean something
about always attacking the forces above us...
Please don't ask me why it means that
At any rate, the French Interior Minister, Vallis, wants to forbid him from performing in France. The PM is a socialist, and, as you might have guessed, the socialists are in favor of government control over speech. The right (or what passes for the right in France) finds the anti-freedom impulse to be alarming.
That background out of the way, I want to quote Darymple's general thoughts on "spontaneous order" (order arising from free market, capitalistic, individual-authored decisions) and the allegedly "rational order" dictated by the central superstate. (And in France, the state is indeed super-sized-- more than half of the GDP is due to government "production").
He notes that Dieudonnés coalition of the angry is made up of elements of the far right and far left.
What unites the Third-Worldists and the National Front is the desire to suppress the effects of whatever spontaneous order still exists in France and in the entire world. They share this desire with socialists of all stripes. And while it may be true that in a spontaneous order the vast majority do better in aggregate than they would do under a more centrally-organized (or supposedly ‘rational’) order, it cannot be denied that, in such a spontaneous order, some will do better, even much better, than others. A winner in an abstract aggregate may be a loser in a particular situation, and his status as loser will almost always be more real to him that his status as winner. He is then on the lookout for a scapegoat because a) we tend to assume that everything that happens in the human realm is the result of someone’s intention and b) hatred is by far the strongest, longest-lasting, and most gratifying of all political emotions.For those who both hate spontaneous order for the ill it has done them but who also believe that such an order cannot really exist because everything that happens does so because of someone’s wish that it should, the fact that Jews should be so successful in France (and, of course, elsewhere in the western world), and the North Africans so comparatively unsuccessful, can only be explained on one hypothesis: conspiracy. To an age-old prejudice is added a reinforcing paranoia, and it is that M’Bala M’Bala both evokes and panders to. Here I must add that the structure of socialist economic thought is exactly the same as the structure of ant-Semitic economic thought: if anti-Semitism is the socialism of fools, socialism is the anti-Semitism of intellectuals.
I don't know what that means but I like it.
I've cut out the various bits about the illusion the statists are possessed by, believing they can order the world properly. I can't quote the whole thing, but I think it might be worth a full read.
Another Good Quote: Walrus Rex made me laugh:
Forty years ago when I was a foreign exchange student in France, a French professor told me that the situation in the Middle East is very complicated for them because the French are antisemitic and they don't like Arabs.
Posted by: Ace at
01:40 PM
| Comments (323)
Post contains 928 words, total size 6 kb.
Posted by: Vashta Nerada at January 08, 2014 01:42 PM (O3C36)
Posted by: meh at January 08, 2014 01:43 PM (W2qJe)
Posted by: ace at January 08, 2014 01:45 PM (/FnUH)
serious u guys question: is haute a French word?
And what does it mean? What does terra haute mean? I know terra = earth.
Posted by: soothsayer at January 08, 2014 01:45 PM (gYIst)
Posted by: Jim Brown at January 08, 2014 01:46 PM (/Crba)
Posted by: Rhonda Deane at January 08, 2014 01:47 PM (/Crba)
haute is French for "high"
Terra Haute is just a....... hill.
Posted by: fixerupper at January 08, 2014 01:47 PM (nELVU)
Posted by: Julia ce Smerkes at January 08, 2014 01:47 PM (wAZG2)
Posted by: ace at January 08, 2014 01:47 PM (/FnUH)
Posted by: rickb223 at January 08, 2014 01:48 PM (FNtJ6)
Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith[/i][/b][/s][/u] at January 08, 2014 01:48 PM (qyfb5)
"If anti-Semitism is the socialism of fools, socialism is the anti-Semitism of intellectuals."
-
I like that. It should be a sub-quote, just below the Mencken quote.
Posted by: Vashta Nerada at January 08, 2014 01:48 PM (O3C36)
Posted by: WalrusRex at January 08, 2014 01:48 PM (Hx5uv)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at January 08, 2014 01:49 PM (ZPrif)
if it's a forme fruste of the full Nazi salute, that means it's arrested before completion. And now I can see, the hand pointing down like that seems poised (as Barack Obama might say) to come up into the Sieg Heil position.
Well, either that or he's doing that ghey, 2-fingered to my heart thing popularized by Sammy Sosa.
Here I must add that the structure of socialist economic thought is exactly the same as the structure of ant-Semitic economic thought: if anti-Semitism is the socialism of fools, socialism is the anti-Semitism of intellectuals.
I loved this. It makes it perfectly plain that the pretensions of socialists are just the equivalent of the flaws of the people they claim to love but really despise.
Posted by: pep at January 08, 2014 01:49 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: Throat Wobbler Mangrove at January 08, 2014 01:50 PM (kI8sg)
Posted by: Brandon In Baton Rouge at January 08, 2014 01:50 PM (/Crba)
Posted by: Brandon In Baton Rouge at January 08, 2014 01:51 PM (/Crba)
Posted by: dogfish at January 08, 2014 01:51 PM (nsOJa)
Terre Haute is on the banks of the Wabash, far away.
Posted by: HR at January 08, 2014 01:51 PM (ZKzrr)
Posted by: dantesed at January 08, 2014 01:52 PM (88xKn)
His book _Life at the Bottom: The worldview that makes the underclass_ is written from the standpoint of his former day job as a prison doctor in the UK, dealing daily with that country's feral yobs who partake of the generous British welfare state while simultaneously pursuing criminal careers.
But the lessons it imparts are every bit as useful in figuring out America's extremely similar underclass dysfunctions, and the leftist excuses for same.
Posted by: torquewrench at January 08, 2014 01:52 PM (gqT4g)
There's no "vista", no "view", and sure as hell no "vista" of no "view".
