As most comments at this time profess not getting it... I read this as satire. Humorous derogatory remarks by and targeting the French and their intellectuals. As a European who has lived in France about a year I see good humour in this. The French (or should I say Parisien) are something else. You lose more in translation in Paris than in Shanghai or Beijing. Perhaps it only seems that way since the culture and language seem closer and one is more aware of the subtle differences, but still.
Unrepentant Baguette Merchant
11–20 of 23 posts
Re: Unrepentant Baguette Merchant
#12As a man of Scottish descent, this fellow appears to presume we would even know the names of the sort of places that take his money.
But I admire his cavalier way of being. I'd have a drink with him, even if I had to keep my dogs out of sight.
Huzzah! I say.
Re: Unrepentant Baguette Merchant
#13I have absolutely no idea what I'm reading here.
You're reading Substack's "Medium moment"; i.e. the moment when seeing that in the URL goes from 'hey, this link must be pretty good' to 'this link is probably garbage'.
Re: Unrepentant Baguette Merchant
#14I've read about 1/3rd of this, and so far it is just someone who trucks in broad stereotypes and edge-lordiness. I haven't really read an original thought yet. Maybe there is one lodged in there somewhere, but I don't feel too compelled to go searching for it.
I got about as far before realizing why terrorists keep on wanting to murder them
Re: Unrepentant Baguette Merchant
#15"There is nothing more mysterious than blood. Paracelsus considered it a condensation of light. I believe that the Aryan, Hyperborean blood is that – but not the light of the Golden Sun, not of a galactic sun, but of the light of the Black Sun, of the Green Ray."
What the hell is this shit?
EDIT: Nice, it's a quote from a neo-Nazi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Serrano
Can someone please get this garbage off HN and back to 4chan where it belongs?
Re: Unrepentant Baguette Merchant
#16I have absolutely no idea what I'm reading here.
The name of the blog is "Fisted by Foucault" ...
Re: Unrepentant Baguette Merchant
#17Well, it's unorthodox because it's a wee bit racist
There's a section on the topic of racism towards the end. CTRL-F for "logomachia"
I think his is a point that (as a person of color in the us) I've been afraid to say out loud. Nobody ever calls me racist, but when someone eventually does, I know what my response will be: "yes, I am. And so are you".
Re: Unrepentant Baguette Merchant
#18Well, that was a wild ride, interesting to see non-liberal political views on HN (although I see the inevitable "hurr durr Nazi fascist" downvotes are already coming in). This bit in particular resonated:
In contemporary American discourse a word like "racism" has as much connection to phenomena in the real world as "Trotskyite" had in Russia under Stalin. So if someone says "You're a racist!" and you respond "I'm not a racist because X and Y and Z" you have already lost because you have implicitly conceded that there is this thing out there called "racism" which is really big and bad and scary, and one that your enemies get to define for you. And it doesn't matter that your X or Y or Z may be absolutely correct. You still lose by dignifying the accusation e.g. ("I am not part of the Trotskyite conspiracy!"). The entire thing is transparently preposterous and should be responded to appropriately, with laughter and derision.
And let's face it, we are so eager to say "I'm not a racist!" because we're afraid of what will happen to us if we don't. And people can smell fear, and it's unattractive. Be not afraid!
Re: Unrepentant Baguette Merchant
#19I have absolutely no idea what I'm reading here.
You're reading a rather unorthodox but still interesting perspective on French society and its most recent soubresauts
I spent about 10 minutes reading it before getting an unsettling feeling that the writing was just abjectly incoherent.
Re: Unrepentant Baguette Merchant
#20Great piece