I don't know what to say...
I know I haven't been able to blog in a while and I am sorry, but my cousin is in town and I have been spending some time with her and between that and working I have been busy. Bad excuse, I know! But seriously things lately have been pretty slow, which I cannot complain about. I have had enough drama for the time being!
With that said however one very scary thing happened on Friday night. It didn't happen to me and I was not there, but I was supposed to be and that simultaneously makes me feel guilty and relieved.
My cousins W (20 yrs old) and A (19) went to a club here in Paris, it was a club that A has been to a few times before (she lives here too) as far as I know everything was fine in the club but they didn't like the music so they decided to leave a little after midnight. After exiting the club they had to walk through a group of guys to leave and A passed through fine, but they all grabbed W and started molesting her, like ACTUALLY MOLESTING HER! Right on the street! There were 7 of them taking turns putting their hands up her dress and feeling her cash and prizes, she was screaming and kicking apparently and A was trying to pull her out. Eventually W kicked one in the groin and a man off the street came up and started pulling the guys off of her and the girls got away to the other side of the street. W was understandably upset and then two of the guys came over to the girls and told them to "calm down" because they were "making a scene." WTF??!!!! How DARE some one essentially RAPE someone on the street and they tell her to calm down? A wasn't going to have any of this so she started yelling back at them and called the police and so they guys moved on. At this point people stated coming up to W and asking if she was alright, since they saw what happened. My question is where were they while my 20 year old cousin was being attacked by this group of men? I understand that maybe people were worried that they could have made the situation worse and of course they had no way of knowing if they had weapons etc (In Europe, esp France it is quite rare for people to go around with weapons, unlike North America, but you never know) but SERIOUSLY they could have called the police or something. AND WHERE THE F#$K WERE THE POLICE????? It was the FREAKING CHAMPS ELYSEES! A MAJOR TOURIST DESTINATION come on!
Okay so I feel guilty for a few reasons. First because I wasn't there and I feel as though had I been there this situation could have been avoided. I am not going to say that I could have prevented the guys from grabbing W, but I probably would have been sober (I tend to not drink when I feel like I am looking out for my cousins) and so I probably could have made a wiser choice and hopefully avoided the situation. Secondly I can fight. I was in kickboxing for a while and I am not trying to say that I could have beaten them all off her all Buffy style, but I may have been able to get her out faster, I am little and I know it, but I can throw my weight around and most of the time people aren't expecting it (I had an incident earlier this year where a guy was trying to "convince" me to get into his car and I had to get a little physical) also I know where to hit to give me those few seconds I need to get away, or get her away (perk of having a Dad who trained with the police and taught me what I needed to know). I know that there is nothing that I can do now and that she is fine and actually laughs about it, but I feel sooo guilty that I couldn't protect her. I SHOULD have been with them, but I backed out since I didn't feel like going out that night.
Another HUGE problem that I have with this incident is this. The French in general are kind of racist, I am not, but situations like this just perpetuate certain racial stereotypes that I choose not to put faith in. Now saying that, racist or not I am sure that most of you know what I am taking about and I hate it. I hate that now I feel racist because it doesn't surprise me that these men were of this particular race. It is so tough for me to wrap my head around. Any French people that we have spoken to are like "Oh yeah those people are just like that." "They come to our country illegally and then cause trouble." "They were probably illegals and they probably knew the bouncers at the club who were probably also illegal and so they didn't do anything" etc. etc. I can't stand these kinds of attitudes, but at the same time do I HONESTLY believe that a group of French men would have done the same thing to W? I hate myself for answering no. Not that I don't believe that a group of French men would be capable of such an act, but I couldn't see it happening in the middle of a crowded street! I mean this (the race that I REFUSE to name) community is fighting this negative stereotype in many countries all over the world and yet in all those countries it seems as they too are the ones perpetuating that stereotype, but that is a SMALL minority and I know that! I mean I am Canadian and a SMALL minority of Canadians do horrible things, but does that mean that ALL Canadians are like that? NO! But does the international community choose to focus on our deviants? Nope they focus on our good (Mostly) but the other community seems to get the opposite all the focus is always on their negative. Arg this is going on way longer than I meant it to, but I am just frustrated and angry and angry at myself for letting my anger cloud my judgment when it comes to this issue. I am not perfect and of course I have certain preconceived notions about people, but I am normally logical enough to know that those notions are going to be false 9 times out of 10, but after this incident I feel less like that and more like the French and I feel horrible about it.
In brighter cheery news W, le boyfriend and I went to Versaille yesterday and had a lovely day, pics will be up on my travel blog shortly.
Oh and in regards to the title of my last post. It was a quote that my cousin C heard on the flight from Montreal to Paris. The flight attendant had come around asking if people wanted Chicken or Beef and C said I'll have the "poulet" (chicken in French) just to be funny and then a few rows up, when asked which he wanted one of his fellow passangers said "I'll take boeuf (beef in French)" and the flight attendant said "Why don't you start with one." Obvioulsy she was thinking that he said "I'll have both" so yeah we all got a kick out of it!
Have a great day everyone! :)
With that said however one very scary thing happened on Friday night. It didn't happen to me and I was not there, but I was supposed to be and that simultaneously makes me feel guilty and relieved.
