Motorist Drives Through Crowd in Paris

[Autolykos]

The riots in France have reached new heights:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060407/...e_job_protests

PARIS - A motorist drove through a crowd of students protesting the government's new youth jobs law Friday near the Sorbonne University, injuring seven people. Furious demonstrators overturned the car and tried to kick its windows out, while police in riot gear and helmets worked to disperse the crowd. The incident came after high school students spent the afternoon disrupting traffic outside the Sorbonne by picnicking on a busy boulevard. They were heading away when a frustrated motorist tried to burst through the crowd. Several dozen youths turned the car over and unsuccessfully attempted to drag the driver out before police and onlookers intervened. Firefighters said seven people suffered light injuries. French students have been protesting for weeks over a new law that will make it easier for companies to hire and fire people under age 26. While most demonstrations have been peaceful, some have seen violence from a radical fringe.

Thus do we see the lengths to which people are willing to go in order to hold onto the dream of having a "free lunch".

- Rob

[Nono]

Right, whereas in the Hallowed Jungle of ultra-liberalism there's no such thing. Unless you're the biggest, meanest motherfucker in the jungle, that is. Not a pretty sight.

Which is why I say: OK, big deal, there's no such thing as a free lunch. So let's make sure that the cost is borne by those who can best afford it.

[tman_ndsu08]

It's too bad he couldn't have run over those seven.

Quote by: Nono So let's make sure that the cost is borne by those who can best afford it.

That being the businesses that lose customers because their reputation is damaged from firing college workers too fast.

Done and done.

No need for any tax.

[Autolykos]

Quote by: Nono Right, whereas in the Hallowed Jungle of ultra-liberalism there's no such thing. Unless you're the biggest, meanest motherfucker in the jungle, that is. Not a pretty sight.

I'm not going to take issue with you on this right now. Suffice it to say that I fail to see how voluntary trade equates to predators hunting and killing prey.

Quote by: Nono Which is why I say: OK, big deal, there's no such thing as a free lunch. So let's make sure that the cost is borne by those who can best afford it.

Fair enough. There are two ways to do this. One way is through the development of voluntary means of exchange (which tend to reflect the underlying reality), i.e. markets. The other way is through arbitrary decisions (which very well may not reflect the underlying reality) backed by the use or threat of force, i.e. governments.

- Rob

[Nono]

Quote by: tman It's too bad he couldn't have run over those seven.

Yeah, t, you should write an earnest letter to Boy George urging him to nuke the whole country.

[Allas]

Seriously, enough. France has been in a continous state of disarray as of late. These people protesting need to wake up and realize their government is ignoring them for the simple reason, that it knows these protesters are gonna roll over and forget all about it in a few moments. Either the disgruntled need to start trying more desperate measures, like trying to topple the government, or they need to shut the fuck up and stop disrupting everyday life for everyone else.

[Nono]

Man, Allas, you sure don't seem to know much about the way France works.

1) A degree of disarray (and you'd have to actually believe what you hear on Fox News to think it was any worse than that) is as French as foie gras.

2) If street protests didn't give French governments serious pause, France'd still be in its first republic (look it up).

3) The French shutting the fuck up?

Unlike Americans, the French aren't taking the globalized race to the bottom lying down.
The greedheads will probably ultimately prevail, as ever, but in France they're being given a run for their money. Three cheers.

[Matt W]

Language, gents. Too much f'ing & blinding and the site starts to be blocked by work filters....tone it down, willya?

Do not respond to me within this thread. PM myself or Sean with any questions.

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: Nono Unlike Americans, the French aren't taking the globalized race to the bottom lying down.

!!!!

So you're really just full of crap after all.


You want to keep as much of the wealth in your own country as possible using arbitrary and artificial means!


You don't give a rat's about everyone being equal and all that garbage at all, do you!


Just as long as the Chinese don't even up the wealth of the world, everything is fine with you!



HA!


What hypocracy!

[Matt W]

Seeing as he doesn't live in France, tman, it would appear to be you talking out of your arse. Again. :rolleyes:

What foolishness.

[bishop]

i definitely can't understand the mentality of these protestors/rioters... especially after looking at the policy and seeing how seemingly insignificant the change really is. seriously, all it's saying from what i see is that new hires under 26 years of age essentially have to go through a probationary period before receiving their lifetime employment reward.

i also wonder how many of the people protesting are french muslims - the same kids who rioted several months ago over some other nonsense.

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: Matt W Seeing as he doesn't live in France, tman

Are you kidding me?!

So I have to live in China to say that communism sucks?!

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: bishop i definitely can't understand the mentality of these protestors/rioters... especially after looking at the policy and seeing how seemingly insignificant the change really is. seriously, all it's saying from what i see is that new hires under 26 years of age essentially have to go through a probationary period before receiving their lifetime employment reward.

Some collectivist brainwashed them into believing some slippery slope, etc.

[bishop]

yeah.. i'm sure that was it tman.. :rolleyes:

[tman_ndsu08]

There's no other explanation.

