France to muzzle wine bloggers and tweets?
Factions in France, a country whose national image has historically been intertwined with wine, are waging a bizarre campaign against wine. They opened a new front in their battle last week: trying to ban blogs and social media from talking about wine.
The initiative, part of a report from Professor Michel Reynaud with the cheery name “Damage related to addictions and strategies for reducing the damage,” would seek to limit promotion of wine in the internet, extending and updating the 1991 Evin law. Winery websites would be exempt but Decanter has a summary; the full report is available in full as pdf here.
“We need to formally ensure that no media about alcohol can be aimed at young people, or potentially seen by young people, including the internet (except producer sites) and social networks,” Reynaud writes on p. 56.
Clearly, this is absurd. Not being able to discuss wine at all also means not being able to discuss how to consume wine in moderation or with food. Or its role in history, culture and economics. Or its plant biology, making it a forbidden fruit. The report is out of step with discussion on the internet, unenforceable, and is as boneheaded as it is blunt in its proposals.
Fortunately, an effort with a petition has emerged, called “Touche Pas a Mon Vingernon.”
On June 13th, 2013 at 12:16 pm ,PhilippeN wrote:
Giving the Tea-Party a run for their money in the outer galaxies
On June 14th, 2013 at 7:53 am ,pedro wrote:
A french point of view :
http://www.k-ber.net/
On June 14th, 2013 at 10:55 am ,Gary York wrote:
Beyond bizarre.
On June 14th, 2013 at 4:50 pm ,Bob Henry (wine professional) wrote:
Edmund Burke is credited with declaring:
“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
On June 21st, 2013 at 4:29 am ,Conroy wrote:
As usual France is running counter clockwise and it will soon die from its stupidity!
Too sad ! Especially when the wine industry is the 2nd industry creating money and jobs behind aerospace! But bureaucrats and politicians have to stay busy … Otherwise they would be paid to do nothing! Which is partially the case anyway.
On June 27th, 2013 at 9:34 am ,Winer wrote:
Europe is full of socialist busybodies with nothing better to do than to tell the rest of us how to live, what to eat, what to drink, how to vote, etc. I wonder how many of them are on anti-depressants as they play at governance, wishing their lives were other than they are. Absolutely pathetic and revolting.
Long live the vignerons and everyone in Europe who stays close to the land and gives the corrupt elite class the finger.