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Chirac lashes out against US cultural domination
| Hat tip Drudge, read it before he moves it. |
French President Jacques Chirac warned Thursday of a "catastrophe" for global diversity if the United States' cultural hegemony goes unchallenged. Speaking at a French cultural center in Hanoi ahead of Friday's opening of a summit of European and Asian leaders, Chirac said France was right to stand up for cultural and linguistic diversity.
| You want to jibber away in Frog, be my guest. |
The outspoken French president warned that the world's different cultures could be "choked" by US values. This, he said, would lead to a "general world sub-culture" based around the great and glorious English language, which would be "a real ecological catastrophe".
| Not true, the French have given us great words, like 'retreat' and 'brassiere'. |
Citing Hollywood's stranglehold over the film industry as an example, Chirac stressed that only with government assistance could countries maintain their cultural heritage.
| That's 'cause only Hollywood and Bollywood make films people actually want to see (as proof, I give you the Canadian Film Board). |
Vietnam is a former French colony, but only around 375,000 of its 81 million people speak French.
| One guess why, Jaques. It's three words, each one syllable, first word sounds like 'Dien'. |
English is considered by most people a far more valuable and practical second language, particularly among businessmen.
| I guess we could call it the 'lingua franca', eh? |
Posted by: Steve White 2004-10-08 |
