Une autre révolution ?

Alright, I know us American's love to rag on the French for their cowardice, however I will try and resist my gut reaction to despise the French (which in turn I inherited from my Dad) and let the facts speak for themselves.

NY Times: Chirac Will Rescind Labor Law That Caused French Riots

So here's the basic gist of this information. In response to all the riots that were caused over the new French labor law, President Chirac, instead of standing strong, gives in and relinquishes the law. Now lets look at the base of the riots.

The rioting was basically formed over a law, a law that would make it so French employees between the ages of 24 and 18 could be fired easier, which is actually hard to do in France. However, what not a lot of people look at, (including the French people) is that under this law it would also make it easier to hire young French workers as well, which is a problem because France has a high unemployment rate. So now all the French students oppose the law because they hate that, as The Week put it, "they might actually be fired for poor performance." So now we have all the French people coming out of their cafes and wineries and protesting a law that was intended to help them.

Now for the most ludicrous part of this story. So what does Chirac do in response to the riots? Does he hold out and pass the law anyways, holding strong to his belief that it would do more good than harm? No, he instead puts up his little white flag and says "my bad" and drops the law so he can appease everybody. If this wasnt bad enough, the French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin sacrifices his administration's last shreds of dignity by explaining that they were withdrawing the law out of safety for the protestors.

Although this is indeed rediculous, it is to be expected from a society who hardly fought the Nazis when they invaded their country, and did almost nothing when their own people rebelled against them in the French Revolution. However, they still cant go one year without having to complain or protest about something.

In conclusion, here's a political cartoon that I think summed it up pretty well

Ok, well I guess that was sort of me showing you the facts and interpreting them myself, but oh well.

my next topic will be the social medium and structure of secondary school life (a.k.a, how to survive in Highshool), unless people reading my blog would rather me post about my personal life instead. you be the judge.

~Jared