Another day and it’s another email from Comedy Central. This time it’s a brand new website called jokes.com which is now owned and operated by Comedy Central. So with the usual glee that comes with a new source of American comedic material, sarcasm intended, I went to this website and typed in “French” to see what would come up.
First “joke” listed: “What’s the shortest book ever written? French War Heroes.”
Well this is a great start…
Next joke: “When I was in high school, I was in the French club. We didn’t really do anything. Every once in a while, we’d surrender to the German club” – Brian Kiley
Then we’re treated to some Fresh “Quotes About the French” most of which were already indexed by us in the French Bashing section of the site.
“As far as I’m concerned, war always means failure.” – Jacques Chirac, President of France
“As far as France is concerned, you’re right.” – Rush Limbaugh
“What do you expect from a culture and a nation that exerted more of its national will fighting against Disney World and Big Macs than the Nazis?” – Dennis Miller
“You know why the French don’t want to bomb Saddam Hussein? Because he hates Americans, he loves mistresses and wears a beret. He is French, people.” – Conan O’Brien
More jokes:
“American teenagers are six times more likely to get pregnant than French teenagers. And what does that tell you? It tells you that American teenagers are better looking. But I say, let’s learn from the French — don’t hand out condoms to high school students, take away their deodorant.” – David Feldman
But it gets better.
“Why did the Post Office have to recall its series of stamps depicting famous Frenchmen? People were confused about which side to spit on.”
“What is the first thing the French Army teaches at basic training? How to surrender in at least 10 languages.”
“Why do the French Smell? So blind people can hate them too!”
Reasons for being French?
- When speaking fast you can make yourself sound gay.
- Experience the joy of winning the world cup for the first time.
- You get to eat insect food like snails and frog”s legs.
- If there’s a war you can surrender really early.
- You don’t have to read the subtitles on those late night films on TV.
- You can test your own nuclear weapons in other people’s countries.
- You can be ugly and still become a famous film star.
- Allow Germans to march up and down your most famous street humiliating your sense of national pride.
- You don”t have to bother with toilets, just shit in the street.
- People think you”re a great lover even when you”re not.
Comedy Central’s jokes about the French seem to fall in three categories: (1) Surrender jokes, (2) Body Odour and (3) Hatred for the French.
Of course, according to the website’s terms and conditions, you must not use, allow, or enable others to use the Site, or knowingly condone use of this Site by others, in any manner that is, attempts to, or is likely to be ethnically offensive, discriminatory hateful … It would seem the “terms and conditions” are the biggest joke on joke.com.
Comedy Central is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom International Inc.
- Contacting Comedy Central
- Contacting Viacom
Please be polite and informative when sharing grievances.
In other news, a notorious French Basher just signed a deal with NBC for a 10 o’clock show.
I am not sure whether or not to make this an issue more that to point out to MTV what they have done. The more they look at this, and reflect on what they are saying, the more likely that they will recognize how silly and ignorant they appear.
Shocking
F**kers – grand temps!!
Just out of curiosity, Marc, have you tried to do the same thing with other ethnicities? And if so, what were the results?
Allright chaps, let’s make a model for a letter to send to these backstards (mixture of backstabber and bastard). Here’s my proposal:
To whom it may concern:
My name is ______, and I am a French-American/French citizen/whatever, and I was gravely disappointed when I saw that on your website, jokes.com, you indulged in propagating hatred of the French. Examples would include jokes such as:
“Why do the French Smell? So blind people can hate them too!” or “What is the first thing the French Army teaches at basic training? How to surrender in at least 10 languages.”
I find it hardly necessary to underline the extremely offensive allusions to body odour, “surrender”, and, in general, hatred of the French which caused the French expatriate community so much harm, especially during the prelude to the Iraq war in 2003.
Since then, French-Americans, French expatriates, and French culture in general have been subjected to abuse on various levels, from large-scale, indiscriminate bashing to personal-level abuse such as insults, damage to property, being fired from work, &c.
I hope you will understand how painful it is for me, then, to see that these hateful feelings are alive and well, and being propagated through your site. It would do you much credit as a person of humanity and integrity if you were to see this as well, as there is no reason for which we French should be submitted to systematic abuse whereas replacing “French” with “Mexican”, “Jew” or “Chinese” would draw immediate backlash.
I therefore ask you to take our plea into consideration, and remove the hateful material from your website; in doing so, you would not only better your image as a humane person, but would also prevent The Comedy Central from appearing as a vulgar hate monger.
Sincerely,
_______
Bash alert: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081211/people_nm/us_lewis
“Jerry Lewis to receive special oscar”
Are we in for some Jerry Lewis jokes? Or maybe — just maybe — the joke, this time, will be on the Americans?
Quand y en a plus, y en a encore !
