Posting a legitimate news story.

[NUKE]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16986905%255E16947,00.html

This link points to a news story.

UN to back France against US culture

THE French campaign against the global tide of American entertainment is poised to take a big stride forward when almost every nation backs the first world convention on protecting culture.

Most of the 190 members of UNESCO, the UN cultural agency, are expected to vote overnight for a "convention on cultural diversity", which enshrines on a global level France's longstanding policy of subsidising its arts and imposing quotas on American films and music.

The vote will be a big defeat for the US, which held out against the plan with partial backing from Australia, Israel and Japan.

The convention could now be cited by any country to justify protecting its entertainment industry, with measures similar to those used by France, if they are contested at the World Trade Organisation as barriers to free trade.

Richard Harris, the executive director of the Australian Screen Directors Association, told The Australian the convention's most significant achievement was "to establish that there is a difference between cultural and economic products - there is something intrinsic to cultural products which means that they should be treated differently under trade rules".

Mr Harris added: "One of the most significant elements of the US's opposition is that it is almost a symbol of how it views the world differently on cultural issues."

France spends tens of millions of dollars each year to subsidise its film industry, theatre and opera. It also protects music and TV production with strict quotas on the amount of non-French songs and programs that may be broadcast on radio and TV

In my opinion, if the French government feels like it has to step in in order for French culture to be presevered, they really are doing the French a diservice.

A culture is what the people as a whole create, not something the government mandates. This reminds me of the French law which banned the word "e-mail" in all official government communications.

[Gunslinger]

Mix the terms "cultural diversity" and the UN together and that really scares the crap out of me.  I don't see why euros have such a hard on for the UN.  It's an ineffective body that does very little for the world.

[Russian]

My initial reaction to this article was humorous, but if one thinks about it a bit longer, it does make sense from French’s viewpoint. The US media/entertainment does have a negative impact on culture. As an example, look at our own culture (as a person living in USA) before television (media/entertainment) got a hold of our brains. From my eyes intelligence level of an average person decreases with an alarming rate.

When issue of Banning ‘dihydrogen monoxide’ almost makes to voter’s ballots, it should give one a clue…..

[Rino]

You have to wonder how discriminating against America is going to stop
people from wanting to see US entertainment products.  This is just going
to backfire in a huge way, it's largely driven by politicians..not the target
audience.

     What happened the last time you said something was off limits to a
teenager?

[Rino]

Originally posted by Russian
My initial reaction to this article was humorous, but if one thinks about it a bit longer, it does make sense from French’s viewpoint. The US media/entertainment does have a negative impact on culture. As an example, look at our own culture (as a person living in USA) before television (media/entertainment) got a hold of our brains. From my eyes intelligence level of an average person decreases with an alarming rate.

When issue of Banning ‘dihydrogen monoxide’ almost makes to voter’s ballots, it should give one a clue…..

     Yes, yes..one cannot watch television without being a mindless moron.
Holy Elitest BS Batman!

[Vulcan]

Errm Nuke, its just France trying to protect its entertainment industry. The US gets dragged into the WTO court all the time for trade violations... pot meet kettle and get over it.

[Russian]

Originally posted by Rino
Yes, yes..one cannot watch television without being a mindless moron.
Holy Elitest BS Batman!

Since words of anonymous person means nothing, please read a book by Neil Postman titled “Amusing Ourselves to Death”

[straffo]

Rule #16

[Excel1]

Originally posted by Rino
Yes, yes..one cannot watch television without being a mindless moron.
Holy Elitest BS Batman!

Mindless moron?... you have to be near brain dead or a masochist  to sit through an episode of 'The Real Gilligans Island'.

[Pooh21]

Originally posted by Vulcan
Errm Nuke, its just France trying to protect its entertainment industry. The US gets dragged into the WTO court all the time for trade violations... pot meet kettle and get over it.

But Jerry Lewis is ours?

[Westy]

"A culture is what the people as a whole create, not something the government mandates. "


 So true!
 
 And it works when you substitute "culture" with "democracy" too!

[Suave]

It's the consumer's choice. If the worlds people really didn't like american culture they wouldn't have been buying it for so long.

[lazs2]

so france pours billions of taxpayers hard earned money into their entertainment industry and still.... they can't compete?

It is like our PBS.... nobody wants it so they have to be subsidised?

lazs

[Suave]

BTW I can sympathize with those who find american pop culture unpalatably bathos. I believe if "they" ever did a study on the affects of it on individuals I'm relatively sure they would find that daily regimens of reality TV, No Spin Zone, MTV, WWF, NFL, do actually make people stupider. The TV to book ratio in the average american family is growing ever closer to 1.

But the people won't be denied their mediocrity.

[Westy]

Which is why Foxnews ruleZ!