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Head of Sorbonne attacks 'ignorant' student protesters
The Guardian ^ | April 3, 2006 | Kim Willsher

Posted on 04/02/2006 6:11:31 PM PDT by trashcanbred

The president of the world-renowned Sorbonne University has branded French students protesting about the country's new employment law "ignorant and stupid".

Reacting to protests over the law, which makes it easier for employers to fire, and therefore presumably more willing to hire, young workers, Jean-Robert Pitte said the youngsters had no dreams but believed everything was due to them as a right without having to work for it.

"I'm very angry about the demagogy, the ignorance and the stupidity of the young and of the French," said Dr Pitte, 56, a geography professor who has taught at Oxford and Cambridge and holds the Légion d'honneur.

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


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: france; ignorantpinkos; riots; sorbonne; stupidfrogs
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To: Paladin2

ROTFLOL


21 posted on 04/02/2006 6:30:28 PM PDT by yer gonna put yer eye out (ACLU = heterophobic, Ameriphobic, brainophobic (CAUTION: I made up some of these words))
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To: trashcanbred

This man is unusually clear-thinking for an academician. There will be an opening at Harvard that he seems eminently qualified to fill, if he feels like dealing with a different breed of idiot. Amazing to read this from someone who is not only an academician, but a French one at that, and in The Guardian of all places. Is "mirabile dictu" the phrase I want?


22 posted on 04/02/2006 6:31:46 PM PDT by speedy
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To: trashcanbred

The students want to reintroduce slavery--only they become masters of everyone who produces so that they can have what they want. It is slavery they want isn't it?

McVey


23 posted on 04/02/2006 6:32:49 PM PDT by mcvey (,)
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To: trashcanbred

Amazing to hear the truth spoken by a Frenchman!


24 posted on 04/02/2006 6:35:12 PM PDT by OldFriend (AMERICA WOULD NOT BE THE LAND OF THE FREE IF IT WERE NOT ALSO THE HOME OF THE BRAVE)
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To: voletti
Is this Sorbonne a socialist haven?

Well, yes, but that's not the point. The President of the Sorbonne is almost by definition one of the most influential people in France (the French, of all classes, so love their intellectuals) and this will have ramifications.

25 posted on 04/02/2006 6:35:49 PM PDT by Alter Kaker ("Whatever tears one sheds, in the end one always blows one's nose." - Heine)
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To: mcvey
Yea, it's just like being a citizen of the peoples republic of Vermont.
26 posted on 04/02/2006 6:42:06 PM PDT by Nuc1 (NUC1 Sub pusher SSN 668 (Liberals Aren't Patriots))
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To: trashcanbred

Wow, bold words and true.


27 posted on 04/02/2006 6:43:23 PM PDT by bboop (Stealth Tutor)
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To: Nuc1

Or, in my case, MA.

And we have had a string of Republican governors.

Go figure.


28 posted on 04/02/2006 6:44:03 PM PDT by mcvey (,)
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To: trashcanbred

"Today's youth don't have dreams, they have illusions. To dream is to want to accomplish something difficult that is a challenge. Instead youngsters believe they have a right to everything and if things don't go the way they want it's someone else's fault."

A breath of fresh air ...


29 posted on 04/02/2006 6:49:46 PM PDT by George - the Other (400,000 bodies in Saddam's Mass Graves, and counting ...)
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To: mcvey
The students want to reintroduce slavery

Almost correct. They will become the slaves asking for an aisle seat at the oars! Wow fresh gruel today!

A permanent job is one you cannot quit, and I could never fire anyone. That would be hell.

30 posted on 04/02/2006 6:52:45 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT (islam is a mutant meme)
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To: George - the Other
Of course. I agree its not right they should have everything handed to them on a platter but its understandable they're mad at the older generation for not letting them in on their cut.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

31 posted on 04/02/2006 6:54:10 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: trashcanbred

Warning, Sorbonne dude. You sound like a Freeper. The barbarians will be showing up soon with firebombs. They will NOT have the truth shoved down THEIR throats! How dare you?



