April 20, 2023

"This is a story about French liberty and bureaucracy. It is about different visions of the countryside and nature."

"It’s about fire management, fights between neighbors and Brigitte Bardot. But mostly, it is about goats. No one knows exactly how many goats are in Ms. Corbeaux’s herd. From atop her homestead, around 20 miles from Narbonne, Ms. Corbeaux says there are 500. Down in the vineyards below, her neighbors say many have gone wild, and multiplied.... Ms. Corbeaux... grew up in Paris’ gritty 10th Arrondissement, and ran a computer-software company..... She moved [to]... southern France, determined to work as an energy healer. But then she clapped eyes on two baby goats at a medieval fair. 'I was hypnotized,' she said... ... Ms. Corbeaux believed she was bringing back the eco-pasturage tradition. She began receiving European Union grants for the work....  Her neighbors call her irresponsible and a 'pseudo-ecologist'.... The foundation of Brigitte Bardot... offered... 40,000 euros to build a fence... to keep the goats in.... She is grateful that a solution was found, but it brings her to tears. 'I’m in love with my billy goats, frankly. I don’t think we have the right to do whatever we want — not to kill them, nor to castrate them.... We should respect them more than that.'"

51 comments:

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Co-existing with herd animals who have been part of our human existence for 15,000 years by building a fence and limiting their damage to us is not "doing whatever we want" to them. She is under the fantasy that they are people, with rich emotional and family lives. This anthropomorphising nonsense is a direct result of children's literature and movies over the last hundred years. We have sown the wind...

MB said...

Allowing animals to reproduce beyond what the land is able to sustain healthfully is not "respect". Allowing them to reproduce so much that they are a nuisance to the neighbors disrespects both the neighbors and the animals.

Enigma said...

Wolves were nearly wiped out many decades ago. Then they were brought them back to Yellowstone National Park. Then the local ranchers started killing them. Now, the Denver crowd is pushing wolves back into the Colorado mountains. A clueless Yellowstone visitor put a baby Bison in his SUV because it "looked cold." Then it had to be killed because it was rejected by its mother.

Nature is a very different place for visitors than for those who must work there. Utopian ideologies, reckless dilettantes, and urban naivete are evergreen problems. Let's see how Europe changes as the nuke plants close down, as Russian oil goes away, and as nature becomes a necessary economic resource once again.

gilbar said...

goat curry is REALLY good. mmmm... goat curry

n.n said...

This is an age old problem, between urban and suburban, between urbane and rural, between fetuses and babies that occupy the same womb in time and place, but engender disparate, inequitable, and exclusive empathetic responses.

gahrie said...

Another well-meaning idiot who has no idea of how nature actually works. If she wanted nature, she should have brought in a pack of wolves to feed on the goats and keep their numbers down.

Owen said...

She sounds like a dream neighbor. From Hell.

If she's so keen on not castrating goats, she's OK with letting virulent pathogens multiply endlessly, right? I mean, Life Wants To Propagate, and Who Are We To Judge?

Moron.

MadisonMan said...

Don't her neighbors have guns?
Si vous laissez vos chèvres errer sur ma propriété, je les tuerai.
Note I'm being polite and not tutoyering her.

tim maguire said...

"Meddlesome Nitwit Cosplays Country Squire"

Peasantville

Left Bank of the Charles said...

The Brigitte Bardot foundation has figured out the Coase theorem by offering to pay for the fence. A back of the envelope calculation indicates at least 3 to 7 miles of fence might be needed to enclose some or all of the 680 hectares the goat nonherder has rented.

Roger Sweeny said...

If the goats were in their natural environment, most of them would be killed by lions and wolves. That's how Mother Nature shows respect.

M said...

Another stupid hippie.

Jupiter said...

Life is about access to resources. The goats certainly want to have access to resources, but they do not have the strength, nor the cunning, to obtain and defend those resources. Indeed, they are subject under human law to be treated as a resource themselves. If Ms. Corbeaux can deploy her strength and cunning, or her money and her attorneys' cunning, on their behalf, that is her business. Framing the question as "I don't think we have the right ..." is one form of deployable cunning. Deployable. Not deplorable. What's that in French?

Aggie said...

"I don’t think we have the right to do whatever we want ...." she said, while demanding precisely that.

Flat Tire said...

Is France an open range country? Too funny. The males should be castrated shortly after birth. A little rubber band, easy peasy.

NKP said...

I believe it's a story about the Winsome Goat.

In 37 years of hiking the alps I've gazed upon wonders that lift the soul and traveled routes rivaling just about anything in the production of adrenaline.

Yet, nothing delights me more than random encounters
with goats - some penned on tiny farms tucked away in untravelled valleys and others just wandering about like, maybe, they had a weekend pass or something.

I find them eager to socialize, extremely curious with a bit of an attitude suggesting we team-up and play a prank on somebody.

