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Some of you may have been paying attention to the local elections taking place in France in the past two weeks. Personally, I feel it is my duty as an artist, (if I may loosely assume that title, even if I don't make a living from my art, such as it is), to keep as far distant from politics and politicians as the universe will allow. In my meagre experience and no doubt erroneous observations over the years, I have often thought that politics tends to take on nasty odors very easily. And never look under a politician's rug. Out of a line up of various candidates campaign posters, this was the only one that had been defaced (no pun intended). You may draw your own conclusions . . .
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22 comments:
OMG, something awful is going on with Blogger... just to do this extremely simple post with one paragraph of text and one photo was a pain in the backside. Each time I clicked on "Publish", the fine WYSINWYG (what you see is not what you get) new (?) page layout software added all by itself many empty lines both before and after the photo which I did not ask for and did not want. I tried a couple of times to make them go away, but I can't get rid of them. Maybe the mere mention of politics in the blog caused it to go haywire.
Note to self : Never mention politics in polite company nor on blog...
Politics... Sheer EVIL!!
Of course your blog reacted to it, Owen... ( I wrote about politics once, or was it more I ranted??) And my blog misbehaved as well...
(I have to admit I would have done that exact same thing to that poster... looks sooooooo much better that way... I am not a huge fan of the family... oooooppppsss...)
Lena,.... ssshhhhhhhhhh (they might hear you....)
:-)
ok, ok... let me switch to sign language then!!! ;)
great poster - let's hope all see sense soon in France!!
To deface a political poster is surely the most elegant form of satire?
Political idealism is one thing, reality is another. Twain said, "I love mankind, its just people I can't stand"...this could be easily applied to the principles of politics, and the actions of politicians....
We really do deserve better than the politicians we have....but they've taken from us the power to be rid of them by their strict control of candidatures.
I imagine there are worse things that could have been done to the poster ... after all, much worse things have been done in the name of pol*&*cs (must protect my blog, I never learned sign language!) over time. No matter how much a candidate promises a clean campaign, they end up in the mud pit anyway, slinging away. Sigh. I hate pol*$*cs!
My sympathy for the devil of blogocracy that you are having to deal with. Seems the rebel forces of computer/internet glitchery are running rampant these days, like many other dark evils.
And speaking of evil forces beyond our control,
Canada is suddenly being subjected to a federal election. You will not be reading about it on my blogs.
Hi Owen~ Now that I've spent all morning trying to figure out what this poster represents!... first of all, do you see the shape of leaves (lily, daffodil) in the torn pattern? Then I had to research the UMPS system. It turns out that it's global, so that should be a good thing (?) NASA has one: it's a defense system using doppler radar/ultrasound... and this young woman is running on the "Against UMPS" ballot. Would it be handled under the auspices of the French Navy? Empty, radar wave, ocean wave... Maybe I tore this poster down just because my French perception is melting away. I have noticed that Blogger has been really slow lately. Sometimes it tells me it's temporarily down and to "refresh."
Même si le slogan est plutôt bien trouvé, j'aime beaucoup moins le bleu en ce moment...
It is indeed 'under the fingernails' of people to change the world, here and there.
May time and life provide the right person, here, there, and everywhere.
Please have you all a good Tuesday.
daily athens
I am qualified to speak to one aspect of this post. One does not have to make a living from their artistic output to be an artist. Speaking as one who makes a living as an "artist," I have always been at my most inspired and creative when working on projects that I wasn't getting paid to do. You my friend, have your artistic freedom, integrity, heart, soul, and dedication to expression in the many varied forms which we are privileged to witness here each and every week!
Who is the politician in the poster and is she right or left?
Its just cool to see something that doesn't refer to us being victims,.!!
We live in a time of catastrophes, including on the political, financial...side, with a loss of confidence in those who should be the leaders. I hope we can avoid the shame of a Blue Marine success, when it comes to the real elections next year! That would be even worse!
You saw about my big fear some ten days ago, when my blog completely disappeared for some 20 hours! There are improvements when it comes to posting, but they are not always immediately succesful. What I really miss is the possibility to get some help / advice, when needed. I asked for help from the forum, when my blog disappeared, but I have never got any answer! Google hosts a few million of blogs and probably earn a lot with Adsense, Adwords... , but offers no service! Disappointing!
Just in case anyone was wondering, UMP is the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, which is Nicolas Sarkozy's party, currently in power. The poster in question here was for a local candidate belonging to the party named le Front National, or FN, which has been at the extreme right of French politics for many years. The daughter (Marine le Pen) of the party's founder (Jean-Marie le Pen) has been trying to bring the party back in from the far right fringe, and transform it into a mainstream political force. She is leading Sarkozy in many polls at present, but is trailing the Socialist party, depending on who their candidate might be next year in the presidential elections in France. Her father had serious legal troubles over the years for making anti-semite comments about the Holocaust. Marine le Pen is trying to distance herself from that dark chapter of her family's past, but for a large part of the French population, she still represents a place they don't want to be associated with, with racist undertones to an anti-immigration platform. Many French, and other Europeans, are concerned at present about uncontrolled immigration, looking to the Italian island of Lampedusa as an example of where things are heading. This may explain why she is doing so well in polls at present. It is unlikely that she could win an election however.
Anyway, that is my take as a foreigner here, there may be other parts of the story I've missed. But the defacing of this poster certainly indicates the strong distaste with which many mainstream French have for the FN.
Je ne suis pas fan de ce bleu blanc rouge là mais j'ai l'oreille attentive quant au discours et aux arguments utilisés.
Car se boucher les oreilles n'est pas la bonne attitude, écouter ce qui est dit et tenter de comprendre l'évolution de notre société l'est davantage.
Moi, je suis inquiète.
perfect post, and i echo your feelings completely!!!
A difficult post in more ways than one, if only from a technical point of view. A difficult topic too. I can understand why many people are worried about their future - we are going through fast-changing and troubled times. People are scared. But Ms. Le Pen's answer that it's all the immigrants' fault is both wrong and stupid.
J'aime beaucoup le bleu d'ordinaire, mais pas celui-ci...:/
Je croise les doigts très fort afin que cette vague bleue ne se transforme pas en tsunami et ne nous submerge dans 1 an...Effrayant tout cela.
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