32 posted on 04/02/2006 6:56:06 PM PDT by Right Wing Assault ("..this administration is planning a 'Right Wing Assault' on values and ideals.." - John Kerry)
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To: trashcanbred
They say a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged. Dr. Pitte has been mugged -- the institution which employs him, and of which he is president, is closed and sealed off due to the mob of muggers it has produced.

France is bracing itself for widespread trouble tomorrow when a national strike has been called against the controversial Contrat de Première Embauche - the First Employment Contract - which entered the statute books yesterday. A similar day of action last week ended in violent clashes between protesters and riot police.

As far as I can tell, the rioters are students and unemployed former students. How, pray tell, are they going to go on strike? Nobody cares if they go to class or not (which apparently isn't even an option that's open to them right now), and everybody except a few communist rabble-rousers would be thrilled if they'd go on strike from their current occupation, namely rioting. Dr. Pitte sure is right about these kids needing a reality check.

He added that tens of thousands of students were taking degrees in subjects with no relevance to the employment market but were then demanding jobs linked to their studies.

Seems to me that no publicly funded university should even be OFFERING "degrees in subjects with no relevance to the employment market" (and the US is certainly just as bad as the French in that department). But I'd like know just what attempts Dr. Pitte has made in his capacity as university President, to limit access to these ivory tower degree programs.

33 posted on 04/02/2006 6:57:12 PM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: trashcanbred

This is one guy I hope is tenured! What can they do, fire him? Vive la this dude!


34 posted on 04/02/2006 6:57:15 PM PDT by Shqipo (2006 is Bush Country!)
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To: SlowBoat407

Wow. Well said!!


35 posted on 04/02/2006 6:57:35 PM PDT by plain talk
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To: trashcanbred

Didn't some of the students do some trashing of the Sorbonne building and throw historic furniture and stuff out the window? I thought I read that somewhere.


36 posted on 04/02/2006 7:01:31 PM PDT by Unam Sanctam
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To: trashcanbred

The president of the Sorbonne understands the microeconomics of labor markets?

I am really quite surprised.


37 posted on 04/02/2006 7:03:13 PM PDT by Petronski (I love Cyborg!)
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To: Alter Kaker

I just read a pretty good book about France, the link is below. The title is, "60 Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong."

The authors contention is that the French consider the Sorbonne to be a second rate school. All the top French students aspire to enter one of the elite ecoles to study Public Administration. The path to power and prestige in France is to enter the government.

There are some great and insightful observations about the French by the authors who are a Canadian couple, the husband of which is a French-Canuck.

They talk about the rule of the mob in France throughout history to the present. In their description of the Palace at Versaille was fact that it was specifically built 20 miles outside and included lakes in the direction of Paris to prevent the Paris mob from taking the king hostage. The Paris mob was known for lynching public servants.

The present day French reverence the 'State' in the same way we do the Constitution. All government is federal, their essentially is no state, county, or local governments. All police are federal and strikes are basically a major and revered feature of French politics. French strikers get angry and complain if the riot police don't turn out because it implies the government doesn't take them seriously.

The book pretty much explained why the French didn't bother to shoot any of the Muslim car burners. It simply wouldn't occur to them to do it since protesting is a national pasttime.

Anyway, I highly recommend it



http://www.sixtymillionfrenchmen.com/media%20appearencies/we'refrommars.htm


38 posted on 04/02/2006 7:05:22 PM PDT by Belasarius (Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. Job 5:2-7)
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To: George - the Other

"Today's youth don't have dreams, they have illusions. To dream is to want to accomplish something difficult that is a challenge. Instead youngsters believe they have a right to everything and if things don't go the way they want it's someone else's fault."

This doesn't just apply to the French now. There are plenty of young Americans who believe the same thing.

I hope this guy has a bodyguard, with a gun.


39 posted on 04/02/2006 7:06:39 PM PDT by garyhope (Simplicity is best in everything)
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To: trashcanbred
Wow... the head of the Sorbonne bad mouths the socialists. Must have been the time spent in an "Anglo-Saxon" country.

Yes he did so he'll be ignored.

40 posted on 04/02/2006 7:07:03 PM PDT by bkepley
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