If I had some land, I'd have a few goats of my own (probably not 500, though).

The Crack Emcee said...

The forces from Yurp, that tore my marriage apart, are now tearing the world apart. "Woke", like "wellness" and all the other idiocy, is just another manifestation. The bottom line is none of it makes sense and people are trying to make us accept that. Here's someone who's explained it more concisely than I can, but the message is the same:

This is fascism, directly from the same cultural stew that Himmler used to, eventually, make killing the Jews seem OK.

http://themachoresponse.blogspot.com/2007/11/macho-response-dr-graham-sharpe-throws.html

Don't forget the French philosopher, Voltaire: If they can make us believe absurdities, they can make us commit them, too

And America's been swallowing them whole,....

Dean said...

Oh, the vintner and the goatherd should be friends,
Oh, the vintner and the goatherd should be friends.
One man likes to grow a grape,
The other lets their goats escape,
But that's no reason why they cain't be friends.

minnesota farm guy said...

Airy, fairy environmentalist. In MN goats are used to clean up unwanted brush like honeysuckle, buckthorn and other invasive species. They do not differentiate between those items you would like to keep and those you wouldn't. Would not blame the grape growers if their answer was double ought buck.

minnesota farm guy said...

Airy, fairy environmentalist. In MN goats are used to clean up unwanted brush like honeysuckle, buckthorn and other invasive species. They do not differentiate between those items you would like to keep and those you wouldn't. Would not blame the grape growers if their answer was double ought buck.

The Crack Emcee said...

Until someone grasps that the same Oprah Winfrey to study at Shirley MacLaine's feet, claim The Secret is Science - or a quack like Dr. Oz is "America's Doctor" - is the same person to make the extremely dishonest and racist Netflix film "When They See Us" you will NOT understand how woke came to be,....

Kevin said...

I'm sure this has already been said, but you can never tell with the caching of comments on this site: but it's dumbfounding that people can wail and gnash teeth over the castration of goats but not bat an eye when done to ten year old human children on an industrial scale

mikee said...

In many parts of the US, the phrase "shoot, shovel, shut up" describes how such problems are handled.

phantommut said...

Oh good lord. A herd full of rutting male goats. This farm boy can smell that from 40 years away.

phantommut said...

Sorry for another comment, but some humans really shouldn't be allowed to keep animals, especially farm animals.

https://giphy.com/gifs/crazy-parkour-UfrhmqjRL9bNK

Smilin' Jack said...

“The foundation of Brigitte Bardot...”

Anyone who’s seen “And God Created Woman” knows that Brigette’s foundation is beyond reproach.

rhhardin said...

There's one place here where there's trout lily, and one place where there's star of Bethlehem, on a route I no longer bicycle owing to paving with patches that start and stay too rough for bicycles to traverse.

farmgirl said...

One of my kids(:0))has over 100goats and is in the middle of kidding season.
I always thought: nothing to keeping goats- they eat anything, they’re small etc.
Holy cow- what a bunch of little sissies!!

I still wish her luck and I take note of the goat curry suggestion.

Big Mike said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Big Mike said...

I don’t think we have the right to do whatever we want — not to kill them, nor to castrate them....

Prepubescent boys who’ve been conned by some despicable Progressive teacher into saying that sometimes he wishes he was a girl, on the other hand …

The Crack Emcee said...

That any adult has to tell another a belief system and "spiritual" practice involving the use of water, sticks, and rocks is bogus? And they get in an argument over it?

That's a nation in a death spiral

The Crack Emcee said...

"Thanks to Murdoch and Trump, America is now “this great stage of fools.”

Maureen Dowd - a NewAger - wrote this, knowing Steve Jobs killed himself, using only water, and even in the fact-based world of high tech, surrounded by Tim Cook and tons of celebrities, there was not one critical thinker skeptical enough to say "stop"

THAT'S “this great stage of fools.”

Jupiter said...

"The forces from Yurp, that tore my marriage apart, are now tearing the world apart. "Woke", like "wellness" and all the other idiocy, is just another manifestation."

Look at the bright side, Cracker. The World has gone so far down Crazy Gulch Road that you might actually get those reparations you were always whining about. You still in Crazyfornia?

Jupiter said...

Boy, you guys really have it in for goat-lady. I admit, I prefer wine to goat's milk, but isn't the world, and the economy, large enough for both? It's her money. At least she isn't spending it blasting expensive chemicals into the atmosphere like some wealthy software developers.

ken in tx said...

I am glad to see Crack Emcee back. His point of view is always interesting.

Greg the Class Traitor said...

'I’m in love with my billy goats, frankly.
You are sick, get psychiatric help

I don’t think we have the right to do whatever we want — not to kill them, nor to castrate them....
Then don't feed them

We should respect them more than that.'"
Why? Is their IQ higher than yours? It does appear that way.

