1. Joined
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    27 Oct '10 17:37
    Forgive me if this topic has already been discussed as I just returned from a European vacation. Watching the news I saw a lot of different footage of the protests in France regarding the change in retirement age. I found this coverage humorous for a couple reasons:

    1. The raising of the retirement age from 60 to 62. Am I out of my head to think that this is hardly a big deal at all? I am shocked that people feel they have the right to retire at such an early age.

    2. I saw footage of a lot of angry protestors with balaclavas and what not trying to provoke police, etc. All the protestors I saw acting this way couldn't have been older than 25 and didn't look like they had ever held a meaningful job in their lives. Is this a case of naive and restless youth in France with nothing better to do or are their youth really that concerned about the retirement age?
  2. Joined
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    27 Oct '10 17:40
    Originally posted by darvlay
    Forgive me if this topic has already been discussed as I just returned from a European vacation. Watching the news I saw a lot of different footage of the protests in France regarding the change in retirement age. I found this coverage humorous for a couple reasons:

    1. The raising of the retirement age from 60 to 62. Am I out of my head to think that ...[text shortened]... nothing better to do or are their youth really that concerned about the retirement age?
    I am interested too in what people think. It just seems really funny that people who do not even have their first job are worried about the retirement age.
  3. Standard memberAThousandYoung
    Shoot the Squatters?
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    27 Oct '10 17:45
    Originally posted by darvlay
    Forgive me if this topic has already been discussed as I just returned from a European vacation. Watching the news I saw a lot of different footage of the protests in France regarding the change in retirement age. I found this coverage humorous for a couple reasons:

    1. The raising of the retirement age from 60 to 62. Am I out of my head to think that ...[text shortened]... nothing better to do or are their youth really that concerned about the retirement age?
    Certain personalities need to challenge "the enemy" when they're young just to show their machoness.

    Then again maybe they all live with Mom.
  4. Germany
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    27 Oct '10 18:00
    Just a cultural thing, they like protesting regardless of age.
  5. Joined
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    27 Oct '10 18:50
    Originally posted by KazetNagorra
    Just a cultural thing, they like protesting regardless of age.
    ...or issue, I suppose.

    Perhaps it's a case of the media showing all the wrong shots but I can't help but wonder why these youth provocateurs are taken seriously and not beaten and jailed for their troubles. Or maybe they're not?
  6. Germany
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    27 Oct '10 18:55
    Originally posted by darvlay
    ...or issue, I suppose.

    Perhaps it's a case of the media showing all the wrong shots but I can't help but wonder why these youth provocateurs are taken seriously and not beaten and jailed for their troubles. Or maybe they're not?
    Because beating and jailing them is a sure recipe for creating riots that really get out of hand, see the riots a couple of years back when two kids were electrocuted after being chased by police.
  7. Standard memberAThousandYoung
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    27 Oct '10 18:57
    Originally posted by KazetNagorra
    Because beating and jailing them is a sure recipe for creating riots that really get out of hand, see the riots a couple of years back when two kids were electrocuted after being chased by police.
    Or the French Revolution.
  8. Joined
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    27 Oct '10 19:481 edit
    Originally posted by KazetNagorra
    Because beating and jailing them is a sure recipe for creating riots that really get out of hand, see the riots a couple of years back when two kids were electrocuted after being chased by police.
    It was a joke.




    Sort of.
  9. Joined
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    27 Oct '10 19:49
    Originally posted by AThousandYoung
    Or the French Revolution.
    If I remember correctly, the French Revolution is what happens when you let kids run the country. 😛
  10. Standard memberProper Knob
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    27 Oct '10 19:54
    Originally posted by darvlay
    Forgive me if this topic has already been discussed as I just returned from a European vacation. Watching the news I saw a lot of different footage of the protests in France regarding the change in retirement age. I found this coverage humorous for a couple reasons:

    1. The raising of the retirement age from 60 to 62. Am I out of my head to think that ...[text shortened]... nothing better to do or are their youth really that concerned about the retirement age?
    I think it was the jazz pianist Keith Jarrett who remarked -

    "Never has the veneer of civilisation been so thin as it is in France"

    Or something like that.
  11. Donationrwingett
    Ming the Merciless
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    27 Oct '10 23:52
    Originally posted by darvlay
    Forgive me if this topic has already been discussed as I just returned from a European vacation. Watching the news I saw a lot of different footage of the protests in France regarding the change in retirement age. I found this coverage humorous for a couple reasons:

    1. The raising of the retirement age from 60 to 62. Am I out of my head to think that ...[text shortened]... nothing better to do or are their youth really that concerned about the retirement age?
    To a generation that has resigned itself to digging its own grave, the idealism and energy of the youth can be intolerable reminders of their own failure to change the world.
  12. Joined
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    28 Oct '10 00:09
    The lazy Greeks are not better.
  13. Joined
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    28 Oct '10 00:33
    Originally posted by Proper Knob
    I think it was the jazz pianist Keith Jarrett who remarked -

    "Never has the veneer of civilisation been so thin as it is in France"

    Or something like that.
    Jarrett is unlikely to have been talking about anything much beyond his infamous contempt for audience members coughing during his concerts.
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    28 Oct '10 00:44
    Originally posted by Eladar
    The lazy Greeks are not better.
    I'm with you, Eladar. Each nation state and/or civilization beyond our own shores needs an analytical adjective to sum up their relative inadequacy succinctly.
  15. Subscriberkmax87
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    28 Oct '10 04:37
    Originally posted by rwingett
    To a generation that has resigned itself to digging its own grave, the idealism and energy of the youth can be intolerable reminders of their own failure to change the world.
    ... ah, the arrogance of youth...
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