# Paris is Burning **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 14, 2015, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523 "2015-11-14T03:02:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/41 "2015-11-14T09:02:10Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > In any case, ISIS will have to be dealt with eventually. But there needs to be a framework and plan for a post-ISIS Syria which does not include mere assisting other Islamists. Russia proposed a peace plan a few days ago, and there’s an upcoming international meeting on how to deal with Syria. Thanks > [@coremelt](#): > > Attacks in a top tier western city are going to get a lot more media time because more media is based there, and they have a lot of people living there and concerned friends to make facebook posts about the attack. Simple really and no sinister agenda involved. Thank god I live in Houston. Mid tier, at best. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/42 "2015-11-14T09:09:21Z")
> [@CoolHandCox](#): > > Thanks > > Thank god I live in Houston. Mid tier, at best. Well it’s also Facebook, they have algorithms that boost the visibility of topics when they’re trending globally. Twitter does the same thing. So you can be assured that if enough people globally are talking about an event in Houston you’ll get your turn to dominate facebook for a few days as well. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/43 "2015-11-14T09:14:42Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > Well it’s also Facebook, they have algorithms that boost the visibility of topics when they’re trending globally. Twitter does the same thing. So you can be assured that if enough people globally are talking about an event in Houston you’ll get your turn to dominate facebook for a few days as well. That helps, actually. Remember the Alamo (but not too geographically well). This is going to result in a lot more killing, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/44 "2015-11-14T09:25:55Z")
> [@CoolHandCox](#): > > I’m probably very ignorant, but not dumb. It’s a major coordinated attack with a high casualty rate by the West’s #1 enemy on the capital city of not just a major Western country but a major ally. You may be ignorant, but not being able to synthesise those pieces of inormation into the answer you seek does seem to smack of your second suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_0bvious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Captain\_0bvious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_0bvious)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/45 "2015-11-14T09:33:19Z")
If you were France, would you just hand the Mossad a blank check and say “You know what to do.”? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/46 "2015-11-14T09:35:42Z")
> [@Captain\_0bvious](#): > > If you were France, would you just hand the Mossad a blank check and say “You know what to do.”? I suspect that Mossad would be just as bewildered as I am by this suggestion. What is it that you want them to do? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/47 "2015-11-14T09:42:22Z")
> [@Captain\_0bvious](#): > > Does Paris not have “safe zones” in their colleges, like the US does, where people could evacuate in case of emergencies? The problem with that is that by the time people realize there’s an emergency, it’s too late to do anything but duck and cover. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/48 "2015-11-14T09:45:13Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > I suspect that Mossad would be just as bewildered as I am by this suggestion. What is it that you want them to do? I think he’s referencing the (alleged) Mossad response to the 1972 terrorist attack on the Israeli team in Germany. Mossad did (allegedly) hunt, find and destroy those who were involved. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/49 "2015-11-14T09:46:12Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > It’s a major coordinated attack with a high casualty rate by the West’s #1 enemy on the capital city of not just a major Western country but a major ally. You may be ignorant, but not being able to synthesise those pieces of inormation into the answer you seek does seem to smack of your second suggestion. Is Paris even burning? Or is the post Title WWII stuff? How is it major? By bored US high school/college kid attack standards? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/50 "2015-11-14T09:50:47Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > It’s a major coordinated attack with a high casualty rate by the West’s #1 enemy on the capital city of not just a major Western country but a major ally. You may be ignorant, but not being able to synthesise those pieces of inormation into the answer you seek does seem to smack of your second suggestion. To **CoolHandCox** ’s credit, I imagine that more people are killed by cigarette smoke, voluntarily, in France every year than by this attack. In a wholly practical sense, it is a storm in a teapot. France could mandate the putting of pictures of gaping wounds on the packaging of cigarettes and save more lives than by spending almost any amount of money and effort fighting terrorists. Ultimately, we’re talking about the actions of a small population of deluded pawns, working for manipulative cranks who have little desire or ability and little desire to change anything in the world. I suspect that a lot more could be accomplished by mocking terrorists, and pointing out just how ridiculous they are, than by fearing them or acting like they’re a legitimate threat. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/51 "2015-11-14T09:51:16Z")
