# Fuck France.......again **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 5, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262 "2004-12-05T21:01:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/41 "2004-12-06T13:15:28Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Yes, I can. > I can also see how the government could interpret someone saying “I wish you were dead, Mr. President.” as a threat to the president’s life. Um, yes, and I can see how the current administration could interpret someone saying “Bush is an asshole” as treason. So what? ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/42 "2004-12-06T13:20:10Z")
> [@Desmostylus](#): > > Um, yes, and I can see how the current administration could interpret someone saying “Bush is an asshole” as treason. So what? Are you just trying to be difficult or something? The fact remains you’d most likely be in for a legal battle if you called up the whitehouse and talked about wanting to see Bush dead. Got anymore nits to pick? ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/43 "2004-12-06T13:32:43Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Are you just trying to be difficult or something? Pretty much. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/44 "2004-12-06T14:38:46Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > How would conservative Canadiens react to the bombing of a Canadian broadcasting station? An al Qaida broadcasting station in Canada? Let me assure you that Canadians of every political stripe would never allow such a station to operate. Including Quebeckers. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/45 "2004-12-06T19:02:51Z")
Fuck France, huh? No problem, especially if she’s wearing that Elaan of Troyius costume. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Truth)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/46 "2004-12-06T19:15:14Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > So, you don’t believe in freedom of speech? So, I take it you wouldn’t mind if I started up a TV station in your neck of the woods, where I will preach 24-7 about how your kind (whatever race/religion you may happen to be) are sons of monkees and pigs, and how you should all be eliminated because you and your kind are the scum of the earth ? I will also provide childrens programming on my TV channel, which will target your neighbords children , and indocrinate them in the ways of my most noble cause of eliminating the undesirable creed that you belong to from the face of the earth. Sounds reasonable no ? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/47 "2004-12-06T19:35:09Z")
> [@Grienspace](#): > > Their licence was up for renewal last November, but based on a promise to cease broadcasting hate they secured the right to continue broadcasting. You’re concerned about broadcasting hate? Have you been in Pit lately? ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/48 "2004-12-06T19:35:48Z")
> [@The Truth](#): > > So, I take it you wouldn’t mind if I started up a TV station in your neck of the woods, where I will preach 24-7 about how your kind (whatever race/religion you may happen to be) are sons of monkees and pigs, and how you should all be eliminated because you and your kind are the scum of the earth? I’d be minorly annoyed, but I know the people in my very diverse neighborhood are kind, tolerant folks. Likely, I’d just ignore it like I do most other TV stations. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Truth)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/49 "2004-12-06T19:47:42Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > I’d be minorly annoyed, but I know the people in my very diverse neighborhood are kind, tolerant folks. Likely, I’d just ignore it like I do most other TV stations. And if somebody you know happened to get blown to bits by somebody who was fond of watching the tv station, I wonder if you’d still be minorly annoyed. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/50 "2004-12-06T19:53:07Z")
> [@The Truth](#): > > And if somebody you know happened to get blown to bits by somebody who was fond of watching the tv station, I wonder if you’d still be minorly annoyed. Maybe if we stopped broadcasting Baywatch, men would stop getting horny. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Truth)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/51 "2004-12-06T20:02:21Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Maybe if we stopped broadcasting Baywatch, men would stop getting horny. So you’re saying that baywatch is promoting a similiar level of propaganda as that of a hezbollah channel ? Are you an average representative of the liberal mindset ? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/52 "2004-12-06T20:39:14Z")
> [@The Truth](#): > > And if somebody you know happened to get blown to bits by somebody who was fond of watching the tv station, I wonder if you’d still be minorly annoyed. The chances of someone doing that simply because of what they saw on TV is pretty much nil. But keep tossing up fear tactics to justify your pension for censorship. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Truth)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/53 "2004-12-06T20:53:27Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > The chances of someone doing that simply because of what they saw on TV is pretty much nil. > > But keep tossing up fear tactics to justify your pension for censorship. So between this hezbollah channel and me, I’m the bad guy here right ? And what fear tactics do you speak of ? The proof of what channels like this do is evident all of the time. It is no coincidence that stuff like this is broadcast in the mideast, where idiotic, brainwashed palestinians blow themselves up all of the time. I’m all for free speech, and I think it’s good that nazis have stormfront where they can meet and mingle on the net, but I don’t think they should get their own TV channel, and neither should hezbollah. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/54 "2004-12-06T21:17:02Z")
> [@The Truth](#): > > I’m all for free speech, and I think it’s good that nazis have stormfront where they can meet and mingle on the net, but I don’t think they should get their own TV channel, and neither should hezbollah. So, Nazis good, Hezbollah bad. Got it. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/55 "2004-12-06T21:18:35Z")
> [@The Truth](#): > > So, I take it you wouldn’t mind if I started up a TV station in your neck of the woods, where I will preach 24-7 about how your kind (whatever race/religion you may happen to be) are sons of monkees and pigs, and how you should all be eliminated because you and your kind are the scum of the earth ? > > I will also provide childrens programming on my TV channel, which will target your neighbords children , and indocrinate them in the ways of my most noble cause of eliminating the undesirable creed that you belong to from the face of the earth. > > Sounds reasonable no ? Go for it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/56 "2004-12-06T22:37:47Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > You’re concerned about broadcasting hate? Have you been in Pit lately? In all fairness to my fellow dopers (including **Desmostylus** ), I have no fear that words would translate to physical action. I do lament the hatred expressed in the pit, but I do not fear it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Truth)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/57 "2004-12-06T22:39:19Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > So, Nazis good, Hezbollah bad. > > Got it. No, Nazis bad, Hezbollah bad, and your reading comprehension skills are also equally bad, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/58 "2004-12-06T22:42:58Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Maybe if we stopped broadcasting Baywatch, men would stop getting horny. **Lib** , I don’t need Baywatch to get horny. I see hundreds of women on a daily basis. Do you have something against women ? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mic84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@mic84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mic84)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/59 "2004-12-06T22:45:55Z")
Great thread, though I’m afraid we’re conflating two issues here that should be kept separate: [ul] [li]Is opposition to hate speech laws more important than bashing the French?[/li][li]Is opposition to hate speech laws more important than resolve in TWOT?[/li][/ul] Then there’s also [ul] [li]Is resolve in TWOT more important than bashing the French?[/li][/ul] But this one is too hypothetical to contemplate here. Also there’s [ul] [li]Do rule of law and separation of powers matter at all?[/li][/ul] But that’s just silly. ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262/60 "2004-12-06T23:04:21Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > So, you don’t believe in freedom of speech? > > 241 American marines. They didn’t kill any civilians. They declared themselves a guerilla group dedicated to eliminating the American and Israeli occupation of Lebanon and began attacks against legitimate military targets. To call it murder is stretching the definition of the word. > > Strawman. Nobody expects an American president to actually base it’s foreign policy on French approval. If an American president actually had firm, clear evidence that a country was intending to attack the United States and could clearly prove it, I doubt that anyone except the most radical zealots would quibble with the American president doing what he must to protect the country. > > All of this is more pathetic conservative attempts to smear anyone who opposed the US war in Iraq, where the country in question was not a threat to the United States, had no connections to an attack on the United States, and had no means to attack the United States. Let me say a big fuck you. Inciting hate isn’t freedom of speech. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-france-again/278262.md?page=4)