Americans (press) bemused by youth protests in France over labour law

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060325/ts_alt_afp/francepoliticsjobs_060325222148;_ylt=Av8Gtj39wIcgq0s3qanVGpys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MjBwMWtkBHNlYwM3MTg-

Americans bemused by youth protests in France over labour law

Sat Mar 25, 5:21 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Many Americans are bemused by the youth protests in France over a new labor law and see the unrest, coming just four months after riots tore through the Paris suburbs, as another example of the country's inability to modernize.

Though the media has yet to give widespread coverage to the latest student demonstrations, images of burning cars and rampaging youths have begun to grace the front pages of newspapers and editorialists have started sharpening their pencils.

The Washington Post and the Washington Times newspapers on Friday both carried a picture on their front page of burning cars in the heart of Paris while several other dailies this week published editorials.

The Wall Street Journal said in a commentary entitled "The Decline of France" that the student protests were the "latest symptoms of an ailing democracy.".....examples of comments.......

Simon Serfaty, director of European Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told AFP that for many Americans the protests are puzzling as they are about reforms
that are a fact of life in the US.

"Young people here below the age of 25 live continously under the conditions the French government is trying to implement," he said. "In this town, as a youngster, you can get fired from one day to the next.

"So when they see the protests there is a reaction of 'what's happening to these people, why are they rebelling against something so very benign'?"

Serfaty said the protests also serve to reinforce anti-French sentiment among a segment of the American population.

"For those who don't like the French to start with then the reaction is 'well you see those guys just don't want to deal with the world the way it is'," he said. "It's a kind of confirmation of the prejudices some Americans have about France and Europe."


The French as an amusing anachronism...
However, my answer, is a phrase of Kennedy ... I see things and ask why not?