French humans don't come out of their mother's vaginas heralding the glorious command economy.

[bishop]

by that token, did you fall out of your mother's vagina with a copy of adam smith's "wealth of nations" in one hand and a $100 bill in the other?

it's called culture/society... our society and theirs are different, and it doesn't necessarily mean that anyone was brainwashed by the borg evermind. free people are entitled to believe whatever the hell they want to believe, and retarded (foreigner) opponents shouldn't cheer people who try to run them over with their cars. what happens in france is of no consequence to you living out in the boonies.

i don't see anything wrong with a society having their own beliefs and value systems.. lord knows that americans seem to stand for hypocrisy and self-centeredness as evidenced by our domestic/foreign policies. it wouldn't kill our nation if people actually held their government to account, so that they could actually represent our interests.. the people in france don't feel like their interests are being represented, so they're protesting - as free people are allowed to do.

my point of contention is that this has evolved into what seems to be a herd mentality - with few people objectively analyzing this new law. and a sizeable number of protestors are the same french muslims who've acted like fools in the past.

[Matt W]

I'd say your perception is wrong, bishop....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4877892.stm

Some of the fire seems to have gone out of the demonstrations, though, and even the skirmishes between the waiting riot police and hooded youths at the end of the march at Place d'Italie seemed desultory, as though even the trouble-makers' hearts were not quite in it any more. Though the national and international media were camped out ready with satellite vans and live positions overlooking the square, only a few hundred youths remained by 9 p.m.. A few fisticuffs between rival gangs led to some excited running around, but this time the riot police had also reworked their tactics - sending in plainclothes snatch squads to pick out trouble-makers and drag them off before any real fights got going. As for the demonstrators, many left the square early to get home in time to watch Lyon play in a televised football match. In Paris at least, the mood on the streets seemed a little more subdued and more sombre than last week.

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: bishop by that token, did you fall out of your mother's vagina with a copy of adam smith's "wealth of nations" in one hand and a $100 bill in the other?

I didn't fall out for one.

I was raised by a single mother and we received welfare. If anything, I should be grateful to the state, right?

But alas, nature beats nurture every time.

I question things by my nature and when I questioned the existance of the state, there was an all too easy answer.

what happens in france is of no consequence to you living out in the boonies.

How does Minneapolis = the boonies?

[Allas]

Quote by: Nono Man, Allas, you sure don't seem to know much about the way France works. 1) A degree of disarray (and you'd have to actually believe what you hear on Fox News to think it was any worse than that) is as French as foie gras. 2) If street protests didn't give French governments serious pause, France'd still be in its first republic (look it up). 3) The French shutting the fuck up? Unlike Americans, the French aren't taking the globalized race to the bottom lying down. The greedheads will probably ultimately prevail, as ever, but in France they're being given a run for their money. Three cheers.

1) Im danish, i can take two 24 hour international news stations, and those are CNN and BBC world. The rest of my news i get from danish news programs (which are all top of the hour based with plenty of news and current events specials in between), free news papers which i read to and from school, the internet (some of it from here, and you guys dont tend to post fox links alot) and other than that, i just pick it up here and there.

The past 6 months, france has been host to far to many disruptions of all kinds. I call it serious disarray when the government fails to do the will of the people - and the people are unwilling to do what is necessary about it. I call it serious disarray when a country such as france is forced to appeal to a larger order for help and monitary assistance in order to correct its own self made social problems - such as it did in the aftermath of the riots a few months back.

2) We are witnessing the so-called pause the french goverment is in now. Weeks of protesting and civil disorder has lead to the french president changing 2 minute details in the law. It is clear, this law will pass. The question is, how far are the french willing to go prevent it? Its time to take it to the next level, because this round of protesting does not seem to have the effect we all expected it to have.

3) Touché. :p

[bishop]

Quote by: Matt W I'd say your perception is wrong, bishop.... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4877892.stm Some of the fire seems to have gone out of the demonstrations, though, and even the skirmishes between the waiting riot police and hooded youths at the end of the march at Place d'Italie seemed desultory, as though even the trouble-makers' hearts were not quite in it any more. Though the national and international media were camped out ready with satellite vans and live positions overlooking the square, only a few hundred youths remained by 9 p.m.. A few fisticuffs between rival gangs led to some excited running around, but this time the riot police had also reworked their tactics - sending in plainclothes snatch squads to pick out trouble-makers and drag them off before any real fights got going. As for the demonstrators, many left the square early to get home in time to watch Lyon play in a televised football match. In Paris at least, the mood on the streets seemed a little more subdued and more sombre than last week.

well, different news agencies definitely tell the story from different perspectives, that's for sure.

so, from this article, these protestors don't sound like much except for a bunch of dipshits... rival gangs definitely don't amount to much of anything - i don't care what level of socialism you accept.. pretty funny how most of the protestors left to go watch some soccer (on tv no less).

seems that these kids have a bit too much time on their hands.. wouldn't it be nice if france could reform its economy so that over 20% of people under 26 could have a decent chance of gaining employment? what the hell are these fools protesting for?!?