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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (97915)	5/11/2003 5:55:11 PM
From: Dennis O'Bell	Respond to of 281500

Both the US and the EU spend over $100B/y each, on agricultural subsidies. Both constantly engage in thinly veiled trade restraints, to protect local producers at the expense of foreigners. And both give lip service to free trade and a level playing field. The losers here, are farmers in poor countries, who have no powerful wealthy governments to back up their interests. The losers in France are also the small farmers there who can't compete with the big operations who suck up the lion's share of the subsidies. But many people in agriculture there do themselves harm, for example by over producing some crop or other and then whining when there is a glut on the market and they can't make any money. I don't quite understand why French housewives are so worried about feeding their babies FrankenFood. There is a big danger here, that genetic technology, could go the way of nuclear power technology. It could get such a bad reputation, that there is a broad consensus against even considering the technology. The French are against genetically modified corn, but don't mind having nuclear plants in their back yards. Americans have the opposite attitudes on those two technologies. It would be interesting, to try and figure out why these two populations have come to their different beliefs. The facts available are the same to all. You don't understand the point of view of French housewives because you cannot fathom that food is as important to the French as "freedom of speech" is to Americans. You cannot fathom such a cultural difference without living in the country for long enough to pick up the language and get to know local people. The French (and Europeans) have endured a number of food and public health related scandals in addition to this old world sensitivity to and respect for food that is largely lacking in the normal American fast food culture. France depends crucially on their nuclear generated electricity. Not everyone is happy with this, but things have evolved where it is simply crucial. Many large government projects only make sense (like the electric powered TGV lines, which they are still constructing) with an abundance of electrical power. Naturally, the French government is not completely forthright about the risks of nuclear power. So, "facts available to all" depends on how "readily available" these facts are among other things.