I'm a little late to this subject, but isn't it interesting that the fabled solidarity of French socialism leaves old people alone to die from the heat as the whole country goes on vacation at the same time? Yet that seems to be a consensus view of what happened. From the USA Today report: "BRUSSELS — More than 10,000 people, most elderly and living alone, may have died in France during this month's blistering heat wave, French health officials said Thursday. The revised estimate would make it one of the worst such disasters in modern history.... The estimated death toll has risen steadily in the past week, even as the mercury has dropped. On Aug. 14, the number of dead was estimated to be up to 3,000. Three days later, the figure was put at 5,000. On Thursday, the minister for the elderly, Hubert Falco, said "most probably" 10,000 people died from temperatures as high as 104. The number of heat-related fatalities is 10 times as large as the record 1,021 recorded in the USA in all of 1995. The figure also dwarfs the losses this summer in Italy, where news reports estimate 2,000 died; Portugal, where an estimated 1,316 died; and Spain, where at least 100 died. Most of the people who succumbed to the heat were elderly and living alone in apartments that typically do not have air conditioning. Critics turned on the French themselves for going on vacation while leaving aged relatives alone. "These dramas again shed light on the solitude of many of our aged or handicapped citizens," Chirac said. " At least they have solidarity about when to take vacations--none of that evil American individualism and workaholism.
We are forever being told by Europeans, led often by the French, that the heavy involvement of the state in European life promotes solidarity and protects the weakest members of society--as opposed to the way evil American individualism leaves everyone to die in the street (OK, so that's a slight exaggeration, but not much). In an emergency, however, evil American individualism looks pretty good. People don't sit around waiting for the authorities to take care of things, which in this case would mean checking in on their elderly parents while they go on vacation. But then we don't take vacation as seriously as the French do, another one of our supposed failings.
that was Virginia Postrel also. How can you say it's just about vacation. It's the socialist ideal that says people should get 2 months off a year and that the government will take care of things while they are gone.
I recognized something peculiar about your previous posts. ie I'm a little late to this subject, but... I was starting to think "thanks MrBlogMan". LOL Ummm... you once responded to me with the phrase "don't post", when you thought that I was misinformed on a topic. Luckily, we've gotten past that point in our relationship but, er. I need to point out to you, that you don't understand socialist philosophy. Incidentally, when I used to visit my aunt (rip)... she introduced me to *egatz* American seniors that were also being ignored by their children. I am ill-informed what this has to do with socialism too, but since we're having a weird conversation I thought that I'd bring it up. My cat's breath smells like cat food.
Yes, I remember that, but not the post that I responded to, strangely. Anyways, thank you for point that out. Although, I feel you are trying to tell me "don't post" but in a nice way. Yes, but do those American seniors ever get left alone as millions of government workers go off to the beach? Maybe it's not directly about socialism, but socialism seems to say that exessive work by individuals is a result of greedy corporations, and that a society with more government and less work will result in a more caring, compassionate community. But here, we see that an individualistic society would be much better. I don't know what my dog's breath smells like, but it's warm and kinda gross.
Yeah, when they have the rare heat wave in Idaho it tends to kill more old people proportionally than in Houston as they don't have a/c. I guess they're all a bunch of commies in Idaho and the proof is that they don't have a/c.
In a 1995 heat wave, 465 people died in Chicago alone. In a 1999 Midwest heat wave, 232 people died. What happened in France this summer is tragic, but it's not due to socialism.
I read where they also had turned off the air conditioning in the hospitals because they were afraid to circulate germs...
LOL That's hilarious. I'd rebuke your "claim," but I'm still laughing at the fact you think Clinton was a socialist.
Almost everybody is a Socialist from where I am standing. Actually, I think of Clinton as a lying, schemimg, duplicitous centrist with no moral compass. Thank God Newt was there to provide him with material to steal. Clinton was the Milton Berle of politics.
And George W. Bush is the Pinocchio of politics. Pure 100% marionette, and his nose is growing every day.
kinda like a president causing a recession even before he takes office, right?? you guys can't have it both ways...you can't dole out an ass-load of responsibility for all events on the current administration here..and then say that a socialist government, whose very definition involves more responsibility for the citizens of its country collectively, isn't responsible at all when thousands of its own citizens die from heat exhaustion.
Of course, it should also be noted that Chirac and the Prime Minister (and the majority government) are not socialists. The socialists are the opposition party and have been some of the loudest to criticize the government's handling of the situation (along with the Greens). Just FYI, the current government is considered conservative. I can't imagine why the article in this thread didn't mention that.
