I didn't accuse of you lying. I told you that you were wrong. Hate speech is a crime in the US. Hate crimes do get prosecuted. Much like in the US, people in France are still generally more liberal in urbanized centers, and more conservative in suburban and rural populations.
by hate crime getting prosecuted in the US, do you mean actual hate speech? because it seems some real extreme hate speech gets tolerated over there? and how do people get away with saying such extreme things then?? i mean, here in France, surely everyone remembers John Galiano the designer getting prosecuted after going on an antisemitic rant in a bar one night?? Brigitte Bardot has been prosecuted/fined around 5 times for comments inciting racial hatred, the Le Pens all have been fined many times, obvious high profile examples... can you name me some examples of similar in the US? i seriously have never heard of any?
What I was really calling you out on, though, was when you made mention of students and grants and what have you. You painted a picture based upon your own experience that there's a family element in France that contributes to 18+ students that is nonexistent in the U.K. and US. Under what premise can you make such a statement? I've attended universities in all three locations. I'm also a 25 year old who was financially supported by family until age 23, and only chose to take loans to lessen the burden on my family to continue schooling. You seem to have depicted a false picture here.
no, i should clarify - i was talking about the whole State funding system for university which is fundamentally different between between the UK and France, particularly in how it treats the poor... sure there are families who are able to help their kids in the UK - and they're the lucky ones if they can avoid student loans! but the norm for most families is crippling student loans... the tuition fees are soooo high it would be difficult for most families to bear those kinds of costs... not to mention poor families - higher education is only possible for poor families via student loans, which is the opposite in France - that's pretty much the comparison i was trying to make (ok probably clumsily as it was the middle of the night and i was on a deadline!) - the way France and the UK treat their poor - chalk and cheese... that's my main point in this overall...
for info, back in the day when i was a student in the UK, we had maintenance grants and NO TUITION FEES and if you didn't qualify for a full maintenance grant, your parents were meant to top it up, but they were under no obligation, but then as grants were phased out, loans became the standard (obviously families can choose to help their kids, but it's not the norm - i have enough family and friends still in the UK who are pretty comfortable, but no longer financially support their kids completely, but of course help here and there, and the kids take out loans for tuition fees and maintenance, even though the families are comfortably off, they just can't stretch to paying their kids' tuition fees, so loans are the only option - obviously for very wealthy families this isn't a problem at all though!) - i was making the comparison with France, in that France is similar to how things were in that respect, i would say, 30 years or so ago in the UK, and that level of State financial support for UK students no longer exists sadly... so, here in France, student loans just aren't very well developed like in the UK (they do exist though, but they are only needed for living costs as public tuition fees are so low, or for private schools with higher tuition fees if parents can't cover the cost), which is why it falls on the parents if the kids don't qualify for a grant (and many parents take out bank loans specially to fund their child's higher education as well)...
it's nowhere near as expensive as in the UK - State tuition fees per year are roughly 450 euros, including health cover, as opposed to thousands (9000??) per year in the UK! the difference is insane!! so pretty fundamental differences between France and the UK i would say!! (i can't really comment on the US education system, aside from the expensive fees, and student debt, but am very familiar with both France and the UK in this respect)
Greek life in the US has a bad reputation. Rightfully so, with the general behavior of hazing, disorderly conduct, and mistreatment of women. You see it in films, and there's something quintessentially American about those fraternities. It has an awful reputation in the U.K., and it has an awful reputation in France. However, guess what? They do the exact same shit over there. They just call it something else. Sports clubs in the UK quite literally participate in the same awful behaviors, they just aren't branded in a movie-like culture. The same behaviors were clearly present with the band at that university. Only in a frat party would I ever imagine someone putting their testicles on a girl passed out drunk and taking a picture.
that's gross - i don't know why, when you mentioned it in your comment a few pages back, i just assumed it was boys messing around being gross among boys, as they can do - it takes on a completely different vibe if they did that to an unsuspecting girl - that's horrible and disgusting omg!! but there are idiots in every culture, but i wouldn't say that's a reflection of French culture
Your notion that french culture is more progressive or more respectful to what's right is bullshit. From nights out, I can tell you that I felt like I was in the US when I went to a bar and the employees were all attractive slim women with big boobs and practically no clothes worth of a uniform. And clearly all around the bar, women were the objects and men were running the show.
i find French people incredibly respectful and polite in day to day interactions... i'm basing this on my experience of living here day to day for so long, but you're just basing your opinions on bars?! and it sounds like you and i definitely frequent different types of bars... in my time in Paris, the bars i went to were awesome, student bars, probably pretty grungy, places i felt comfortable as a woman and could just be myself (for better or for worse
) - definitely very different to your experience anyway... ok, so maybe in my circles, in the places i've frequented, from student days to old lady days, and vicariously thru my kids, i find people respectful and nice mostly - i will stay in my little bubble then
- (of course i have had horrid experiences of harassment, getting my ass grabbed by a stranger, being followed relentlessly thru metro stations and on the streets, but i've always stood up to the perpetrators or managed to outwit them), but i've felt strong enough and supported enough and, more importantly, safe enough to do so)
And clearly you've developed into french society (for shunning me for not speaking the language on a two month stay - forgive me). And clearly you have a french bias.
But bottom line, there are the haves, and there are the have nots. Western society is a lot more homogenous than you're agreeing to.
no, not shunning you, but pointing out the fact that by not speaking the language you miss soooooo much!! you can't really even scratch the surface of a culture without the language - and 2 months is a very short time! it's obvious! i am still learning new things every day as we go thru our lives here in French society - the student thing has only been a very recent revelation to me as that's the situation my family is in right now... so yeah there's no way anyone can be expected to have significant insight into the intricate workings of a country after just 2 months... it's too complex
at least here in France, we take care of the have nots - it is the socialist France that i love... i love its values... i just can't say that about my "home" country the UK... here, another example, single mums can get free childcare, from 8am to 6pm, til the child is 3, and then starts school, so they can hold down a job - things like that are unheard of in the UK and single mums are reviled by the UK govt - it's horrible how the poor are treated... plus, in terms of healthcare, there are treatments here that are routinely available (covered by State universal health insurance) that are either not available or only available privately in the UK - one of my family needed treatment a few years ago and the drug cost close on 1000 euros a month - treatment was once a month for 15 months, and the cost was fully covered by the State - thankfully we were living here because we wouldn't have had access to that treatment in the UK (only privately) and no way could we have afforded it, and without treatment, it would have resulted in loss of eyesight... same also goes for some cancer treatments... transplants, jeesus pretty much everything healthcare wise... France is great at prevention, whereas the UK don't treat until you're at death's door, and then the attitude is pretty much meh why bother... also the worst thing about cancer treatment in the UK is that it is a postcode lottery - drugs aren't authorised at national level, just at local level, which means you can be denied life-saving cancer treatment if you live in the wrong postcode, which is shocking to me... (drugs are authorised and available at national level in France, so this situation doesn't happen)
these are the main differences which i appreciate between France and the UK, which to me are fundamental...