I'm a little confused about this greve situation in france. The last week here in Paris has been business as usual as far as I can tell. However on Thursday my boss sent me an email that the US embassy security update- warning Americans to avoid demonstrations, a general tourist warning and of course a notice that if you were planning on renting a car you might have a problem finding petrol... As a side note, I'm not entirely sure why my boss sent me this, 1, I work everyday and renting a car here is out of the question- and, they have a car and haven't seemed to have the slightest problem with getting gas, 2, as my boss sees about as much of Paris as I do on a typical day he must have noticed that things aren't the least bit different from the week before or last month, perhaps he thinks I care about whether the French get one more year of retirement and that I'd be willing to use my personal time to fight the power... I don't think the demonstrators have just cause for their anti-reform stance, and even if I did, it's starting to get cold here and I'd rather be downloading the season finale of MadMen.
Still, it's a little alarming that I keep reading in American news media that France is a scary place full of rioters. Sylvain works everyday in Nanterre where there have been isolated incidences apparently- he has not noticed anything. Sylvain is from Lyon, his parents haven't reported anything worth mentioning. Have their been rioters? There must have been, but it seems to me that America today is a far scarier place to live... especially if you're Muslim.
We are a couple weeks away from an election that could paralyze governance even more than it already is. Sarah Palin is getting out her misinformed vote, Christine O'Donnell is spreading her crazy, Alaska is in the news again (remember when Alaska was an afterthought, totally forgettable, ah, I miss those glory days) and Tennessee and New York are battling it out for who can be angrier and stupider. On top of that NPR is getting heat because they fired Juan WIlliams because he is a bigot and he is supposed to be a neutral reporter- firing sounds about right to me...
What happened to my country? I miss the days when crazy and stupid was isolated to the President and his cabinet.
The only answer I can think of is Fox News.
1 comment:
I have suffered a bit with the greve, school cancellations because of teacher strikes, not being able to buy gas (stuck at home!) deliveries being very late due to the port of Marseille being closed
have not seen any riots..
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