Posted on 10/08/2004 10:10:11 AM PDT by oldleft
French President Jacques Chirac warned Thursday of a "catastrophe" for global diversity if the United States' cultural hegemony goes unchallenged.
Speaking at a French cultural center in Hanoi ahead of Friday's opening of a summit of European and Asian leaders, Chirac said France was right to stand up for cultural and linguistic diversity.
The outspoken French president warned that the world's different cultures could be "choked" by US values.
This, he said, would lead to a "general world sub-culture" based around the English language, which would be "a real ecological catastrophe".
Citing Hollywood's stranglehold over the film industry as an example, Chirac stressed that only with government assistance could countries maintain their cultural heritage.
Vietnam is a former French colony, but only around 375,000 of its 81 million people speak French. English is considered by most people a far more valuable and practical second language, particularly among businessmen.
Already posted. But worth laughing at again.
Chirac should worry more about Islamic monoculture.
America is such a terrible place, wonder why all of these countries are losing citizens to her. Note tagline
An ecological catastrophe??
Chirac is just being silly. Would the world really be noticeably better off without our movies and our junk food? Seems like there are bigger problems in the world than that.
Breaking news?
How true - a dying country with a corrupt leader.
But Chirac would probably say:
"Do nut pay attenshion to zis scandale - oil for fud - nosing to see here -muf along. America is zee problehm, oui?
No dice, mon dieu. We know better.
Hey, France! Your president has lost his marbles! Even YOU should be concerned about that!
"The outspoken French president warned that the world's different cultures could be "choked" by US values."
Hey Jacqass - Tell me about Saddam and how he contributed to Iraqi values.
Translation of this rant:
Chiraq, the King of the EU wants to raise taxes on the rest of Europe to benefit the French film industry.
How ironic that he should pick Hanoi to make such a speech after the French all but destroyed the Vietnamese language and forced their culture upon them.
???...France has a culture?...maybe prior to 1846. :/
As if anything said from such an irrelevant POS from such an irrelevant country really mattered...
And France received how much in payoffs in the "oil-for-food" scam...
Chirac has less credibility than a screen door on a submarine!
Semper Fi,
Kelly
Is this the same France that bans head scarfs and has a Language Police Force that outlaws English words being used in papers/radio & TV? (TV is banned)
Why does he think he should impose the French language on them. Shouldn't the Vietnamese speak Vietnamese, if they choose?
And this little pig cried, "Oui, oui, oui, oui, all the way home."
It is to laugh, non?
As we understand this, everyone in the world despises us so much that they want to come here to live and, if they can't, learn to speak our language. What is wrong with the Eurosocialist picture painted by M. Chirac and our media elite in such remarkable unison?
In France, international irrelevency is a bitch. Now that all the illegal Saddam oil-for-food money is gone, what is Chirac to do?
It appears that "Le Jaques Ass" is upset because a third rate country like France is no longer relevant in today's world.
Some one answer the following questions for me.
How would more people speaking English cause...
1) Global Warming
2) Deforestation
3) Contaminated and polluted drinking water
4) More air pollution
5) Increased acid rain
6) Droughts
7) Floods
List your own "ecological disasters" that speaking English will cause.
Welcome to our world.
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