When I was starting out, I lived in the Belle View apartments. I had a beautiful view, alright. Of the parking lot and the other squalid apartments across the road.
Posted by: pep at January 08, 2014 01:52 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: Vic[/i] at January 08, 2014 01:52 PM (T2V/1)
Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at January 08, 2014 01:52 PM (RLTt1)
Posted by: Soona at January 08, 2014 01:52 PM (PdEAn)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at January 08, 2014 01:52 PM (DhGW2)
Posted by: Beagle at January 08, 2014 01:53 PM (sOtz/)
Posted by: Brandon In Baton Rouge at January 08, 2014 01:53 PM (/Crba)
1. Gain power via populism with promises to close gap between rich and poor.
2. Fail to deliver on your promise; poor get poorer because of your childish policies.
3. Blame the Jews.
Posted by: soothsayer at January 08, 2014 01:53 PM (gYIst)
Posted by: Brother Cavil, still chilly at January 08, 2014 01:54 PM (naUcP)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at January 08, 2014 01:54 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: shredded chi - broke, busted & disgusted at January 08, 2014 01:54 PM (dSa5I)
They can't make commercials either. I mean, have you ever seen those Mentos or Ricola commercials? It's like they're pod people trying to impersonate real advertisers. That said, Jean Claude van Damme on a Volvo truck was unquestionably the best ad of 2013.
Posted by: pep at January 08, 2014 01:54 PM (6TB1Z)
I have never understood why Arabs and non-Europeans would be fans of Hitler (ok, other than the hating Jews part).
Hitler specifically (and Nazis in general) thought the Germans were the pinacle of evolution. I believe he generally accorded similar status to the English and Northern Europeans like the Dutch, Danes and Scandanavians -- but pretty much everyone else was beneath the Germans (and usually by a wide, wide margin). Hell, he thought that the Slavs (his fellow Europeans) were subhumans and fit (at best) to simply be slaves to the Germans. His intention was only to keep enough of them around to serve the German race.
Hitler went after the Jews with particular vehemance because he viewed them as aliens and subhuman, but a particularly crafty and dangerous alien that posed an existential threat to the German race. He believed they would keep popping back up if not totally exterminated.
My guess is that the Nazis would view someone like Mr. God Given as a dumb animal, but unlike the Jews, a not terribly threatening dumb animal.
Posted by: nc at January 08, 2014 01:55 PM (fkBVg)
Terre Haute is on the banks of the Wabash, far away.[/]
Yeah, terre is Frog for earth, both the planet kind and the dirt kind. I always assumed terre haute meant "high ground", as in what you look for in battle.
Which reminds me, so many of our military terms come from French: enfilade, defilade, cache...French? When were the French such great military thinkers that we stole their words for our use?
Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at January 08, 2014 01:55 PM (A0sHn)
But, but, they still think Jerry Lewis is funny.
I have to admit, the hardest I have ever laughed watching a movie is the locker room and boxing scene in Sailor Beware.
Posted by: polynikes at January 08, 2014 01:55 PM (m2CN7)
Posted by: BCochran1981 - Irish at January 08, 2014 01:55 PM (GEICT)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at January 08, 2014 01:55 PM (DhGW2)
Posted by: thunderb at January 08, 2014 01:56 PM (4WxQ9)
-
My take on why the Jews are so often scapegoated: The Jews strongest asset is also their greatest liability. The Jews refused to be assimilated; i.e., to become Christian, and therefore they are the other. Hardship has forced them to try harder and do better and their reward for success is constant suspicion.
Posted by: WalrusRex at January 08, 2014 01:56 PM (Hx5uv)
Posted by: Johnny Cash at January 08, 2014 01:56 PM (powyN)
Posted by: NeverEvermore at January 08, 2014 01:56 PM (hRV3r)
Posted by: JackStraw at January 08, 2014 01:56 PM (g1DWB)
Perfectly consistent, I'm sure we can all agree.
Posted by: torquewrench at January 08, 2014 01:56 PM (gqT4g)
Posted by: Romeo13 at January 08, 2014 01:56 PM (lZBBB)
Fancypants!
I think you mean pantalons fantasies.
Posted by: pep at January 08, 2014 01:56 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: Hurricane LaFawnduh at January 08, 2014 01:56 PM (pginn)
Posted by: Brandon In Baton Rouge at January 08, 2014 01:57 PM (/Crba)
Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch
Err, Napoleon ring a bell?
Posted by: weft cut-loop [/i] [/b] at January 08, 2014 01:57 PM (dwArK)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at January 08, 2014 01:57 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: Dr Spank at January 08, 2014 01:58 PM (DpEwG)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at January 08, 2014 01:58 PM (DhGW2)
Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at January 08, 2014 01:58 PM (A0sHn)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at January 08, 2014 01:58 PM (aDwsi)
Marcus and Beck are good friends; first time I ever heard of Marcus was on Beck's radio show, castigating the punks that shot Marcus' dog. Beck's been dropping Lone Survivor movie tidbits on his radio show, such as:
Apparently when Marcus met with the movie producers, he told them that if they did anything in the movie to dishonor his friends that had died, who were to be portrayed in the film, he would personally hunt them down and kill them. Bwahaha I would have loved to have been in the room at that moment, seen the execs faces. Never cross a Seal. Haven't seen the movie but apparently the execs kept their word; who wouldn't after that?
He allowed a warts and all portrayal for his character in the film, versus wanting the cleaned up, canonizing/saintly portrayal some ppl might have asked for when their story is hollywoodized. So he actually come across as a jerk at times in the film, and doesn't mind, wants the truth out there.
