Sounds of Nature Legally Protected in France After Karens Complain About It

• 01
  
  via Seven Fifty

  When travelling to the French countryside for a holiday, what do you imagine to find? Narrow vineyards, quaint stone buildings, cozy farmhouses and delicious homemade food. And since you're in the countryside there are bound to be some noises too, like the rumbling of a tractor, the baa-ing of some sheep, the dinging of a church's bells on Sunday morning, and the crowing of a rooster in the morning. It seems pretty reasonable to expect all these sights and sounds in the countryside, right? Well, not if you're a Karen.

  
  

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• 02
  
  via Frenchly

  Some entitled Karen tourists decided that their visit to the countryside was too authentic, and filed a noise complaint about a rooster called Maurice that liked to cockadoodledoo in the morning like any other rooster.  

  In September 2019, the town's mayor decided that it was Maurice's right to make as much noise as he wanted, after after international coverage, he became the most famous rooster in France (unfortunately he died in June 2020). But this isn't the first instance of people (who typically move from the city to the countryside) complaining about the naturally occurring sights, smells and sounds in the country. 

  Some people on vacation wanted to exterminate all the cicadas chirping around their holiday home, another woman was sued by her new neighbors for the noise her ducks made (and which they'd been making for 36 years), and another ridiculous instance included a seven year legal battle over the noise of frogs in a backyard pond.

• 03
  
  via The Local

  You'd think that someone vacationing or moving to the countryside would have a fondness - or at least tolerance - of the flora and fauna that exist there literally all the time. But apparently Karens and their male counterparts exist in France too, because only a Karen would demand that nature be turned off for them. (Or in the case of a family holidaying in Les Bondons, that the church's morning bells be turned off for them while they stayed in village. Pfft.) 

  In a response as surprising as these requests are ridiculous, Morel-à-L'Huissier, a deputee who represents Lozère in France's National Assembly, proposed a new law that protects the sensory heritage of the French countryside. This law introduces a new concept: "sensory heritage". This means that the sounds, smells and sights of all the animals, plants and phenomena that Karens could possibly find offensive in the countryside will be legally protected. Also, if you don't like the sound of animals, don't holiday in the countryside!! 

• 04
  
  via Pikist

  The proposal was approved by the National Assembly in January, and needs to be voted on by the Senate (which is being delayed by Covid-19). But hopefully soon enough, townspeople living in the French countryside will be able to listen to the sound of their sheep bleating or frogs croaking - without the sound of entitled Karen tourists complaining about them. The silence where those complaints once were will be the sweetest sound of all. 

  
  

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