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US blogger fined 8,000 Euros by France for criticizing Société Générale

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Re: US blogger fined 8,000 Euros by France for criticizing Société Générale

#181

Post by epsylon »

marknutter wrote: post #102
epsylon wrote: post #47

The comments here are atrocious. I expected more from HN than senseless French-bashing and 'Murica flag-waving. A few informations for context: - Two bloggers were fined, one French, and the American one for quoting the French. - The fine emanated from the Commission des Sanctions (sanction committee) of the AMF (Autorité des Marchés Financiers), the French stock market regulator. - It's supposed to be independent, b…

Funny, I expected more from HN than people using the term "Murica". Also, before complaining about the quality of comments one should give the system time to correct itself as people vote on them. Otherwise you may end up with a highly visible comment that refers to outdated information..

Well, I apologize for having gotten a bit carried away; of course not all comments in this thread are worthless.

That being said, I stand by my opinion that reddit-style pun threads [1] or random and unrelated politically biased ramblings [2][3] really shouldn't belong to HN discussions.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6775262

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6775363

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6775474

Re: US blogger fined 8,000 Euros by France for criticizing Société Générale

#182

Post by jlgreco »

mpclark wrote: post #159
astrobe_ wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably a misunderstanding. French press criticize the President 24/7. You can't insult the president or any other official in public, or any other French citizen. Just like in most other European countries, France lets you say what you want, as long as you don't spread lies or hatred.

That makes sense, and I'll be the first to admit my understanding of French law was not as clear as it should have been, but the line between "criticise" and "insult" is very fine. For instance, my understanding is that, in France, one should think twice before using the words "Mugabe" and "despot" in the same sentence. This is not a problem in the UK or the US at all. But maybe this is also part of what made France…

The line between criticize and insult is so fine, I can scarcely see it. It's like the line between the ocean and the beach.

Can a French person say "The president is illiterate.", as Americans have often said about their president? Could they say "The idiotic president keeps on making up words."? Harsh criticism is naturally insulting.

Re: US blogger fined 8,000 Euros by France for criticizing Société Générale

#184

Post by [deleted] »

camus2 wrote: post #32

Not surprising, there is no free speech in France. Especially when it comes to crooked banks or politicians. France is a strange country that likes to give lessons about democracy to the rest of the world, but when you look at things closer, France is closer to a monarchy than a democracy. Everything is so centralised that information usually comes from an single source of truth, that journalist dont even bother ques…

[deleted]

Re: US blogger fined 8,000 Euros by France for criticizing Société Générale

#185

Post by jlgreco »

bausson wrote: post #52
camus2 wrote: post #32

Not surprising, there is no free speech in France. Especially when it comes to crooked banks or politicians. France is a strange country that likes to give lessons about democracy to the rest of the world, but when you look at things closer, France is closer to a monarchy than a democracy. Everything is so centralised that information usually comes from an single source of truth, that journalist dont even bother ques…

>France is a strange country that likes to give lessons about democracy to the rest of the world Coming from an american (I guess), i find this hilarious. >France is closer to a monarchy than a democracy. I can get the comparison, current constitution was made to give important powers to the president (heavily influenced by Charles de Gaulle, which wasn't the best idea). American democracy funding looks very much lik…

Camus2 seems to be French. You would not be at risk of making embarrassing mistakes like this if you made an effort to find actual arguments, instead of attempting to criticize the person you are imagining the commenter to be.

Re: US blogger fined 8,000 Euros by France for criticizing Société Générale

#186

Post by ds9 »

mercurial wrote: post #153
epsylon wrote: post #47

The comments here are atrocious. I expected more from HN than senseless French-bashing and 'Murica flag-waving. A few informations for context: - Two bloggers were fined, one French, and the American one for quoting the French. - The fine emanated from the Commission des Sanctions (sanction committee) of the AMF (Autorité des Marchés Financiers), the French stock market regulator. - It's supposed to be independent, b…

> The comments here are atrocious. I expected more from HN than senseless French-bashing and 'Murica flag-waving. You could be excused for thinking you landed on r/worldnews when reading this thread.

There are some dumb comments on here, but I expected it would bring a few comments from France and I found those interesting.

Re: US blogger fined 8,000 Euros by France for criticizing Société Générale

#187

Post by jlgreco »

alan_cx wrote: post #63
hobzy wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Erm, ask the US?

Yeah, was wondering that myself. Quite ironic that small fact being utterly missed in all this. Also like the anti French language ignorance. The letter came in French and the recipient couldn't be arsed to spend a few mins on google translate, and some how we are supposed to have some sympathy. On top of that, he also says that he knew there was a legal thing happening, so subsequent letters in French should have go…

> And then he has the sheer cheek to talk about insane French law. Hello USA? The go to place for mad law?

Insane laws in one place do not make laws in another place any less insane. If we universalized your attitude towards criticism, then only those blessed to live in utopias would have the privilege of leveling complaints at other systems.

Re: US blogger fined 8,000 Euros by France for criticizing Société Générale

#188

Post by jlgreco »

Tloewald wrote: post #180
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that Mike Shedlock is not personally America and has no control of the actions of the American government. Also, there's only one nation in the world called "America," so it's plenty precise. The continents are "North America" and "South America," or jointly "the Americas." Posturing aside, I don't believe that a reasonable person is likely to confuse them.

I was responding to someone who was cheerfully making anti-French statements because a US citizen was mistreated by some piece of the French government. This is no different (except in degree) from an Pakistani citizen (say) being killed by the US government, also outside its legal jurisdiction.

Both are bad (although obviously there is a discrepancy in seriousness here). We should not fail to criticize one because the other also happens.

Re: US blogger fined 8,000 Euros by France for criticizing Société Générale

#189

Post by jackmaney »

epsylon wrote: post #181
marknutter wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny, I expected more from HN than people using the term "Murica". Also, before complaining about the quality of comments one should give the system time to correct itself as people vote on them. Otherwise you may end up with a highly visible comment that refers to outdated information..

Well, I apologize for having gotten a bit carried away; of course not all comments in this thread are worthless. That being said, I stand by my opinion that reddit-style pun threads [1] or random and unrelated politically biased ramblings [2][3] really shouldn't belong to HN discussions. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6775262 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6775363 [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/…

For attempting to tell HN what belongs on HN, I hereby fine you $500,000 USD, payable in solid gold Dungeons & Dragons miniatures. Any response must be written in Morse code while cooking a souffle.

Re: US blogger fined 8,000 Euros by France for criticizing Société Générale

#190

Post by jlgreco »

latj wrote: post #164
woah wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I'll have to inform you that this was incorrect! I grew up in Vermont, and let me assure you, it is Quebec that is the cradle of civilization!

Is there anyone in the world that could hate a Canadian?

I want to get a decal for my pickup truck's back window with an image of the White House burning and a crying bald eagle, backdropped by an American flag, and the words "1812, Never Forget".

Also I'll need to get a pickup truck.

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