His wife got to finally see a screening. They had talked about his time over there, but nothing could prepare her for what seeing what it actually must have been like for her husband. Really affected her to see her husband's nightmares on the big screen.
Thought you guys might be interested in those tidbits, if you haven't heard them already.
Posted by: LizLem at January 08, 2014 01:58 PM (BF+2f)
Posted by: Brandon In Baton Rouge at January 08, 2014 01:58 PM (/Crba)
Battle of Brandywine?
Posted by: HR at January 08, 2014 01:58 PM (ZKzrr)
Who else thinks that the socialists woul be perfectly happy with his antisemitism if he cut out all the borderline nazi stuff.
Posted by: buzzion at January 08, 2014 01:58 PM (LI48c)
Le Bugout?
Posted by: pep at January 08, 2014 01:58 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: Romeo13 at January 08, 2014 01:58 PM (lZBBB)
Posted by: garrett at January 08, 2014 01:59 PM (powyN)
Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at January 08, 2014 01:59 PM (Ya/V3)
For people who don't like Arabs, that makes the French immigration policy of the last few decades the biggest own-goal in all of history, as France inexorably turns itself into the Maghreb of the north.
Posted by: torquewrench at January 08, 2014 02:00 PM (gqT4g)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at January 08, 2014 02:00 PM (aDwsi)
Socialists are a personality type, not a political philosophy.
Posted by: pep at January 08, 2014 02:00 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at January 08, 2014 02:00 PM (DhGW2)
Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at January 08, 2014 02:00 PM (UFgvm)
Posted by: rickb223 at January 08, 2014 02:00 PM (FNtJ6)
Surely these guys were yukkin' it up, (in between photos with Scandi cheesecake), like two old community organizing swinging dicks from the good old days.
Posted by: Fritz at January 08, 2014 02:00 PM (TKFmG)
62
Hitler was big buddies with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, IIRC.It doesn't mean that Arabs wouldn't have been slaughtered in droves down the road, but that he saw them as tools to be used in taking out the Jews.
----
yes I know-- though as you say, they saw the Arabs simply a means to an end (and the Arabs also happened to be in the Middle East and not in Germany -- so they were a tomorrow problem, not a today problem).
The Germans also used Jewish policemen and Jewish community leaders to keep order in the Ghettos. But those were just ways stations before implementing the final solution.
Posted by: nc at January 08, 2014 02:01 PM (fkBVg)
Posted by: Romeo13 at January 08, 2014 02:01 PM (lZBBB)
Posted by: shredded chi - broke, busted & disgusted at January 08, 2014 02:01 PM (dSa5I)
-
Napoleon. He was all the rage in West Point in the years leading up to the Civil War. There was a French military theorist, Jomini or something like that, that was considered to be the end all and be all of everything. Officers would brag to each other that they had read Jomini in the original French.
Posted by: WalrusRex at January 08, 2014 02:01 PM (Hx5uv)
Posted by: Brandon In Baton Rouge at January 08, 2014 02:01 PM (/Crba)
Posted by: Napoleon Bonapart at January 08, 2014 02:01 PM (/FnUH)
Posted by: bonhomme[/i][/b][/i][/b][/s][/s] at January 08, 2014 02:01 PM (gtjN1)
Posted by: --- at January 08, 2014 02:02 PM (MMC8r)
Posted by: Adam Smith's Invisible Pimp Hand at January 08, 2014 02:02 PM (WdbF7)
Which reminds me, so many of our military terms come from French: enfilade, defilade, cache...French? When were the French such great military thinkers that we stole their words for our use?
-
When they were being led by a Corsican.
Posted by: Vashta Nerada at January 08, 2014 02:02 PM (O3C36)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at January 08, 2014 02:03 PM (DhGW2)
Posted by: BSR (aka Rifle) at January 08, 2014 02:03 PM (3wrJ+)
Posted by: Nome de guere at January 08, 2014 02:03 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD, you taunty bitch. at January 08, 2014 02:03 PM (Gk3SS)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at January 08, 2014 02:03 PM (DhGW2)
Posted by: AnonymousDrivel at January 08, 2014 02:04 PM (eHIJJ)
Posted by: rickb223 at January 08, 2014 06:00 PM (FNtJ6)
I think he was pretty good with a bo staff.
Posted by: some other guy at January 08, 2014 02:04 PM (2DunM)
Posted by: rickb223 at January 08, 2014 02:04 PM (FNtJ6)
Posted by: thunderb at January 08, 2014 02:04 PM (4WxQ9)
Posted by: Trimegistus at January 08, 2014 02:04 PM (BqW72)
There is a notion that these lefties are harmless.
I believe they are anything but, even the stupid asses we have here.
They destroyed the GOP after all, there is no real opposition.
And I do believe that they are very anti-Jew. If the media stupid asses would dig a little bit into these nuts they would find a helluva lot of it.
But who cares.
Posted by: Rev Dr E Buzz Christies at January 08, 2014 02:05 PM (xggaJ)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at January 08, 2014 02:05 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: shredded chi - broke, busted & disgusted at January 08, 2014 02:05 PM (dSa5I)
Posted by: Dieudonné M'Bala M'Bala at January 08, 2014 02:05 PM (0cMkb)
Posted by: --- at January 08, 2014 02:05 PM (MMC8r)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at January 08, 2014 02:05 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: BSR (aka Rifle) at January 08, 2014 02:06 PM (3wrJ+)
When were the French such great military thinkers that we stole their words for our use?
-------------------------------------------------------
I think it probably started when George Washington hired Lafeyette to train the troops during the Revolutionary War.