My cousins W (20 yrs old) and A (19) went to a club here in Paris, it was a club that A has been to a few times before (she lives here too) as far as I know everything was fine in the club but they didn't like the music so they decided to leave a little after midnight. After exiting the club they had to walk through a group of guys to leave and A passed through fine, but they all grabbed W and started molesting her, like ACTUALLY MOLESTING HER! Right on the street! There were 7 of them taking turns putting their hands up her dress and feeling her cash and prizes, she was screaming and kicking apparently and A was trying to pull her out. Eventually W kicked one in the groin and a man off the street came up and started pulling the guys off of her and the girls got away to the other side of the street. W was understandably upset and then two of the guys came over to the girls and told them to "calm down" because they were "making a scene." WTF??!!!! How DARE some one essentially RAPE someone on the street and they tell her to calm down? A wasn't going to have any of this so she started yelling back at them and called the police and so they guys moved on. At this point people stated coming up to W and asking if she was alright, since they saw what happened. My question is where were they while my 20 year old cousin was being attacked by this group of men? I understand that maybe people were worried that they could have made the situation worse and of course they had no way of knowing if they had weapons etc (In Europe, esp France it is quite rare for people to go around with weapons, unlike North America, but you never know) but SERIOUSLY they could have called the police or something. AND WHERE THE F#$K WERE THE POLICE????? It was the FREAKING CHAMPS ELYSEES! A MAJOR TOURIST DESTINATION come on!
Okay so I feel guilty for a few reasons. First because I wasn't there and I feel as though had I been there this situation could have been avoided. I am not going to say that I could have prevented the guys from grabbing W, but I probably would have been sober (I tend to not drink when I feel like I am looking out for my cousins) and so I probably could have made a wiser choice and hopefully avoided the situation. Secondly I can fight. I was in kickboxing for a while and I am not trying to say that I could have beaten them all off her all Buffy style, but I may have been able to get her out faster, I am little and I know it, but I can throw my weight around and most of the time people aren't expecting it (I had an incident earlier this year where a guy was trying to "convince" me to get into his car and I had to get a little physical) also I know where to hit to give me those few seconds I need to get away, or get her away (perk of having a Dad who trained with the police and taught me what I needed to know). I know that there is nothing that I can do now and that she is fine and actually laughs about it, but I feel sooo guilty that I couldn't protect her. I SHOULD have been with them, but I backed out since I didn't feel like going out that night.
Another HUGE problem that I have with this incident is this. The French in general are kind of racist, I am not, but situations like this just perpetuate certain racial stereotypes that I choose not to put faith in. Now saying that, racist or not I am sure that most of you know what I am taking about and I hate it. I hate that now I feel racist because it doesn't surprise me that these men were of this particular race. It is so tough for me to wrap my head around. Any French people that we have spoken to are like "Oh yeah those people are just like that." "They come to our country illegally and then cause trouble." "They were probably illegals and they probably knew the bouncers at the club who were probably also illegal and so they didn't do anything" etc. etc. I can't stand these kinds of attitudes, but at the same time do I HONESTLY believe that a group of French men would have done the same thing to W? I hate myself for answering no. Not that I don't believe that a group of French men would be capable of such an act, but I couldn't see it happening in the middle of a crowded street! I mean this (the race that I REFUSE to name) community is fighting this negative stereotype in many countries all over the world and yet in all those countries it seems as they too are the ones perpetuating that stereotype, but that is a SMALL minority and I know that! I mean I am Canadian and a SMALL minority of Canadians do horrible things, but does that mean that ALL Canadians are like that? NO! But does the international community choose to focus on our deviants? Nope they focus on our good (Mostly) but the other community seems to get the opposite all the focus is always on their negative. Arg this is going on way longer than I meant it to, but I am just frustrated and angry and angry at myself for letting my anger cloud my judgment when it comes to this issue. I am not perfect and of course I have certain preconceived notions about people, but I am normally logical enough to know that those notions are going to be false 9 times out of 10, but after this incident I feel less like that and more like the French and I feel horrible about it.
In brighter cheery news W, le boyfriend and I went to Versaille yesterday and had a lovely day, pics will be up on my travel blog shortly.
Oh and in regards to the title of my last post. It was a quote that my cousin C heard on the flight from Montreal to Paris. The flight attendant had come around asking if people wanted Chicken or Beef and C said I'll have the "poulet" (chicken in French) just to be funny and then a few rows up, when asked which he wanted one of his fellow passangers said "I'll take boeuf (beef in French)" and the flight attendant said "Why don't you start with one." Obvioulsy she was thinking that he said "I'll have both" so yeah we all got a kick out of it!
Have a great day everyone! :)
Comments
And you know what, it was from that particular race you don't want to mention.
I hate that, I'm not racist, and I hate that in making a point of what kind of people that MAY be, I feel racist. I think it may just be the way they've been taught how to treat women in their own country, and unfortunately they don't realise that they can't treat them that way in other countries.
I understand that this doesn't paint all people from this race, but I've met a few, and it certainly doesnt look good!
Gah. Paris. I love it, but I certainly couldn't live there.
I hope your cousin is okay. What a shitty situation to happen to her. Did the cops ever show up and anything come of it?