French-fried cars for New Year

January 3, 2004 6:15 PM

French-fried cars for New Year In Detroit, it has been a custom to fire guns during New Year's celebrations. Perhaps we should put aside our current dislike of the French and borrow this fine way to usher in a brand new year. After all, it is the French who have given us taste, culture, refinement, and the liberty of self-expression.
posted by Postroad (48 comments total)

our current dislike of the French
Do you mean your current dislike of the French?
Your dripping sarcasm tastes like hypocrisy. Isn't Detroit the home of Devil's Night?
posted by planetkyoto at 6:46 PM on January 3, 2004

Blatant racism & xenophobia. You don't speak for me, postie. For all you know, I am french. Get lost.
posted by dash_slot- at 7:02 PM on January 3, 2004

Not sure what your point with this post was, but it's not terribly vital to the front page. I suspect you're poking fun at the French, which is in bad taste, given that time has so far proven them right in disagreeing with us. It's also sort of low-brow and cliched, but that doesn't stop most people. Anyway, good to see you've taken the high road.
posted by Hildago at 7:19 PM on January 3, 2004

IN DETROIT, FRENCH CAR BURN YOU.
posted by quonsar at 7:34 PM on January 3, 2004

poking fun at the French, which is in bad taste, given that time has so far proven them right in disagreeing with us.

Tell me, how is it that I can get to this warped reality that you live in?
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 7:40 PM on January 3, 2004

This is so getting deleted.
posted by Blue Stone at 7:40 PM on January 3, 2004

(a man steps from the alley as a police car goes by)

"Devant la caserne
Quand le jour s'enfuit
La vieille lanterne
Soudain s'allume et luit.
C'est dans ce coin la que le soir
On s'attendait remplis d'espoir
Tous deux Lily Marlene
Tous deux Lily Marlene.

Et dans la nuit sombre
Nos corps enlaces
Ne faisaient qu'une ombre
Lorsque je t'embrassais
Nous echangions ingenument
Joue contre joue bien des serments
Tous deux
Lily Marlene.
Tous deux
Lily Marlene.

Le temps passe vite
Lorsque l'on est deux
Helas! on se quitte
Voici le couvre-feu
Te souviens-tu de nos
regrets
Lorsqu'il fallait nous separer?
Dis moi
Lily Marlene?
Dis moi
Lily Marlene?

La vieille lanterne
S'allume toujours
Devant la caserne
Lorsque finit le jour.
Mais toutme parait etranger
Aurais-je donc beaucoup change?
Dis-moi
Lily Marlene
Dis-moi
Lily Marlene.

Cette tendre histoire
De nos chers vingt ans
Chante
en ma memoire
Malgre les jours
les ans
Il me semble entendre ton pas
Et je te serre entre mes bras
Lily ... Lily Marlene.
Lily ... Lily Marlene."
posted by clavdivs at 7:41 PM on January 3, 2004

Devils' Night

Halloween in our time is a youth-oriented event, and so FEMA's assesment that 60 percent of all arsons are commited by persons 20 years old or younger is relavent. Researchers also say that juveniles involved in fire-setting may initially cause fires in the home enviroment and then, as they get older move to dumpsters, barns, vacant buildings, grassland, automobiles, and schools. Among older urban youth, also attributed to revenge and turf wars in the drug trade.

As for Halloween and Devil's Night, media attention has been directed most prominently to the intensty of fire-setting in Detroit where such activity has amounted to "gang riots." At the peak, 500 fires were set on Devil's Night in Motor City. Fire "buffs" and newshounds from around the nation descended on the city, racing fire trucks from blaze to blaze. The situation even attracted international attraction, evidenced in apperance of Japanese film crews.

I suspect that this, like MacDonalds and EuroDisney, is another example of the Americanization of the French.
posted by y2karl at 7:43 PM on January 3, 2004

Woo, a fundy link, at that. Point is, Postroad, when it comes to holiday arson, nobody beats the USA. We're Number 1! We're Number 1! We're Number 1! We're Number 1! We're Number 1! We're Number 1! We're Number 1! We're Number 1! We're Number 1! We're Number 1! We're Number 1! We're Number 1! We're Number 1! We're Number 1! We're Number 1! We're Number 1! We're Number 1!
So get real.
posted by y2karl at 7:46 PM on January 3, 2004

y2karl, trust me...

French kids were burning things long before McDonalds and EuroDisney.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 7:47 PM on January 3, 2004

Angels night
posted by clavdivs at 7:48 PM on January 3, 2004

my new gloves smell like gasoline.
posted by quonsar at 7:50 PM on January 3, 2004

Devils Night is the day in October when people in Detroit go wild and start riots, get drunk, smash pumpkins, et cetera. Note our boy Enimem put a disk out by the very title of Devils' Night:--to paraphrase the late H. Rap Brown: Holiday arson is American as cherry pie.
posted by y2karl at 7:54 PM on January 3, 2004

Steve At Linnwood, trust me--American kids have been torching property for centuries, and in Detroit, for decades.
posted by y2karl at 7:56 PM on January 3, 2004

This is me, Tonya. I'm not from Phoenix (if you can't tell) I'm from the Detroit area, Ferndale to be exact. Being from the Detroit area has really affected my gaze when I look at Phoenix. Detroit is the only U.S. city that has been occupied three times by the American army. First in 1863, then 1943 and again in 1967 all three times to immobilize racial disturbances.

