Tuesday, September 20, 2011

God-Fearing Americans and Al Qaeda Terrorists? "They Can All Go to the Devil"

Just like American TV's Jon Stewart, French TV parodies are supposed to be fair and neutral, distributing their satire equally on all, but it turns out that they just happen to have a leftist bent, which is also the case of Canal +'s Groland, supposed to be the TV news of the imaginary great duchy of Groland (to witness the show's popularity, the country's alleged car code identity (aka Distinguishing Signs of Vehicles in International Traffic) can be seen on decals (GRO) stuck on cars all over France).

The crew is definitely talented — especially the final sketch in this Groland show of the retiree taking his breakfast to his balcony — but one sketch after another are based on the roots of class warfare, with the poor being exploited by the rich.

The Groland show comes from the same TV channel as the Guignols muppet show, whose only puppet representing an entire people is an inhuman Stallone as the average American and whose first show after the 911 commemoration showed French visitors and French reporters saddened at the Manhattan commemorations because they showed up in New York and — bummer — there were… no new attacks to celebrate the tenth anniversary. (For something in better taste, see the Guignols' Planet of the Apes parody with Barack Obama in a Chinese factory at 02:37.)

As for the most recent Groland show (prior to segueing into the obligatory anti-rich sketches), it begins (at 01:15) by noting the references to God in Barack Obama's speech before condemning religion in general (they're leftists, remember?) while making moral equivalence between Christians and Islamists. The president of Groland, therefore, also makes a speech on September 11 commemorating the attacks — of Al Qaeda on a country whose motto is "In God We Trust" — in which he decides that from now on, any and all religious people (des "culs-bénis") will be turned away from the grand duchy's borders. To which the TV announcer adds,
They can all go to the devil — who is someone who [contrary to God] really exists.

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