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So above when you said "The French believe that culture is important" you meant the French Government. Not the short sighted People of France, who you believe

So above when you said "The French believe that culture is important" you meant the French Government. Not the short sighted People of France, who you believe need to be protected by the long sighted wise government. Governments never make short sighted political decisions to protect entrenched interests. The People on the the other hand have to be protected from getting discounts and free shipping. Because that would be a bad financial option for them. Thanks by the way, I needed a laugh today.

vacri 13y ago
Myopic comments like this are really irritating. Who do you think votes the French government in? The Germans? Democracies tend to gravitate around the center of what their people want. If the people consistently vote to one side, then the centre will move to that side. This is a cultural process of years - and yes, you're exhibiting exactly the forest-for-the-trees thinking I was talking about.
- GeorgeOrr 13y ago
  Sorry, didn't mean to be so myopic and iritating. To answer your question, I think the same people voted for the French governement as the ones who are daily clicking on Amazon quite happily. Do you think they are mistaking forests for trees when clicking on Amazon, but expressing great wisdom when voting? Do you think that when the politicians voted on this particular law, they were thinking of the people or the business interests that fund them?
  - vacri 13y ago
    If you can't take derision of your comments in stride, then you shouldn't start that ball rolling yourself. mistaking forests for trees - That is not what that idiom means. It has nothing to do with being confused or being mistaken. but expressing great wisdom when voting - No, but what you're doing here is reclassifying my attempts at discussing nuance into a silly dichotomy of extremes. Even if nothing else, I never said the French were wise - nor unwise for that matter. That's you trying to strawman me into a ridiculous position. I said that long-term, over the course of years, democracies settles around certain tenets. For the French, the importance of culture is one of them. You're free to have the last comment, as I'm done here.

vacri 13y ago

Myopic comments like this are really irritating. Who do you think votes the French government in? The Germans? Democracies tend to gravitate around the center of what their people want. If the people consistently vote to one side, then the centre will move to that side. This is a cultural process of years - and yes, you're exhibiting exactly the forest-for-the-trees thinking I was talking about.

GeorgeOrr 13y ago
Sorry, didn't mean to be so myopic and iritating. To answer your question, I think the same people voted for the French governement as the ones who are daily clicking on Amazon quite happily. Do you think they are mistaking forests for trees when clicking on Amazon, but expressing great wisdom when voting? Do you think that when the politicians voted on this particular law, they were thinking of the people or the business interests that fund them?
- vacri 13y ago
  If you can't take derision of your comments in stride, then you shouldn't start that ball rolling yourself. mistaking forests for trees - That is not what that idiom means. It has nothing to do with being confused or being mistaken. but expressing great wisdom when voting - No, but what you're doing here is reclassifying my attempts at discussing nuance into a silly dichotomy of extremes. Even if nothing else, I never said the French were wise - nor unwise for that matter. That's you trying to strawman me into a ridiculous position. I said that long-term, over the course of years, democracies settles around certain tenets. For the French, the importance of culture is one of them. You're free to have the last comment, as I'm done here.