During my childhood the city annually fell victim to what is known as Devils Night, on the calendar it’s the night before Halloween. Most minor social deviants in other areas of the country soap windows, or toilet paper houses.

Urban Community Intervention to Prevent Halloween Arson -- Detroit, Michigan, 1985-1996
In Detroit Devils Night lasts three days from October 29th through the 31st and soap and toilet paper are exchanged for matches and gasoline. Arsonists envelop the city and burn as many homes as possible. Most of the fires begin in vacant homes and spread to occupied homes. Some people say the arsonist want to eliminate the vacant homes because they frequently house criminal activities in the neighborhoods, others say the motive is only delinquency.

From here.

So, when it comes to barbarity, we more than match the French in regards to holiday arson.
posted by y2karl at 8:01 PM on January 3, 2004

Some sources say that Beaubien saw some Native Americans filing their gun barrels off. Other accounts have local blacksmiths reporting an unusually heavy run on files and saws. Some sources suggest that French settlers whose help Pontiac had tried to enlist told Gladwin of the plot. Though the attack was unsuccessful, there followed years of terrorism and trouble with Native Americans
posted by clavdivs at 8:04 PM on January 3, 2004

oops! the text is from the second link--I didn't scroll down and stuck the first link in the middle of the quote: it should have been the second.

But, 1984 saw as many as 800 fires in the 3-day period--now if that isn't a case of You Can't Touch This.... Those French don't have a chance. We're number 1!
posted by y2karl at 8:06 PM on January 3, 2004

In the same year, an arsonist set fire to Fort Ponchartrain. Ste. Anne's Church, the Recollet residence, and Cadillac's home were all damaged. Cadillac was badly burned. Around this time, Cadillac was also made aware of a plan between Tonty and the Jesuits of Michilimackinac to establish a new post on Lake Michigan. Tonty admitted to the plot and was pardoned by Cadillac.
posted by clavdivs at 8:10 PM on January 3, 2004

American kids have been torching property for centuries, and in Detroit, for decades.

And your point is?

You played the "Blame America First" card, attempting to place responsibility for French Arson on American hamburgers and amusement parks, instead of where it belongs: with the French Arsons.

I never attempted to defend the jackasses who like to celebrate things with pyromania, in Detroit or American generally... but that is alright, change the subject.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 8:27 PM on January 3, 2004

Perhaps Paris is going through what Detroit suffered. An immigrant workforce, underemployed and discriminated against striking out by burning what is close by.

I've lived in Detroit and it is slowly recovering and has little arson now on Devil's night. (stfu y2karl). But, Paris is entering a similar twilight and may not emerge for decades. Muslims and other immigrant poor are tearing at its cultural and economic foundations. I'm glad I saw it when I did two years ago and do not expect to see the same Paris when I return if ever.
posted by paleocon at 8:27 PM on January 3, 2004

You played the "Blame America First" card

As if. Just pointing out we have no room to point the finger at any one when it comes to civl disturbances.
posted by y2karl at 8:36 PM on January 3, 2004

Just pointing out we have no room to point the finger at any one when it comes to civl disturbances.

No you weren't. And that's the point. You wrote:

I suspect that this, like MacDonalds and EuroDisney, is another example of the Americanization of the French.

Which states, quite blatantly, that the French got the idea of torching cars from the US, which is what Steve found fallacious.
posted by BlueTrain at 8:41 PM on January 3, 2004

As if. Just pointing out we have no room to point the finger at any one when it comes to civl disturbances

No, that is not what you did. I quote:

"I suspect that this, like MacDonalds and EuroDisney, is another example of the Americanization of the French."


Americanization of the French, as in Arson is an American trait that the Frech are picking up from the evil 'globalization' of American Corporations like McDonald's and Disney.

On preivew: what BlueTrain said.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 8:44 PM on January 3, 2004

I suspect ...

Which states, quite blatantly...

Postroad slags the French, I point out we have our own tradition and teasingly suggest the French may have picked it up from us as Americanization of French culture is such a bone of contention--oh, yeah, like I was serious. Get real, doofi. God--two little twerps get a little pompously hot under the collar and try to tell me what I'm saying when they don't even get the joke.

Am I the only one who hasn't had anything to drink tonight?
posted by y2karl at 9:01 PM on January 3, 2004

two little twerps get a little pompously hot under the collar and try to tell me what I'm saying when they don't even get the joke.

Am I the only one who hasn't had anything to drink tonight?

It would appear not.
posted by paleocon at 9:06 PM on January 3, 2004

Spare me your pathetic backpedaling, y2karl. You created a false argument to prove a point. Simple as that. No amount of passing blame can erase your words condemning Americans for the French burning their own cars.
posted by BlueTrain at 9:18 PM on January 3, 2004

No amount of passing blame can erase your words condemning Americans for the French burning their own cars.

