The protesting bit reminds me of Oregon. Every 4/20 all the hippies go have a big protest as a holiday celebration or something. Even the Portland riot police come out to participate. Horses and everything. Very festive.

Stirring up ethnic angst is always a classic. This is what they mean by "rule by fear"; try to get everyone focused on someone else as the enemy.

Did anyone ever see the illegal immigrants episode of the Simpsons? This was way, way back in '96, when OS/2 was still pimped for home desktops. (Season 7, 23, "Much Apu About Nothing".)

A bear walked into town.

It rummaged around a mailbox, then animal control came and got it.

So everyone threw a fit and demanded the mayor do something about the rampant bear problem.

So he establishes the Bear Patrol, with stealth jets flying over the city monitoring.

There's a $5 tax hike to cover it. So everyone goes and throws a fit at the mayor.

Trying to get everyone off his back, he goes out and says "People! Your taxes are high because of illegal immigrants!!!" Then the rest of the episode was about Apu or something.

There was a nice conversation between Homer and Lisa that's relevant to just about everything these days. I'll paraphrase here.

"Not a bear in sight. The bear patrol must be working like a charm!"

"That's specious reasoning, dad."

"Thank you, honey"

"By your logic, I could say that this rock keeps tigers away."

"...How does it work?"

"It doesn't work, it's just a stupid rock."

"Uh-huh"

"But I don't see any tigers around, do you?"

"... Lisa, I want to buy your rock."

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Original post by LessBread I don't think French politicians are that different from American politicians when it comes to stirring up ethnic and religious tensions as distractions to unpopular policies. The protests have been long in coming but so has the ban, not to mention the timing of the trial of the woman who tore the veil off another woman.

In fact, this whole ban thing is mostly an intellectual discussion topic over here. Joe Average doesn't give a crap beyond an 'oh yeah, good'. It's already out of the popular news channels, which are literally plastered from top to bottom with the protests. So if it was supposed to be a distraction (which I highly doubt), then it was an epic fail.

Nothing unusual *shrug*

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Original post by JoeCooper The protesting bit reminds me of Oregon. Every 4/20 all the hippies go have a big protest as a holiday celebration or something. Even the Portland riot police come out to participate. Horses and everything. Very festive.

420

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Original post by Yann L Quote: Original post by LessBread I don't think French politicians are that different from American politicians when it comes to stirring up ethnic and religious tensions as distractions to unpopular policies. The protests have been long in coming but so has the ban, not to mention the timing of the trial of the woman who tore the veil off another woman. In fact, this whole ban thing is mostly an intellectual discussion topic over here. Joe Average doesn't give a crap beyond an 'oh yeah, good'. It's already out of the popular news channels, which are literally plastered from top to bottom with the protests. So if it was supposed to be a distraction (which I highly doubt), then it was an epic fail. Nothing unusual *shrug*

This afternoon C-SPAN Book-TV ran a live presentation by Sam Harris at the Austin Book Festival (Austin, Texas). Harris is out promoting his latest book, "The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values". The first question asked him during the Q&A was about the burqa ban in France. It's mostly an intellectual discussion topic over here too. Harris answered that while he doesn't like burqas, banning them was an infringement on freedom and thus a waste of time.

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Original post by Oberon_Command Quote: Original post by JoeCooper The protesting bit reminds me of Oregon. Every 4/20 all the hippies go have a big protest as a holiday celebration or something. Even the Portland riot police come out to participate. Horses and everything. Very festive. 420

It's the most wonderful time... Of the year!!!

MarleyFest in Austin, Texas. I likee.