Opinion of northeastern France

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Looks like a pretty terrible place.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Sad area.

[JA]

It is obviously struggling economically and, consequently, socially as well. The next French government needs to focus on improving the situation in this region, rather than following the lead of American politics by neglecting and deriding them.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

It is obviously struggling economically and, consequently, socially as well. The next French government needs to focus on improving the situation in this region, rather than following the lead of American politics by neglecting and deriding them.

Bu-but the mean scary rednecks think and believe bad things, and it's obviously impossible that their attitudes are learned or that better attitudes could be learned given better material circumstances!!

[Antonio the Sixth]

"Northeastern France" really makes no sense as a geographic, demographic or political entity. It's made up of a variety of historical regions with very different histories. And yes, most of these regions these are among the FN's strongest, but that doesn't make them equivalent in all domains. Alsace is not Pas-de-Calais, for crying out loud.

Anyway, voted FA because of what JA and Nathan said.

[Maxwell]

they both voted Hollande in 2012. huh.

[kyc0705]

it sounds like west virginia but more

[parochial boy]

Bières de Garde are absolutely delicious, as good as the best beer from anywhere in Europe.

Lille is a really brilliant city, great placd for a night out and the people are really friendly.

The Ardennes are beautiful, as are the Vosges. Also Pâté.

Strasbourg is a fun, thriving, international town. Excellent beers too. Nancy is also a really great place.

Some parts you can take or leave, like the pancake flat farming country in the Somme isnt very exciting.

But freedom area overall.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Like the vast majority of France if you ignore the politics, a great place in general.

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

Unreconstructed primitives, obviously. They need to get with the program.

[Kingpoleon]

Freedom Area. It voted Sarkozy/Macron mostly, but Pas-de-Calais and Aisne are bad politically - they voted Royal/Hollande/Le Pen, the exact opposite of how I'd vote except maybe for Royal.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Like the vast majority of France if you ignore the politics, a great place in general.

France is a great country, yeah. The French, on the other hand...

[Lechasseur]

Definitely a Freedom Area

[Kingpoleon]

Definitely a Freedom Area

You do know it voted Mitterand/Jospin/Royal/Hollande, right?

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

Definitely a Freedom Area

You do know it voted Mitterand/Jospin/Royal/Hollande, right?

France's rust belt.

[Zinneke]

Greater Belgium? FA

[parochial boy]

Greater Belgium? FA

[Kingpoleon]

Definitely a Freedom Area

You do know it voted Mitterand/Jospin/Royal/Hollande, right?

France's rust belt.

I mean, as a Mitterrand/Poher/Giscard d'Estaing/Giscard d'Estaing/Abstain/Abstain/Chirac/Royal/Sarkozy/Macron supporter, I don't agree with its politics at all. The only time I was tempted to vote with it was Jospin against Chirac.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Definitely a Freedom Area

You do know it voted Mitterand/Jospin/Royal/Hollande, right?

That all depends on how you define "northeastern France". Which, again, is not a coherent entity in any way, shape or form.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Seriously, this thread is ridiculous. People just saw a strip of areas on the NYT that seemed to vote similarly and concluded that it must be similar, but IT'S NOT.

[Kingpoleon]

Definitely a Freedom Area

You do know it voted Mitterand/Jospin/Royal/Hollande, right?

That all depends on how you define "northeastern France". Which, again, is not a coherent entity in any way, shape or form.

Of course it isn't. Calling a certain area northeast is relative and different to every individual.

[parochial boy]

Definitely a Freedom Area

You do know it voted Mitterand/Jospin/Royal/Hollande, right?

That all depends on how you define "northeastern France". Which, again, is not a coherent entity in any way, shape or form.

Wait, are you saying that not everyone who lives north of Paris is an unemployed miner with a stupid accent and an alcohol problem?

[Lechasseur]

Definitely a Freedom Area

You do know it voted Mitterand/Jospin/Royal/Hollande, right?

I'm aware of that, but you can like a region for other reasons than just it's politics (it's a region I know well).
And then even though that was kind of the general trend it's not always true: Alsace (my favourite French region along with Normandy) has been the most right wing region in France for decades (Provence is about tied with it and Corsica isn't far behind), I think Champagne's traditionnally been moderately conservative and then these trends are true for Picardie, Lorraine and Le Nord, but Le Nord started voting conservative in 2007 when Nicolas Sarkozy won.

[DavidB.]

Seriously, this thread is ridiculous. People just saw a strip of areas on the NYT that seemed to vote similarly and concluded that it must be similar, but IT'S NOT.

It's a BRTD thread, so of course it is.

Anyway, most of France is a Freedom Area. Been to the Grand Est and Alsace-Lorraine areas countless times and always liked it, though of course there are plenty of regional differences.

Also this:

It is obviously struggling economically and, consequently, socially as well. The next French government needs to focus on improving the situation in this region, rather than following the lead of American politics by neglecting and deriding them.

Though of course there are quite some areas here that are doing fine too.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Given that we all know The finest political scientists of our generation have proven France functions as "the giant Midwest"¹ is NE France basically Michigan?

1) Beet, "On the Sociopolitical Equivalence of the French Fifth Republic with its natural counterpart the American Midwest", Atlas Forum (2017)