Posted by: Soona at January 08, 2014 02:06 PM (PdEAn)
Posted by: Romeo13 at January 08, 2014 02:06 PM (lZBBB)
Posted by: Plaintiff Pug at January 08, 2014 02:06 PM (Qev5V)
Posted by: Some Gay Englishman at January 08, 2014 02:06 PM (QF8uk)
Posted by: Brandon In Baton Rouge
How many battalions did Corsica have?
Posted by: weft cut-loop [/i] [/b] at January 08, 2014 02:07 PM (dwArK)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at January 08, 2014 02:07 PM (ZPrif)
The 'Ozarks' are a morph of French words too....Aux Arcs...which sounds like "Oh-Zarc".
Interesting.
Posted by: soothsayer at January 08, 2014 02:07 PM (gYIst)
Well in fairness, the French were pretty tough under Louis XIV too. I think until the unification on Germany in the 19th century -- the French were pretty much the top dog on the continent. The Brits could take them on the sea and outside of Europe, but pretty much inside of Europe, it took coalitions to knock down the French.
After 1871 that pretty much changed. Though the French did bleed the hell of the Germans in WWI. I realize the Brits were pretty important in that process, but the French and Germans was doing most of the dying in the early part of the war.
Posted by: nc at January 08, 2014 02:07 PM (fkBVg)
Posted by: BSR (aka Rifle) at January 08, 2014 02:07 PM (3wrJ+)
Posted by: bonhomme[/i][/b][/i][/b][/s][/s] at January 08, 2014 02:08 PM (gtjN1)
And what does it mean? What does terra haute mean? I know terra = earth.
---
I hate living in the Vista View apartments.
There's no "vista", no "view", and sure as hell no "vista" of no "view".
Posted by: Rhonda Deane at January 08, 2014 05:47 PM (/Crba)
There's a condo complex nearby named "Tierra Vista". When I told my Spanish-speaking aunt that one, she burst out in laughter.
Posted by: IllTemperedCur at January 08, 2014 02:08 PM (TIIx5)
Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at January 08, 2014 02:08 PM (fJBen)
Posted by: BSR (aka Rifle) at January 08, 2014 02:09 PM (3wrJ+)
Posted by: Plaintiff Pug at January 08, 2014 02:09 PM (Qev5V)
The Nutty Professor is the exception to the rule.
Love that movie.
Posted by: AnonymousDrivel at January 08, 2014 02:09 PM (eHIJJ)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at January 08, 2014 02:10 PM (aDwsi)
Pittsburgh is Hymietown!
Posted by: Zombie Al Davis at January 08, 2014 02:10 PM (kUgpq)
Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at January 08, 2014 05:55 PM (A0sHn)
How quickly you forget.
Posted by: Napoleon Bonaparte at January 08, 2014 02:10 PM (2jF2B)
Posted by: Checkers at January 08, 2014 02:10 PM (RJMhd)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at January 08, 2014 02:10 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: thunderb at January 08, 2014 02:10 PM (4WxQ9)
Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at January 08, 2014 02:10 PM (RLTt1)
"The decision to revive the film is bound to provoke anguished debate. It includes truly shocking footage of the camps (Belsen-Bergen in particular.) The film's own commentary, which has been re-recorded with a new actor, has a phrase about "sightseers" at a "chamber of horrors". Billy Wilder, who directed Death Mills (1945), an American film about the German atrocities, was forthright about why he did not want atrocity footage to be seen in later years. Wilder questioned whether it had worked in "re-educating" the German civilian population about what their leaders had been doing in their name."
I adore Wilder. But with all due respect, comics like this, and the fact that there is an audience for this guy's type of comedy, proves that rebroadcasting documentaries like that are absolutely necessary, so that we don't forget.
That being said, banning a comic from doing silly antisemitic standup is not the solution either.
Posted by: LizLem at January 08, 2014 02:11 PM (BF+2f)
Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at January 08, 2014 06:03 PM (DhGW2)
Yeah, I think Europe has been actually lucky on that part. There are so many far left wing socialist and communist partys in every country but they can never seem to form coalitions. So many different types, so many variety of far lefties. If there's one thing communists hate more than capitalists it's other communists.
Posted by: Adam Smith's Invisible Pimp Hand at January 08, 2014 02:11 PM (WdbF7)
Posted by: rickb223 at January 08, 2014 02:11 PM (FNtJ6)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at January 08, 2014 02:11 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: davidt at January 08, 2014 02:11 PM (rn0EN)
Posted by: garrett at January 08, 2014 02:11 PM (powyN)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at January 08, 2014 06:10 PM (aDwsi)
----------------------------------------------
Better yet. In OK we eat "French Fries".
Posted by: Soona at January 08, 2014 02:11 PM (PdEAn)
Posted by: University of Washington[/i][/b][/i][/b][/s][/s] at January 08, 2014 02:11 PM (gtjN1)
Posted by: Aviator at January 08, 2014 02:12 PM (DI+ja)
Posted by: Gristle Encased Head at January 08, 2014 02:12 PM (+lsX1)
for reals
Or tetas grandes. Cause I'm all multilingual and stuff.
Posted by: pep at January 08, 2014 02:12 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at January 08, 2014 02:12 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at January 08, 2014 02:13 PM (V70Uh)
Not just America by any means. James Watson has been rendered persona non grata in Europe after his comments about race and intelligence.
"Well, yes, he's an absolutely brilliant scientific mind and earned the Nobel Prize for his co-discovery of the central mechanism of biology, but he's just too dangerous to have impressionable minds listen to."
