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Why France is gearing up for a culture war with the United States
The Washington Post ^ | Saturday, June 8, 2013 | Agnès Poirier

Posted on 06/08/2013 8:13:57 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican

Do you remember the most Homeric of world trade negotiations, called the Uruguay round, which took place between 1986 and 1994? I was a teenager then and I remember that round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Gatt) vividly.

I had taken to reading the austere Le Monde every day and remember the uncouth Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association in Hollywood, who particularly despised European film directors for pleading with their governments to exclude cinema, and the arts in general, from the negotiations. Valenti roared back: "Culture is like chewing-gum, a product like any other." At the time, France's President François Mitterrand led the rebellion and, sphinx-like, treated the like of Valenti with hauteur. He retorted: "The mind's creations are no mere commodities and can't be treated as such."

The contrast sums up the opposing views: the US considers cinema and the arts as entertainment industries making profits; Europe considers culture as the product of ideas that go beyond a strict commercial value. In the late 80s, France coined the notion of "cultural exception" which has since morphed into the less arrogant-sounding "cultural diversity", a principle adopted in October 2005 by Unesco as a legally binding convention passed by 185 states against two. The naysayers were the US and Israel.

(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Israel; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bho44; culturaldiversity; culturewars; europeanunion; france; hollywood; israel; thearts; unesco; waronterror
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1 posted on 06/08/2013 8:13:57 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

F France.


2 posted on 06/08/2013 8:15:22 AM PDT by Drango (A liberal's compassion is limited only by the size of someone else's wallet.)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks MinorityRepublican.
...the US considers cinema and the arts as entertainment industries making profits; Europe considers culture as the product of ideas that go beyond a strict commercial value. In the late 80s, France coined the notion of "cultural exception" which has since morphed into the less arrogant-sounding "cultural diversity", a principle adopted in October 2005 by Unesco as a legally binding convention passed by 185 states against two. The naysayers were the US and Israel.

3 posted on 06/08/2013 8:17:29 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (McCain would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

” I was a teenager then and I remember that round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Gatt) vividly.”

Sure you do, honey. Sure you do.


4 posted on 06/08/2013 8:18:16 AM PDT by vladimir998
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To: MinorityRepublican

France is in a perpetual culture war with the entire non-French speaking world.


5 posted on 06/08/2013 8:18:19 AM PDT by expat1000
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To: MinorityRepublican

France has another culture they need to fight a culture war against...


6 posted on 06/08/2013 8:21:34 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: MinorityRepublican
They would last 5 minutes against the Low Information crowd...


7 posted on 06/08/2013 8:25:33 AM PDT by darkwing104 (Let's get dangerous)
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To: 2banana
They can't win that culture war. They simply need to expel them.
8 posted on 06/08/2013 8:26:06 AM PDT by 17th Miss Regt
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To: MinorityRepublican

Bit of a deceptive headline. “Culture war” in general usage these days means the Judeo-Christian time tested values against the “anything goes” crowd.

What they seem to be referring to here are technically “culture wars” but seems to be really a conventional trade war with tariffs and the like as applied to products of “culture” most importantly movies.

Sure it’s “culture wars” but not in the commonly used sense.


9 posted on 06/08/2013 8:28:52 AM PDT by 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten
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To: Drango

They would enjoy it too much.


10 posted on 06/08/2013 8:29:05 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: MinorityRepublican
DAFT PUNK - Get Lucky
11 posted on 06/08/2013 8:30:04 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
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To: MinorityRepublican

Real culture is self supporting by provate sales and private donors.

Anything that is subsidized by goverment is not culture. It’s


12 posted on 06/08/2013 8:30:23 AM PDT by Maceman (Just say "NO" to tyranny.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

More free trade bs. That’s what this article is about...what should be covered by free trade agreements. Whether movies and “cinema” should be included


13 posted on 06/08/2013 8:32:53 AM PDT by dennisw (too much of a good thing is a bad thing - Joe Pine)
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To: expat1000

French is still somewhat widely spoken throughout Vietnam, particularly in the cities, including the North.


14 posted on 06/08/2013 8:36:09 AM PDT by onedoug
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: Drango
F France.

Careful with the broad brush. At least some of the French are visibly pushing back against the gay agenda and even against the spread of Islam (see: "Génération Identitaire") . Personally, I don't care if they want to protect their language and cuisine; I consider those to be the actions of a culture that still possesses a sense of identity and self-worth.

16 posted on 06/08/2013 8:40:21 AM PDT by Charles Martel (Endeavor to persevere...)
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To: expat1000

They’re still hurt that we didn’t back them up in the Suez Crisis, and gave them a black check to hang on to their colonial empire.

You’d think they’d get over it by now.


17 posted on 06/08/2013 8:40:42 AM PDT by Shadow44
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To: vladimir998

Oh, come on, Vlad. You don’t remember those negotiations? In between Love Boat and America’s Rich and Famous, I was agog at those hearings!


18 posted on 06/08/2013 8:46:13 AM PDT by miss marmelstein ( Richard Lives Yet!)
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To: MinorityRepublican
I don't care what anyone says, it was French president François Mitterrand urging German federal chancellor Helmut Kohl, et al to get crackin' on putting together a monetary union that rushed the Euro into existence for pure political reasons. The French wanted something to compete with the dollar and destroy it as the world reserve and most favored currency.

How did that work out?

So now it's movies?

This time it's destroy Hollywood.. hmm I'll have to think about that.

19 posted on 06/08/2013 8:53:50 AM PDT by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: MinorityRepublican

France and the US are gearing up for a culture war about the postmodern views of cinema. Let me be the first to say WOW.

Well I for one am can hardly wait to see how this turns out. This could mean an epic shift in the lives of a bunch of self serving elitist nitwits. /S


20 posted on 06/08/2013 8:57:33 AM PDT by Fzob (In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. Jefferson)
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