Friday, March 31, 2006

Suck it, French Youth

Looks like you lost the battle against precariousness. "Contre la précarité!" if you must, and surely you must.
Too bad about that. I wish I could say I was sad for you, but it's hard to have sympathy for those who get to eat more creme fraiche than me (and American creme fraiche is quite poor and awfully expensive anyway), smoke more cigarettes, and effortlessly weigh less.
But that's fine, because it looks like your waistlines are expanding since you have the most McDonalds per capita outside of the US and now you'll have to work hard to keep your lousy french jobs with your excessive vacations. You'll probably become stressed and end up eating massive quantities of cheap chocolate at your desk, which will just exacerbate your growing girths. Bummer, french youth, I really want to feel for you, but I'm not sure if it's jealousy or animosity that keeps me from doing so.
In any case, we've suspected you're worthless for a long time, so, let's see if you can cut it in the real world (ie the american one).

10 comments:

Katie said...

DAMNIT!!! I HATE PEOPLE WHO CAN SMOKE MORE CIGARETTES AND ARE NATURALLY THIN!!! I DONT EVEN WANT TO BELIEVE THAT SUCH A CONCEPT EXISTS!!!

My only interaction with a "french youth" is Melodie and we all know what a nutbag she was...

Anonymous said...

Hey, give them this, though:

1. They protest much more, and much better, than Americans do. Americans are just lazy, apathetic assholes when it comes to protesting something.

2. Despite having an unemployment rate 4% higher than the U.S., everyone there has better insurance, pensions, and vacation time. What do we have? 45 million without health insurance, 20% of children living in poverty, and corporations taking people's pensions and health insurance away from them.

3. I don't agree totally with what the French youth are doing, but I feel like the U.S. and France are at two different ends of the same problem.

In essence, they protest too much and we protest too little.

ruth said...

oh, puh-lease. the american liberal's idealization of western europe is such crap.
europe's great, the french are cool, but i don't believe their health care systems serve their most marginalized residents any better than ours does.
And better protestors? Come on! Maybe I am missing something, but the protests in France seem to fall under the lines of:
-race riots
-opposition to american politics
-protectionism disguised as anti-globalization.
sorry, european readership, i love you, but i just don't believe you are more moral than the us.

Anonymous said...

There are also lots of protests in Germany at the moment. Actually I'm not a fan of trade unions, but in some ways they're importent for the social life here. The French protests - especially the students' one - were ok for a few weeks. But now it's getting ridiculous. Showing your anger and your opinions in form of protests is a part of democracy. But too much is just a blockade and people from the outside get the impression you just protest because you like to protest and there is no real chance in finding a compromise because you are too stubborn.

ruth said...

i'm sorry, jenni, your german protests have not made the american news. i just searched to see what is happening in germany and just about the only thing i can find is stuff about your goofy citizen test. which, incidentally, i just read through. it confirmed two things: 1) i don't know enough stuff about geography or the printing press to be german and 2) europeans love to use the word 'obliged' when writing/speaking in english, a word we native english speakers seem generally able to do without.

Anonymous said...

I never use this word. Maybe because I like using simple expressions.
And it's a really good sign that you couldn't find anything about our protest in English. It's not worth it.
And talking about our citizen test: I'd fail too. Such a rubbish. Typical for overreacting politicians. Don't you have such kind of things, too?

ruth said...

yes, we too have a citizenship exam. i believe that ours is more general than the proposed german one. no crazy questions about the gutenberg press nor the protestant reformation on ours, mostly stuff about the flag, constitution, etc, although there are some goofy ones about thanksgiving that may or may not be historically accurate. you can try it out for yourself at http://uscis.gov/graphics/exec/natz/natztest.asp

Anonymous said...

Ok, I tried it and mostly got 3 or 4 out of 5. Which isn't that good. But the German one would probably be even worse. And I admit I'm not very familiar with the amendments (and which amendment belongs to which number) of your Constitution. Nor am I very certain when it comes to some special parts of your political system. But I'm sure after my new seminar about your domestic policies I'll pass this test.

Bill McClain said...

The thing is...I don't think I've met many Americans who could pass the citizenship test cold. It's rough man!

Bill McClain said...

Actually, I retract my previous statement. I just totally kicked it's ass! 100% Score over and over again! Making me THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE UNTIED STATES! YEAH!