Posted by: torquewrench at January 08, 2014 02:13 PM (gqT4g)
Posted by: BSR (aka Rifle) at January 08, 2014 02:14 PM (3wrJ+)
Posted by: University of Washington[/i][/b][/i][/b][/s][/s] at January 08, 2014 02:14 PM (gtjN1)
Posted by: Hank Hill at January 08, 2014 02:14 PM (012vu)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at January 08, 2014 02:14 PM (aDwsi)
147
And I assume "aux" is french for gold?
No, it's the plural form of "au"...which means "to, at or of".
The French prepositions are sort of multi-task little things.
Posted by: wheatie at January 08, 2014 02:14 PM (1ScqE)
Posted by: thunderb at January 08, 2014 02:14 PM (4WxQ9)
Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at January 08, 2014 02:15 PM (V70Uh)
Posted by: Napoleon Bonapart at January 08, 2014 02:15 PM (/FnUH)
OK, got a lot of Napoleons for "when were etc.", but I like the Lafayettes better. Even if it's not true.
So, horde, (pronounced "ooard" for this thread), what Triomphe does the Arc d'Triomphe celebrate? Waterloo?
As a bonus, I offer P.J. O'Rourkes only French phrase you need to know: Si nous n'avions pas retiré vos marrons du feu pendant las dieuxiemme guerre mondial, bouch de grenouille, vous parleriez l'allemand aujour-d'hui.
"If we hadn't pulled your chestnuts ouf of the fire in the second world war, frogmouth, you'd be speaking German today".
Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at January 08, 2014 02:15 PM (A0sHn)
Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at January 08, 2014 02:15 PM (Tcley)
Posted by: ace at January 08, 2014 02:16 PM (/FnUH)
Say it to my face, connard.
Posted by: Les Poilus at Verdun at January 08, 2014 02:16 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: ace at January 08, 2014 02:17 PM (/FnUH)
Posted by: WalrusRex at January 08, 2014 02:17 PM (Hx5uv)
Posted by: shredded chi - broke, busted & disgusted at January 08, 2014 02:17 PM (dSa5I)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at January 08, 2014 02:17 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: ace at January 08, 2014 02:17 PM (/FnUH)
Posted by: Fritz at January 08, 2014 02:17 PM (TKFmG)
Posted by: Checkers at January 08, 2014 02:17 PM (RJMhd)
Posted by: University of Washington at January 08, 2014 06:14 PM (gtjN1)
----------------------------------------------
What a coincidence. That's the name I gave to my right hand.
Posted by: Soona at January 08, 2014 02:17 PM (PdEAn)
I know a Mexican-American who told me that years ago he had to drop off a truckload of trash at the Buena Vista dump. He told the guy at the gate "You know, it's really pronounced Bway-nah Vees-tah" and the guy said (begin extreme Redneck pronunciation) "Around here we pronounce it Byoo-nuh Vista, Boy!"
Posted by: Dr. Weevil at January 08, 2014 02:18 PM (6g9W/)
Posted by: wodun at January 08, 2014 02:18 PM (fbqZE)
Posted by: @ParisParamus at January 08, 2014 02:18 PM (cJ8Kq)
Shorter version: Democrats
Posted by: pep at January 08, 2014 02:19 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at January 08, 2014 02:19 PM (ZPrif)
Flatbush -- you know what is interesting to me, everyone generally agrees that characteristics like height, body shape, eye color, etc. are genetically passed down. But when it comes to intelligence, we suddenly assume (or at least we pretend to assume) that it is not an inheritable trait.
I wonder if Hitler and the Nazis (and maybe to a lesser degree systems like Jim Crow and the Apartheid system) makes most people a little fearful of ascribing characteristics like levels of intelligence to particular groups of people. Of course, part of the irony is that Hitler went after the one ethnic group that does appear to have a very high IQ (at least on average).
Posted by: nc at January 08, 2014 02:19 PM (fkBVg)
Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 08, 2014 02:19 PM (op9Rd)
Posted by: BSR (aka Rifle) at January 08, 2014 02:20 PM (3wrJ+)
Posted by: Erowmero at January 08, 2014 02:20 PM (OONaw)
Posted by: Romeo13 at January 08, 2014 02:20 PM (lZBBB)
There is a documentary about Eddie in which he talks a little about his experiment in attempting standup in French, and the challenges of making comedy translate linguistically and culturally. (It also talks about how he feels more American than British in spirit, ie entrepreneurial instead of self defeatist, which I found extremely interesting.) Worth a look if you haven't seen it yet.
Posted by: LizLem at January 08, 2014 02:21 PM (BF+2f)
And I assume "aux" is french for gold?
Aux is with.
--------
I think the OP was making a funny. Aux Arcs, golden arches.
Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at January 08, 2014 02:21 PM (A0sHn)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at January 08, 2014 02:21 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at January 08, 2014 02:21 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: Phinn at January 08, 2014 02:21 PM (jN8bg)
Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at January 08, 2014 02:21 PM (QMczk)
Posted by: University of Washington[/i][/b][/i][/b][/s][/s] at January 08, 2014 02:21 PM (9PrpA)
yeah like Fon du Lac in Wisconsin
and Osh Kosh, also in Wisconsin
(I might be kidding about the latter; I think that one is injun)
Posted by: soothsayer at January 08, 2014 02:21 PM (gYIst)
You'd think so, wouldn't you.
Posted by: Khaaaaaaan at January 08, 2014 02:22 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: ace at January 08, 2014 02:22 PM (/FnUH)
Posted by: Hollande at January 08, 2014 02:22 PM (PRPp1)
Posted by: Peaches at January 08, 2014 02:23 PM (8lmkt)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at January 08, 2014 02:23 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: University of Washington[/i][/b][/i][/b][/s][/s] at January 08, 2014 02:23 PM (9PrpA)
Posted by: filbert at January 08, 2014 02:23 PM (roTS7)
For history geeks only: I'm reading an interesting book now. The Most Dangerous Book by Krebs. It is about ancient Roman historian Tacitus's book Germania and how it has been used and abused by the Nazis and others to justify their point of view.