Comedy gold!

Boy, is it Night of The Living Dittoheads in here or what?
posted by y2karl at 9:22 PM on January 3, 2004

...best and most interesting of the web...
posted by stonerose at 9:54 PM on January 3, 2004

CHOO! CHOO!
posted by quonsar at 10:34 PM on January 3, 2004

What a freaking pissing contest. Fuck all of you, I hate you all equally, and good night. (At least I can be polite)
posted by Eekacat at 10:44 PM on January 3, 2004

Steve and Bluetrain, when you can't recognize a sarcastic implication from a true and absurd statement, you're taking the topic too seriously. Ask yourself who would honestly believe that French people burn cars because of Americans, then ask yourself if y2karl seems to be that kind of person.
posted by Hildago at 11:06 PM on January 3, 2004

a sarcastic implication from a true and absurd statement

While, I'll give you that it was indeed an absurd statement, I do not believe for one minute it was sarcastic and meant in jest. Karl went one to make 5 more posts to back-up his original 'absurd statement' and then attempted to backpedal.

As simple as that. Karl once again showed his true colors.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 11:30 PM on January 3, 2004

Being french, i'm highly offended by all this very american argument really.
posted by Sijeka at 4:39 AM on January 4, 2004

Postroad has posted 311 links and 2704 comments to MetaFilter
and no threads and no comments to MetaTalk>

Postroad, you may be unaware of the existence of Metatalk. Is it possible that you could pop in to add something to the debate over how I - and others - may have misconstrued your post here? Then we wouldnt have to assume your meaning and attack/defend it. Thanks.
posted by dash_slot- at 7:02 AM on January 4, 2004

More comedy gold!
posted by y2karl at 7:26 AM on January 4, 2004

posted by y2karl at 7:57 AM on January 4, 2004

Talkback In Translation
posted by y2karl at 8:06 AM on January 4, 2004

y2karl, how does it feel being so damn right all the time?
posted by poopy at 8:19 AM on January 4, 2004

Karl, the fucking political correct term is Angels Night you sack of shit.





kidding
posted by clavdivs at 9:57 AM on January 4, 2004

poking fun at the French, which is in bad taste, given that time has so far proven them right in disagreeing with us.

Tell me, how is it that I can get to this warped reality that you live in?

No WMD, no justification for an illegal and immoral war found and no pre-war links to terror in Iraq. Looks like the French government got it right.
posted by Bag Man at 12:23 PM on January 4, 2004

Bag Man, why do you hate America so much?
posted by Keyser Soze at 2:40 PM on January 4, 2004

Postroad. A coincidence?
posted by Tuatara at 4:48 PM on January 4, 2004

Well, you don't nzay!
posted by y2karl at 5:22 PM on January 4, 2004

*inserts pointless anti-American comment, avec links*

Newly declassified State Department documents obtained by the National Security Archive under the Freedom of Information Act show that in October 1976, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and high ranking U.S. officials gave their full support to the Argentine military junta and urged them to hurry up and finish the "dirty war" before the U.S. Congress cut military aid. A post-junta truth commission found that the Argentine military had "disappeared" at least 10,000 Argentines in the so-called "dirty war" against "subversion" and "terrorists" between 1976 and 1983; human rights groups in Argentina put the number at closer to 30,000.
posted by matteo at 12:25 PM on January 5, 2004

That's *inserts pointless anti-American government comment, avec links* to you, sir
posted by dash_slot- at 3:57 PM on January 5, 2004

Bag Man, why do you hate America so much?

Not sure if this is sarcasm, or just ignorant.

But I'll say it anyway. I am an American who loves America. That is precisely the reason I opposed President Bush in his policy decision to go to war. I am appalled at my fellow America's hate toward a people and a government who have been our allies for over 200 years!


Despite DDP typical right-wring ignorance and hate, he/she makes a good point about connecting politics the violence in question.
posted by Bag Man at 5:18 PM on January 5, 2004

Not sure if this is sarcasm, or just ignorant.

It was surely sarcastic--an implied injoke mocking chumps who would make that sort of cheap shot slander upon your person for making such a succinct remark and, as such, a backhanded compliment.

What exactly is the point of this post? Is it to have another gratuitous sneer at the French just to convince ourselves that they are a feckless and hypocritical bunch? If so, I don't see the connection. I was as appalled as anyone about the French government's behavior with respect to the Iraq war, but what is a story about vandalism supposed to illuminate with respect to that?

I noticed that comment as well. It was well said.
posted by y2karl at 11:58 PM on January 5, 2004

That's *inserts pointless anti-American government comment, avec links* to you, sir


nah.
it's all the same now. if you don't agree with Her government, you hate America.
if you don't agree with the President, you hate America.
if you don't agree with the President and you're running for office, even people from your Party will compare you to Saddam Hussein
posted by matteo at 12:50 PM on January 7, 2004