French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Arabic the "language of the future, of science and of modernity," and expressed the hope that "more French people share in the language that expresses great civilizational and spiritual values."Ah, the French; more words for surrender than the Eskimo have for snow. Of course, looking at the demographics of the situation in France, this could just be an attempt to make an eventual fait accompli look planned, the way a cat does by licking its butt after stumbling and falling.
Books. Bikes. Boomsticks.
“I only regret that I have but one face to palm for my country.”
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
How did I miss this?
Somehow I missed a great line from Sarkozy last Fall:
Mark Steyn, in America Alone, has said Western Civilization is being out bred to death... by the followers of Mohammed everywhere!
ReplyDeleteI'll bet L'Académie française is less than pleased with him.
ReplyDeleteThe language of science and moderninity? I'm sorry, I guess I missed all the scientific breakthroughs coming out of the Middle East the last few decades.
ReplyDeleteArabic may well have been the language of science, mathematics, astronomy and technology ... in the Middle Ages. The Arab advances in those areas certainly outstripped those of Western Europe. From those who are literate in Arabic, the poetry ... especially that of the Sufi ... is outstanding.
ReplyDeleteStill ... that's all 500 to a 1,000 years old. Has there been anything comparable in the last 250 years? I don't think so.
Tam's right ... even if Sarkozy does have the hottest spouse of any head of state.
Regards.
The French is particular about their language, and have an office set up just for the purpose of making sure people pronounce and use words correctly. I can not imagine they are happy with this.
ReplyDeleteThe French...what a silly bunch
What's interesting is not what was said, but what was NOT said. It's true that Arabic was the language of science and mathematics. It's also true that this stopped being the case around 1200 AD. In fact, it was entirely reversed, where science was (and is) actively suppressed as subversive.
ReplyDeleteThe reason for why this happened is pretty glaring in its absence from academic history discussions. There's quite a good chapter on it here:
http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Poverty-Nations-David-Landes/dp/0349111669
Of course Sarkozy knows all this. That he feels safe enough to say this sort of drivel publicly without fear of contradiction (let alone mockery) is the interesting story.
I thought Sarkozy was on the right in this whole thing?
ReplyDeleteStupid Frog.
A right wing French politician is like a GOP pol from California; only conservative when compared to the local environment.
ReplyDelete"Ah, the French; more words for surrender than the Eskimo have for snow."
ReplyDeleteQuote of the week, right there.
Arabic - We should have it taught in more schools that way we can better staff our military intelligence positions
ReplyDelete"Ah, the French; more words for surrender than the Eskimo have for snow."
ReplyDeleteThat's Funny!!!
LOL
Let's hope the french aren't expecting us to save their butts for a third time in one century.
F-em'
III
He was lying.
ReplyDeleteHe's a politician. Did you think he would be telling the truth?
It may have been the language of science eight hundred years ago, but that is ancient history..
..
There was a scandal last year, when he was meeting with the Czech prime minister. The transcript was supposed to be secret, but Czech journalists got it somehow..
Here's what he said about Arabs: [quote]
"Do you know what it means to be alone faced with all these Arabs ?" Mr Sarkozy asked. "To have them on the telephone? Arabs are difficult* to deal with, you know."
[/quote]
*in the Czech translation, it was more like "horrible / dreadful, not just difficult..
BTW, in France, there are conspiracy theories he's a CIA agent :) (wouldn't be so unusual, some Eastern Europe countries have KGB moles(or people who behave as if they were) for prime ministers)