Posted by: WalrusRex at January 08, 2014 02:23 PM (Hx5uv)
concrete objects mostly originate in German.
The upper class in England was 'Norman' French, or posing as that; the 'Anglo-Saxons' were mostly middle and lower class. Demographics is dictionaries, or something like That
military ranks originate in French ( see above )
Posted by: Hedwig Bleibtreu at January 08, 2014 02:24 PM (omBWL)
Posted by: Romeo13 at January 08, 2014 02:24 PM (lZBBB)
Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at January 08, 2014 02:24 PM (oFCZn)
Closing in on an Ace of Base joke, here . . .
(why yes, I am in a time warp)
Posted by: filbert at January 08, 2014 02:24 PM (roTS7)
Posted by: BSR (aka Rifle) at January 08, 2014 02:24 PM (3wrJ+)
Synonyms include Detroit.
Posted by: pep at January 08, 2014 02:25 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 08, 2014 02:25 PM (op9Rd)
Posted by: ace at January 08, 2014 02:25 PM (/FnUH)
Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at January 08, 2014 02:26 PM (oFCZn)
Posted by: Ribald Conservative riding Orca at January 08, 2014 02:26 PM (RFeQD)
We'll know a lot more in 10 years.
Right, because if there's anyone I trust to publish scientific studies free of propaganda, it's the Chinese.
Prediction: Their results will show that the Chinese have the highest IQs, with their enemies (real or perceived) being dummies.
Posted by: Hollowpoint at January 08, 2014 02:26 PM (SY2Kh)
Eddie Izzard does stand up comedy routines in French.
Pretty interesting--although I'm an Izzard fan so I could be biased. Posted by: Checkers at January 08, 2014 06:10 PM (RJMhd)
-----------------------------------------------
The guy who played Festus on the series "Gunsmoke" would show up many times on German tv speaking German. He'd even sing and dance.
This was in the 70's.
Posted by: Soona at January 08, 2014 02:26 PM (PdEAn)
Yup and whatever they are not good at they are great at stealing.
The Chinese don't consider it stealing. They consider it tribute.
Posted by: filbert at January 08, 2014 02:26 PM (roTS7)
Posted by: ace at January 08, 2014 06:17 PM (/FnUH)
Yes.
Posted by: Auric Goldfinger at January 08, 2014 02:26 PM (BF+2f)
Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at January 08, 2014 02:26 PM (DO6Uz)
Posted by: BSR (aka Rifle) at January 08, 2014 02:26 PM (3wrJ+)
Posted by: shredded chi - broke, busted & disgusted at January 08, 2014 02:26 PM (dSa5I)
Posted by: Ribald Conservative riding Orca at January 08, 2014 02:27 PM (RFeQD)
wherein you may find a freakin' cannon, not just a little handgun like some people pack (kicking myself for working and missing that thread, dammit)
Posted by: Peaches at January 08, 2014 02:27 PM (8lmkt)
Posted by: Dr. Varno at January 08, 2014 02:27 PM (V4CBV)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at January 08, 2014 02:27 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: Telly Savalas, AKA, Your Daddy at January 08, 2014 02:27 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: Checkers at January 08, 2014 02:27 PM (RJMhd)
Posted by: Phinn at January 08, 2014 02:27 PM (jN8bg)
Posted by: bonhomme[/i][/b][/i][/b][/s][/s] at January 08, 2014 02:27 PM (9PrpA)
Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 08, 2014 06:25 PM (op9Rd)
-------------------------------------------
Russians too.
Posted by: Soona at January 08, 2014 02:27 PM (PdEAn)
aux Etats-Unis
No, that means "in the/to the United States".
Re: abstract French/concrete German...I like the class aspect to the theory. I've always thought the same was true of the original languages. Chaise is ephemeral, like the idea of something you might sit on; Stuhl is palpable, you could sit on the word itself.
Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at January 08, 2014 02:28 PM (A0sHn)
concrete objects mostly originate in German.
-
Most ironic words originate in New York.
Posted by: WalrusRex at January 08, 2014 02:28 PM (Hx5uv)
And as we've made it so the stupid survive more easily....
We may have the very first case in history, of reverse evolution in progress...
Posted by: Romeo13 at January 08, 2014 06:24 PM (lZBBB)
They say the fittest shall survive.
Yet the unfit may live.
Posted by: DEVO at January 08, 2014 02:28 PM (9W1fA)
Posted by: Romeo13 at January 08, 2014 02:28 PM (lZBBB)
Posted by: Ribald Conservative riding Orca at January 08, 2014 02:28 PM (RFeQD)
Posted by: Peaches at January 08, 2014 02:28 PM (8lmkt)
Romeo13
Well yes and no. Yes, I generally agree with everything you said -- but evolution is not really about producing a better creature or species, its just about producing a species that is most adapted to survive a particular environment.
I suppose its possible that at a certain point, having more relative intelligence does not confer any additional survival benefit.
Bacteria are non-thinking, but from an evolutionary standpoint they are extremely successful.
