The French are not rioting because they resent being asked to work an extra few years (see https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65449777). The French are rioting because they know that if this “reform” gets through more will follow. The slippery slope is real. The French are one of the most middle class countries in the world (see https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2017/04/24/the-middle-class-is-large-in-many-western-european-countries-but-it-is-losing-ground-in-places/). This is how they maintain the ratio. The reason they are able to do this together is that the they are trained in philosophy, the root of critical thinking, at high school. Liberté, egalité, fraternité is taught in primary school. They understand and share the truth amongst one another. I have had such conversations with many French people. They get it. Our kids are taught to “celebrate” sorry day.
The Chinese see “vulnerable groups” such as gays, feminists, labour activists and ethnic minorities as targets for foreign subversion because they are a security threat (https://www.economist.com/china/2023/05/25/why-the-communist-party-fears-gay-rights)…and they are right. Why do the Chinese think that? Because that’s exactly what COMINTERN did from 1920-1989 and it’s probably what the CCP has been doing in the West since approximately 2000…with a Chinese twist.
that might be the case w the french but the whole handing over the country to foreigners doesnt trigger a single peep from them and yet raising the retirement age by like 2 years (does anyone really care at that point – cant wait to vegetate at home like an old alzeimer patient yipee) causes this kind of reaction, even if its reasonable to protest about that’s pretty bad optics
I know what you’re getting at with the middle class item. But gosh that pew research piece was a dense and slow read!
I don’t associate with frenchies myself (except when in Paris, when there are a lot of them about), but I do get the sense that they still have a connection to their (relatively) recent revolutionary past and the legends that have been built around it and that connection is still refreshed and perpetuated.
so there is an underlying “Frenchness” that they have to realise and so have something in common, rather than atomised individual purposes and profit motives.
My basic heuristic rule for any news story in the media, other than a blatant fact like a cyclone, is that the opposite of every “news” story is most likely the truth, until independently proven otherwise.
The more controversial the fact they are reporting on, the more likely my rule of thumb to be true.
that might be the case w the french but the whole handing over the country to foreigners doesnt trigger a single peep from them and yet raising the retirement age by like 2 years (does anyone really care at that point – cant wait to vegetate at home like an old alzeimer patient yipee) causes this kind of reaction, even if its reasonable to protest about that’s pretty bad optics
I know what you’re getting at with the middle class item. But gosh that pew research piece was a dense and slow read!
I don’t associate with frenchies myself (except when in Paris, when there are a lot of them about), but I do get the sense that they still have a connection to their (relatively) recent revolutionary past and the legends that have been built around it and that connection is still refreshed and perpetuated.
so there is an underlying “Frenchness” that they have to realise and so have something in common, rather than atomised individual purposes and profit motives.
My basic heuristic rule for any news story in the media, other than a blatant fact like a cyclone, is that the opposite of every “news” story is most likely the truth, until independently proven otherwise.
The more controversial the fact they are reporting on, the more likely my rule of thumb to be true.
A good thread on seed oils.
https://twitter.com/_AustinHerbert/status/1663351081785540608
We mainly use gee now, only a bit of veggy oil when doing a stir fry.
We now use only olive or ghee exclusively