> [@CoolHandCox](#): > > How is it major? By bored US high school/college kid attack standards? It’s major because the global media has declared it to be major, its top headline of pretty much every major news site right now. For why that’s so see JJim’s post. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/52 "2015-11-14T09:52:27Z")
> [@CoolHandCox](#): > > Is Paris even burning? Or is the post Title WWII stuff? It’s a reference to a movie (and book) about the liberation of Paris during WWII, yes. I’m completely confused by your not understanding why this is news. What important items do you believe this is pushing off the front page? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/53 "2015-11-14T09:54:33Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > I think he’s referencing the (alleged) Mossad response to the 1972 terrorist attack on the Israeli team in Germany. Mossad did (allegedly) hunt, find and destroy those who were involved. OK, I’ll buy that, but in that case he seems to believe that France is incapable of following up on their own hook. If so, I’d disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/54 "2015-11-14T09:56:54Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > I don’t recall saying any such thing. I made two points: French government spends very generously on domestic things (i.e. pensions, welfare, &c…) and does not maintain a military capable of a full-scale war. These are verifiable facts. Nice to know that spending money on the old and the poor — as opposed to treating them as they were treated anywhere in the world prior to 1900 — is ‘Luxury’. Very few countries are capable of the costs of a full-scale war. Not even America for say the length of WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/55 "2015-11-14T09:58:11Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > I’m completely confused by your not understanding why this is news. What important items do you believe this is pushing off the front page? My guess is that his angle is more “it’s only important to Westerners when it happens to white people” and that similar atrocities and mass casualties happening to non-white folks are just ignored or shrugged off. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/56 "2015-11-14T10:02:28Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > It’s a reference to a movie (and book) about the liberation of Paris during WWII, yes. > > I’m completely confused by your not understanding why this is news. What important items do you believe this is pushing off the front page? The stock market is down 200 points and I lost money. It’s not about pushing off front page headlines, obviously this is front page news. By admission, there is front page news everyday, why is today’s news so consuming. My problem is I think I saw too many crappy Paris memes (I don’t even know what that word means) on FB and the like and it just turned me off. Everyone is all in for this thing. Anyways, go Parisians! Boo ISIS! Did I help? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/57 "2015-11-14T10:04:12Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > OK, I’ll buy that, but in that case he seems to believe that France is incapable of following up on their own hook. If so, I’d disagree. This will be interesting. President Hollande has promised to be ruthless in finding and destroying those involved, and I assume Putin will act likewise with respect to the downing of the Russian airliner. For once the US isn’t standing in the middle trying to rally the world’s response to action. Let’s wish them both success. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/58 "2015-11-14T10:09:08Z")
> [@CoolHandCox](#): > > The stock market is down 200 points and I lost money. > > It’s not about pushing off front page headlines, obviously this is front page news. By admission, there is front page news everyday, why is today’s news so consuming. > > My problem is I think I saw too many crappy Paris memes (I don’t even know what that word means) on FB and the like and it just turned me off. Everyone is all in for this thing. > > Anyways, go Parisians! Boo ISIS! Did I help? Many of us see the tragic and senseless loss of innocent human life in a different light than the cycle of the stock market. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/59 "2015-11-14T10:10:38Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Many of us see the tragic and senseless loss of innocent human life in a different light than the cycle of the stock market. Which is easier to predict? I’m just frustrated in between world of tanks games. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523/60 "2015-11-14T10:21:44Z")
> [@CoolHandCox](#): > > The stock market is down 200 points and I lost money. I suspect you might be better off posting on 4Chan. They have entire bulletin boards where people that have a total lack of insight into humanity and no empathy are welcome to post. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paris-is-burning/737523.md?page=4)