Posted by: nc at January 08, 2014 02:28 PM (fkBVg)
Posted by: BSR (aka Rifle) at January 08, 2014 02:29 PM (3wrJ+)
Posted by: Hernnstein & Murray at January 08, 2014 02:29 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: bonhomme[/i][/b][/i][/b][/s][/s] at January 08, 2014 02:29 PM (9PrpA)
Posted by: Checkers at January 08, 2014 02:29 PM (RJMhd)
**checks expiration date on his fire extinguishers**
Posted by: pep at January 08, 2014 02:30 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: MJ at January 08, 2014 02:30 PM (PRPp1)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at January 08, 2014 02:30 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at January 08, 2014 02:30 PM (exd3/)
Posted by: bonhomme[/i][/b][/i][/b][/s][/s] at January 08, 2014 02:30 PM (9PrpA)
Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 08, 2014 02:31 PM (op9Rd)
Posted by: Peaches at January 08, 2014 02:31 PM (8lmkt)
Posted by: WalrusRex at January 08, 2014 02:31 PM (Hx5uv)
Posted by: BSR (aka Rifle) at January 08, 2014 02:31 PM (3wrJ+)
coming soon to a Republic near you.
Posted by: Sven 10077 at January 08, 2014 02:31 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: kartoffel at January 08, 2014 02:32 PM (EcHOO)
Posted by: Ribald Conservative riding Orca at January 08, 2014 02:32 PM (RFeQD)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at January 08, 2014 02:32 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: Daybrother at January 08, 2014 02:32 PM (nXnEs)
Posted by: Phinn at January 08, 2014 02:32 PM (EKQk0)
Posted by: --- at January 08, 2014 02:32 PM (MMC8r)
Posted by: Checkers at January 08, 2014 02:32 PM (RJMhd)
I could do the bidet / Biden thing, but sacred honor forbids it...
( a Biden is a person who drinks from a bidet )
Posted by: Hedwig Bleibtreu at January 08, 2014 02:32 PM (omBWL)
Posted by: Ribald Conservative riding Orca at January 08, 2014 06:28 PM (RFeQD)
----------------------------------------
The Germans loved him.
Posted by: Soona at January 08, 2014 02:32 PM (PdEAn)
Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at January 08, 2014 02:33 PM (exd3/)
Posted by: Dr. Weevil at January 08, 2014 02:33 PM (6g9W/)
Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at January 08, 2014 06:21 PM (QMczk)
In one of PJ O'Rourke's books he commented that the French love to lecture Americans about our racism and how we treat blacks but as soon as you start asking them questions about French arabs like say why no arabs live in the 19th Arrondissment they start sputtering and get real quiet.
I actually tried this once on the French wife of an acquaintance when she was going on and on about American racism. And she immediately replied oh well that's because arabs are just dirty, lazy thieves. And then changed the subject.
Posted by: Mætenloch at January 08, 2014 02:33 PM (pAlYe)
Posted by: Romeo13 at January 08, 2014 02:33 PM (lZBBB)
Posted by: Checkers at January 08, 2014 02:33 PM (RJMhd)
Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at January 08, 2014 06:28 PM (A0sHn)
*****
Guttural.
Unlike some of the Middle East languages where you have to bring up phlegm to get the correct pronunciation. Like anybody in Les Etats Unis gives a shit, lol!
Posted by: Peaches at January 08, 2014 02:33 PM (8lmkt)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at January 08, 2014 02:33 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at January 08, 2014 02:33 PM (ZPrif)
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 08, 2014 02:33 PM (xydLk)
Pastries! Yum. Posted by: bonhomme
Sophie Marceau?
Posted by: pep at January 08, 2014 02:34 PM (6TB1Z)
Posted by: Adam Smith's Invisible Pimp Hand at January 08, 2014 02:34 PM (WdbF7)
Maetenloch -- did she really have so little self-awareness? People love to convince themselves how much better they are than those around them.
Posted by: nc at January 08, 2014 02:34 PM (fkBVg)
Posted by: Mætenloch at January 08, 2014 06:33 PM (pAlYe)
Oh, that is priceless, Maet!
Posted by: Peaches at January 08, 2014 02:35 PM (8lmkt)
Fronch dressing. Fronch fries. Fronch bread. And to drink....Peru!
Posted by: Ricky's Mom at January 08, 2014 02:35 PM (BF+2f)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at January 08, 2014 02:36 PM (aDwsi)
In other words, they have as much to do with American conservatives or the right politically as Mao Tse Tung.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at January 08, 2014 02:36 PM (zfY+H)
"Amelie" is a never-ending series of puns in French; also makes fun of how slight changes in spelling totally alter the meaning of many French words and names.
also, hating Jews has been a sport in France for centuries. It wasn't ze Germans who rounded up the Jews in France under Vichy...
Posted by: Hedwig Bleibtreu at January 08, 2014 02:36 PM (omBWL)
Europe is going to be an interesting scrying pool into our future.
the EU and International Socialism are predicated on the idea that Western Civ is never to be defended aggressively. Western Civ is the glue of all our cultures in it by extension our cultures(except the GOOD NEW SOCIALIST PARTS) cannot be defended on the same battlespace that the PC Gestapo invokes on behalf of minorities. The current "right" really "nationalist fusion left/right" embodied in France by LePen and in England the the ENP(DP) reject the notion and try to meld aspects of worker's paradise with a hard defense of "middle" culture of France and England with some racist fringe overtones.
I loathed them, but unlike a decade ago I cannot say I don't understand them.
Posted by: Sven 10077 at January 08, 2014 02:38 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: Hedwig Bleibtreu at January 08, 2014 02:38 PM (omBWL)
Posted by: tony weiner at January 08, 2014 02:39 PM (PK+r9)
Wow you mean "like the original Nazis and Fascists" then?
Yeah of course they will look "capitalist" because in power they will spend money on defense and the military...
Posted by: Sven 10077 at January 08, 2014 02:39 PM (TE35l)
To make sense of it...you have to remember that the 'Louisiana Purchase' encompassed a huge swath of land stretching up the Mississippi.
