The Frogs

[zipo]

>>Of course, what better way is there to stifle discourse and debate, than by hurling accusations of racism and fascism?<<

This is a common tactic, so common that these kind of accusations and mischaracterizations are ignored and dismissed.

I think this has to do with the increasing irrelevance of PC, together with an increasingly media-savvy culture summarily rejecting such clumsy attempts to spin debate in this way.

All in all, a healthy development.

[Cyrus]

[ QUOTE ]
I really don't know much about Le Pen.

[/ QUOTE ] Which is why I am bringing a few facts about the man to your attention. Your admiration for Taki should be tempered.

Le Pen quote, August 31st 1996 : ""Yes, I do believe in the inequality of races! Olympic games show clearly inequalities between the back and white races concerning, for example, athletes, and runners in particular. It’s a fact. [...] I’m stating what I see. [...] Egalitarianism is simply absurd." Et moi je dis, vas the faire enculer, pièce d' emmerdeur.

Fools such as li'l zipo here (who tries hard to be irrelevant again) will ignore to their detriment the significance of European neo-facists such as Le Pen and his numerous followers in France, people who attack Muslims one night - and paint swastikas in Jewish cemeteries the next.


But perhaps some of the folks here will probably find a lot of common ground with Taki (or Le Pen) in their attitudes towards "towel heads" and "camel jockeys"...


[ QUOTE ]
Those who would squelch free speech and debate (as Le Pen was effectively squelched in France) seem to me at least as guilty of such things [as fascism].

[/ QUOTE ] This is correct, despite being a gross exaggeration. (Fascism is alotgether a very different thing. I cringe whenever Bush is accused of being a fascist.) For what it's worth, I believe that freedom of speech is essential in a democracy, whether it's the speech (expression and dissemination of ideas) of neo-fascists like Le Pen, Holocaust deniers like Faurisson, German neo-Nazis, etc etc. Europe is lagging way behind the United States in this respect.

[ QUOTE ]
Is it possible that Le Pen might actually have a point, and that the cumulative effect of years of unbridled immigration of poor unskilled North Africans and Algerians is actually harming the country?

[/ QUOTE ] Yes, in my opinion Le Pen is correct in that aspect -- but there are many other politicians, who happen to be more mainstream than that neo-fascist, who are arguing against totally free immigration and are making their case with more intelligence, less inflaming rhetoric, none of the supremacist ideology and more constructive proposals. Le Pen has effectively sabotaged the public dialogue necessary for France to find a way ahead on the issue of immigration.

[ QUOTE ]
Besides, Taki sure knows how to write a column.

[/ QUOTE ] I already told you : Taki's writing is his saving grace. He is a true son of a bitch otherwise.


[ QUOTE ]
P.S. to Zeno. Sorry if this has diverged from the light intent of the thread.

[/ QUOTE ] You could atone by providing a joke that's better than the Zeno ear-clapper. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[vulturesrow]

[ QUOTE ]
I already told you : Taki's writing is his saving grace. He is a true son of a bitch otherwise.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well said. The man can turn a phrase but some of the things I have read by him are downright nauseating.

[MMMMMM]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I really don't know much about Le Pen.

[/ QUOTE ]

Which is why I am bringing a few facts about the man to your attention. Your admiration for Taki should be tempered.

[/ QUOTE ]

What makes you think my appreciation of his columns is an untempered admiration of every thing he writes, or everything about him or who he likes? Didn't I make it clear from a previous thread that there are things one may agree or disagree with in Taki's columns? Is a standard for writers that we now must agree with ALL of their views, and admire ALL whom they admire--or if not, shun them entirely?

[ QUOTE ]
Le Pen quote, August 31st 1996 : ""Yes, I do believe in the inequality of races! Olympic games show clearly inequalities between the back and white races concerning, for example, athletes, and runners in particular.

[/ QUOTE ]

Cyrus are you claiming that whites are the athletic equivalent of blacks, on average? Got anything to back up that assertion? Ever look up top running records in recent years? Blacks dominate the highest levels of the sport of running even more so than they dominate the sport of basketball.

Obviously there are actual physical differences between the races. However, equality of rights should be the most important guiding principle. Equality of rights however does not imply, nor does it even have anything to do with, matters of actual physical qualities.

Now, IF Le Pen further asserts that blacks are inherently mentally inferior (does he actually claim that? I don't know if he does or not), I'd say that is a baseless and troublesome statement. However, that has no bearing on whether Taki writes a good column or makes some good points of his own. And I don't have to like every person a columnist likes, in order to appreciate their columns. Nor should you.

[ QUOTE ]
You could atone by providing a joke that's better than the Zeno ear-clapper.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well it's an old one by now, well-known to grizzled veterans of this forum, but for everyone else, check out this link:

French Military Workout

[Autocratic]

Bad joke.

[tripp0807]

[ QUOTE ]
Bad joke.

[/ QUOTE ]

Indeed. And I hate the French.

[BluffTHIS!]

The French are a joke on themselves but they just don't realize it.

[BCPVP]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Bad joke.

[/ QUOTE ]

Indeed. And I hate the French.

[/ QUOTE ]
What'd I tell you, Zeno. No humor here at all...

[Zeno]

[ QUOTE ]
What'd I tell you, Zeno. No humor here at all...

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree.

I posted the same 'joke' in OOT. My experiment went equally well over there also.

Time for another hiatus.

-Zeno

[Autocratic]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Bad joke.

[/ QUOTE ]

Indeed. And I hate the French.

[/ QUOTE ]
What'd I tell you, Zeno. No humor here at all...

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not a matter of that. I have a normal sense of humor, though I prefer more edgy jokes. I prefered the second batch. In general I hate jokes that consist of a fictional conversation in which someone ends up getting "dissed" (the dissed person is usually among a group that the joke teller finds annoying). They're just stupid.