Nobody Cares

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

A_Wanderer

ONE love, blood, life
Joined
Jan 19, 2004
Messages
12,518
Location
The Wild West
Nobody freaking cares about what the French do in their own colonial escapades, Ivory Coast the cocoa capital of the world is one more example of countries that are independent in name only, the money, stamps and political power are all derived from France. It should not come of any surprise that when procecuting a "peacekeeping" mission the French millitary will use whatever force available to it. This video shows French Army hellicopters firing on without warning upon a mob of people, no warning shots. The translation accompanying the video from Swiss TV is as follows:
(speaking about 9.11.2004, Ivoiry hotel “massacre” )

“....However it’s wasn’t the first time French Army shooted without ”warning shots“ (shot in the air).

We are on November 6, three days before the shooting of the hotel ivory.

the demonstrators (manifestors) move towards the French military base. French helicopters shoot directly at the demonstrators.

There would have been sixty died at the time of these various operations.

Tonight, the French Army admits ”a score“ of about 20 deaths.
http://real.xobix.ch/ramgen/tsr/tj/2004/tj_11302004-160k.rm?start=00:22:22.917&end=00:22:46.417

Now I am not going to judge the actions here, there may well have been reason to open fire and people may have been at risk from the mob of demonstrators (I believe that the US in Somalia faced similar issues with the reporting of opening fire upon "demonstrators" in the media who simply forgot to leave in the part about them wielding weapons and shooting at the troops) but the issue I have is the double standard the "international community" plays with the US and Israel in everything that they do, could you imagine the response if the Israelis launched a missile barrage at a Palestinian "car swarm"?

The answer is that the outrage directed towards certain nations is too often disproportionate to their actions, and some nations have won a free pass in all of their deeds and dealings with the so called "international community" by siding with the Kleptocratic power brokers in the UN and having certain economic unions wrapped around their little finger. The world is a harsh and unfair place, and for those killed in that barrage or gunned down outside the Ivory Hotel on the 9th of November their deaths will go mostly unnoticed by the world, I think that this is a sorry state of affairs.

Link in regards to the event on the 9th here
 
Last edited:
Yeah, you're totally an expert on this subject by virtue of....what? Reading one news clip from one source, while you sit in comfort in the 1st world? Believe me, to those of us who actually live over here and are aware of what's going on, it looks a lot different. There are no "right" sides in the situation in Cote d'Ivoire, but you should at minimum be aware that the Ivorian army run by an illegimately elected president broke their part of a cease-fire/peace agreement, and attacked not only rebel targets, but killed a large number of Ivoirian civilians and then bombed a French peace-keeping position. Unprovoked. Destroying the Ivoirian Air Force (which was all of about 2 planes) was perhaps a drastic measure, but one that most likely saved lives and was certainly not without provocation. While you're at your fact checking, you may want to read up on the mob looting, raping and violence committed by young hot-heads calling themselves the "young patriots" in Abijan.

All that to say, there are more than one side to every story and you should do your research before you jump to conclusions to support your already well-entrenched biases.
 
In no part of my post do I side with the mob, I make the point that the media has a unique way of masking the situation and twisting it around brilliantly

I am not taking sides, my problem is in the reporting of these events are not reported enough and there is a double standard applied. There was in all probability good cause to disperse that mob, am I disputing that - no. Read the bloody post and I make it abundantly clear that the reporting of these things are insufficient and that there is a major problem in the scrutiny that the international community chooses to apply. Cheifly the ammount of time paid towards the Israelies and Americans at the expense of of others.

My well entrenched biases? I have no love for unruly mobs massacaring innocent people and driving a country deeper into chaos, nor do I have any particular liking towards the French government, but I can guarantee that if it were American forces opening fire in a millitary situation against a mob there would be a lot more attention and criticism from the international community (case in point the near identical case in Fallujah in April with that video where some couldn't resist calling it a war crime - by their standards this is also a war crime, so why don't we hear a peep out of them? I think that both situations involved mobs that threatened the innocent people and the soldiers and needed to be broken up and that the use of force was justified and we should all be more even in out judgements).

Could the international community extend the same grace to US Marines and Soldiers as they do to the French?
 
Last edited:
If this were the US it would be all over the place and we'd be villanized all over Europe.


And of course you can't miss the hypocrisy here that France was the one so hard on us like WE were so bad and look at this.
 
Last edited:
I do not hate the french, I do take exception to hypocracy and the some of the actions of the French government over the years oozes it.
 
The media's relative silence may be an effort to avoid the perception of "France bashing" or fueling conservative distrust of French politics.
 
where's the outrage?
where is dan rather?
where is peter jennings?
where
where
oh where?

no where to be found, except busy watching al jazeera news reels picking and choosing their next lead story:wink:
 
nbcrusader said:
The media's relative silence may be an effort to avoid the perception of "France bashing" or fueling conservative distrust of French politics.
I don't hate the French, but you have to wonder why they're stuck in their business ties with Iraq the way they are. They're their number one trader if I'm not mistaken. Also, some time ago a survey claimed that one in three in France wanted Iraq to win the war, not the US. Even looking back at the previous Gulf War, France was a tough ally to win. I don't get why they went to war against Congo, yet they wouldn't lend a hand for us when we removed one of the world's most evil dictators from power.
 
diamond said:
but where's the outrage?

I would rather prefer to read you discussing about the events in Cote d´Ivoire (there was also another thread about this, btw)than aboout the media attention compared to media attention in an American case. That´s a crybaby mentality I really can´t stand, like "oooh you´re bashing us, why aren´t you bashing them as much?" Come on, we´re not in the kindergarten.

I always enjoy reading Sula´s posts.
 
Sula, :up:.

It's always nice to read a more personal account.
 
whenhiphopdrovethebigcars said:


I would rather prefer to read you discussing about the events in Cote d´Ivoire (there was also another thread about this, btw)than aboout the media attention compared to media attention in an American case. That´s a crybaby mentality I really can´t stand, like "oooh you´re bashing us, why aren´t you bashing them as much?" Come on, we´re not in the kindergarten.

I always enjoy reading Sula´s posts.


The media does suck... fact of life... So it's not a big deal to see a double standard? So when someone points out a double standard, they are "like" crybabies? I can't agree with that, totally.
 
Flying FuManchu said:

The media does suck... fact of life... So it's not a big deal to see a double standard?

Nah. It´s not a big deal.

Watch more TV ;)
 
A_Wanderer said:
I do not hate the french, I do take exception to hypocracy and the some of the actions of the French government over the years oozes it.

Given the way your own government has gotten away with possibly the most truly blatant act of mass deception in living memory, I would think that hypocrisy in the media is the last thing u should be worried about.
 
Our media's hypocrisy has caused a lot of division. Their refusal to give any truth about our peacemaking process leads me to believe that it's slanted.
 
Back
Top Bottom