That was 'French Territory' for a long time.
French explorers settled there in the 1700's and opened trading posts...and sold maps that were in French.
So a lot of landmarks, etc. were already in French, before we bought the territory.
Posted by: wheatie at January 08, 2014 02:41 PM (1ScqE)
Romeo13
From your mouth to God's ear.
I have become a little pessimistic about our ability to leave this planet. I think of the vast distances of space, the short length of our lives and the fact that we are very well adapted to this planet -- but chances are that we would not be that well adapted to any other planet -- or at least anything that we could conceivable reach. I suppose there ways around these problems (and I am certainly not a biologist or physicst), but I just don't know who we can realistically travel much beyond our solar system given the energy and time required and the distances that are involved.
Posted by: nc at January 08, 2014 02:41 PM (fkBVg)
Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at January 08, 2014 02:41 PM (PoUe9)
Posted by: nc at January 08, 2014 06:34 PM (fkBVg)
No - I really don't think she even thought of hating arabs as anyway comparable to the racist hating of blacks. To her it seemed to be just a commonly known fact that arabs are scum.
Posted by: Mætenloch at January 08, 2014 02:41 PM (pAlYe)
Is it in Colorado? Mile High, in more ways than one...
Posted by: Keith Arnold at January 08, 2014 02:41 PM (DMtT+)
EUrope lost ground to Islam before but enough of EUrope remained to help set the seeds of the enlightenment....
the EU has "surrender and use the newcomers to grind the original citizens to dust" as gameplan...
why kind of like here.
Posted by: Sven 10077 at January 08, 2014 02:42 PM (TE35l)
I'd imagine that happens when you import the population of several other countries into your own borders. Especially populations that have no interest in "assimilating". Coming soon, to a city near you.
Posted by: kartoffel at January 08, 2014 02:43 PM (EcHOO)
*If* we are lucky. Charles Martel would attack Brussels and secure France. The EU would lube up and say "vote for the Greens!"
Posted by: Sven 10077 at January 08, 2014 02:44 PM (TE35l)
Maetenloch:
You sure she wasn't a Scandi, they are well-known for their racism, lack of self-awareness and general ill-breeding.
Posted by: nc at January 08, 2014 02:44 PM (fkBVg)
Posted by: Mike Hammer at January 08, 2014 02:47 PM (aDwsi)
Posted by: ToursLepantoVienna at January 08, 2014 02:47 PM (UlI/7)
Posted by: ToursLepantoVienna at January 08, 2014 02:48 PM (UlI/7)
Posted by: Bitch McConnell at January 08, 2014 02:51 PM (NHO7i)
Posted by: ace at January 08, 2014 02:54 PM (/FnUH)
Posted by: ace at January 08, 2014 02:56 PM (/FnUH)
Posted by: I R A Darth Aggie © at January 08, 2014 02:57 PM (1hM1d)
I don't get it.
Posted by: toby928© puzzles at January 08, 2014 03:04 PM (QupBk)
Posted by: toby928© puzzles at January 08, 2014 03:07 PM (QupBk)
"France: rolling countrysides, sprawling vineyards, quaint
cafes. France: home to the world's greatest painters, chefs, and anti-semites.
The French: cowardly, yet opinionated; arrogant, yet foul-smelling;
anti-Israel, anti-American, and, of course, as always, Jew-hating. Paris: the
city of whores, dog feces on every corner, and effete men yelling anti-Semitic
remarks at children. The real crème de la crème of world culture. With all
that's going on in the world, isn't it about time we got back to hating the
French?"
Posted by: toby928© puzzles at January 08, 2014 03:10 PM (QupBk)
Yo Mama.
Posted by: These are the jokes, folks at January 08, 2014 03:51 PM (BF+2f)
Posted by: Serena at January 08, 2014 04:08 PM (np7MN)
Posted by: pipandbaby at January 08, 2014 04:15 PM (rxsnN)
You perhaps find this all entertaining that the French somehow don't support free speech because they are trying to ban this fiend. Frankly, I don't care much for the French and their politics, especially the Socialist and their anti-democratic leaning. But it was the same type of attitude that allowed the Nazi's to flourish and accomplish their terrible deeds.
Force him to stop his "free" speech? Well in the name of liberty perhaps no. But I would do everything possible to stop his appeal to hate and the worst that mankind has to offer. Because every extremist has flocked to this buffoon because they believe his intentions are malicious and align with their hate.
I once walked across France, retracing some of the last steps of a relative from the war. During the journey, I came across an older French farmer who inquired about what I was doing. When I told him, his eyes filled and he hugged and kissed me. He stated the Nazi's were the most terrible thing that had ever happened in the history of man. The man didn't say how he suffered, but it was clear he was haunted by ghosts. He concluded by saying that he hoped mankind would never allow such ignorance to rise again. I told him it never would. Now I am not so sure.
Posted by: Marcus at January 08, 2014 04:15 PM (rPa1a)
Posted by: LFW - Honorary Pointy Eared Vulcan at January 08, 2014 04:32 PM (SudzO)
I have to agree. I never thought it could happen here, but now I'm not so sure. Sad really.
Posted by: LFW - Honorary Pointy Eared Vulcan at January 08, 2014 04:35 PM (SudzO)
Quite.
That I understand the nationalist movements over there more does not mean I approve of the European Prototypes of the 20-40s ideology or target selection.
Posted by: Sven 10077 at January 08, 2014 04:40 PM (TE35l)
Posted by: Roscoe at January 09, 2014 05:21 AM (MIovV)
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Posted by: Zombie Emile Zola at January 08, 2014 01:42 PM (/Crba)