You want your goats under your rules? Then keep them on your land. And when your land can no longer feed them and house them, you will see why someone or something has to regulate the behavior of those dumb animals.

But you didn't want to keep them on your land, you wanted to make everyone else pay for your desires. Which is why you, Ms. Corbeaux, are scum

chuck said...

This farm boy can smell that from 40 years away.

They do leave an impression. One of those things you need to experience to truly understand.

madAsHell said...

Good to hear from you again, Crack!!

I don't always agree with you, but your thoughts, and opinions add to the conversation.

The Crack Emcee said...

Yes, Jupiter, I'm still here but my health is failing. I think it's a result of years of demoralization, because no one takes me seriously BUT NewAgers, and they've got my number now: I can't work, except for labor, because NewAge has taken over almost every profession. And, of course, I'm being forced to watch this evil grow and take over the country. Conservatives whining about woke are helping them because, while they attack blacks, as usual, all the rest of them get a wide berth to do what they want - like sexing up kids in school. If conservatives can't see, they're dealing with the same phenomena, the NewAgers win.

The Crack Emcee said...

Remember how Christopher Hitchens was treated when he was trying to get America to take Bill Clinton's three confirmed rapes seriously?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjUD5Jo_MBE

Action on that count would've spared us a lot of this mess - the Clintons are huge in the NewAge - but dissing/making fun of/marginalizing truth-tellers is the way everyone deals now.

You're your own worse enemies,...

Old and slow said...

I get it that people like to use the word "hippie" as a generic insult, but I think "new ager" is much more appropriate here. I've known and currently know quite a few genuine hippies. I'd say at least 50% of the hippies I've known raised animals, and they might not all have been the most efficient farmers I've ever known, they did mostly slaughter and eat the animals. Letting hundreds of goats roam destructively is not something that hippies can even afford to do.

Smilin' Jack said...

“Don't forget the French philosopher, Voltaire: If they can make us believe absurdities, they can make us commit them, too”

And he never even saw Vietnam.

BudBrown said...

My great granddad tried goat ranching. According to my dad the final analysis was the goats that couldn't jump over the fence dug out under it.

The Crack Emcee said...

Since Obama campaigned with Oprah - who's now a Washington Lobbyist - we've got her "spiritual" advisor, Marianne Williamson, running for President, we've had Dr. Oz running for Senate, the Mayor of New York wants everyone to know he's into "crystal energy", and now crazy-ass RFK, Jr has thrown his hat in the ring. And it's all wrapped-up by a Democrat-controlled media that just can't find it within themselves to mention their decades of harm and lunacy in the past - which is their only fucking job

I can't stop dry heaving

The Crack Emcee said...

Here's Bill Clinton discussing his cult leader and what they're doing to us

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEjKr2gA8Wk

And here's his cult leader

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQRUu_4W2j8

Rusty said...

The Crack Emcee said...
"Yes, Jupiter, I'm still here but my health is failing. "
I'm sorry to hear that, Crack. Ill health is terribly demoralizing.
I agree the so called new agers are destroying what's left of our options in this country.
Take care.


farmgirl said...

Crack- you need a hug.
Try to believe: we’re on the same side.

You deserve better than the knife in your back from the x.
If you let it happen- it can be pulled out and you will heal.

Be best.
America 1st.

The Crack Emcee said...

farmgirl,

No, there's no help for me with this. I've been watching it consume my life, and now this nation, since 1995, when my wife came home from Silicon Valley one day, babbling about how she can walk through walls. When I said "show me" that was the true end of my marriage because I'll never forget how unhinged with rage she got at me - not those who deluded her. When I sought help from my educated white friends, I discovered they were part of it, too, Rosemary's Baby-style. Trying to find someone, now, who isn't in it, somehow, is near impossible.

I'm overwhelmed by everyone being nudged into wellness, blacks gone woke, images of people doing yoga (the gateway drug to cultism) and even images of women sitting in the lotus position at the fucking bank. Every HR Dept. operates on their principles, and on and on and on - and everyone else is clueless, defending it all as "harmless" and attacking me.. I'm a fucking piñata now.

NKP said...

Allowing animals to reproduce beyond what the land is able to sustain healthfully is not "respect". Allowing them to reproduce so much that they are a nuisance to the neighbors disrespects both the neighbors and the animals.

MB makes an interesting case for sterilizing or euthanizing large parts of Baltimore, St. Louis and Chicago. Also ethnic and gender studies majors, entire HR departments, congress critters who vote increases in the national debt and able bodied citizens on the dole. Did I mention those who encourage invasion by our southern neighbors?

GRW3 said...

Mexican immigrants - Cabrito - Tacos! Tex-Mex is banging, I can just imagine how good French-Mex could be.

PM said...

Bardot...red dress...La Parisienne....baa-baa-baa....