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-12-11/oh-to-be-french-and-smug/
Ça commence à bien faire, tout de même! On n’en a rien à foutre de leur économie!
“But how they envy our success in everything else. How they delighted in the fact that no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. Not in a good way, but simply because it meant that America and Britain were proved wrong.”
Hé donc, nous ne déconviendrons pas de ce que veut nous dire l’auteur, comme quoi nous sommes jaloux leur succès avec les armes de déstruction massive.
” They have always touted their outdated views that their quasi-socialist economy”
Chapeau, à présent, nous sommes quasi-socialistes? Maintenant que nous sommes pris dans le tourbillon libéraliste de l’Euroland? Et nos “outdated views”, c’est quoi, la charte des droits de l’homme? Ouais, c’est vrai, c’est pas tout à fait niveau Guantanamo…
“It’s not that they are tight with money—they just don’t trust anyone.”
Avec des amis comme vous…
“Perhaps this time they were right.”
Attention: ensuite c’est nous les arrogants…
“They have been predicting “the fall of America” for years, in the way that Gibbon described the fall of Rome.”
Boah, y’a pas de mérite — tout casse, tout passe, tout lasse.
“They seem to think hard times will never happen in Paris.”
Ce qui nous mène à la conclusion de que l’auteur vit sur Mars.
“This means that the lazy, insolent functionnaire mentality prevails rather than a hard-working energetic one.”
Toute une anthropologie est à l’oeuvre dans ce passage; remarquez l’éternel “lazy” et “insolent” appliqué aux pays qu’ils appellent “latins”.
“In the food market of Le Bon Marche, possibly one of the most expensive food shops in the world next to Harrods in London, people load their chariots with hunks of foie gras, dark chocolate truffles and bottle after bottle of Tattinger champagne.”
Alors là, chapeau. Évidemment, si on cherche, on trouve. Je parie que si j’allais chez Harrod’s, on y trouverait aussi bien des bourgeois en train de faire leurs courses, pour aller voir le décervelaaaage…
“My friend Jean Marc, a French journalist, reckons it’s an innate jealousy the French have towards the Americans and Brits because of the valiant way they behaved during World War Two, when the liberated France from Nazi tyranny.”
Bravo! L’auteur s’est trouvé un traître, un vrai, un vendu, qui leur débite ce qu’ils veulent entendre.
”
“We could never have done that,” he says. “We caved in the moment the Germans arrived.” The British ability to maintain a stiff upper lip during the worse of times has long drive the overly passionate Gauls mad with jealousy.”
Mort au traître. C’est infame — il répète tout le discours basher: “we could never have done that”. Inferiorité raciale? Sans doute, car on y trouve des élémets typiques du racisme anglais: “the overly passionate Gauls…”
“The author of four books, she is currently writing a book for Knopf/Bloomsbury about Parisian life.”
Ce qui me surprend, c’est que n’importe qui peut se faire publier, de nos jours.
Messieurs/mesdames de Miquelon.org, c’est la guerre! Sus à l’article!
J’adore tout particulièrement le passage sur la seconde guerre mondial.
Si je comprends bien, les Français fêtent noël parce qu’ils sont jaloux des anglais !
Mais au delà de cet argument admirable, cet article est tout simplement écoeurant, surtout qu’en ce moment les Français sentent bien que la crise est là.
En éffet, on se défoule de notre éternelle jalousie, de notre frustration, car on n’a pas eu la chance d’être nés Anglais. C’est affreux, je rêve parfois de chapeaux-melon, de sauce à la menthe, de gros hooligans bourrés… Je n’en peux plus! Que ne serais-je né Angloys, et non pas un singe continental inévitablement inférieur!
Ce que j’aime, c’est aussi la non-remise en cause de leur politique, aussi bien économique que militaire !
Alors que nous, Français, même quand nous avons raison nous avons tort ! Que ce soit pour les armes de destructions massives ou l’économie. Tout cela appuyé par l’argument exquis de la seconde guerre mondiale.
Annie, #7: I read the article. It shows American and British jealousy for the French. Well, it’s better to be envied than pittied.
André Wernesson #5: Thank you for your sample letter. I just posted a complaint at Comedy Central. Although I did not copy your sample I found it helpful.
Vive La France!
I too sent an e-mail to Comedy Central complaining about the anti-French jokes. Let’s see what happens. Than you Miquelon and Andre for pointing that out.
One day, a fat American acquaintance and I were walking towards another friend’s house, talking about a couple of the girls we had met at a party the weekend before. I noticed that he kept looking back from time to time. I asked him what the matter was — he said, “Umph, nothing… nothing!” He did a few times.
Anyway, we walked on. Suddenly, he stood still, turned around and violently smashed a snail.
I asked, “Why did you do that?”
His reply: “What do you mean? Did you see that that stupid snail had been following us for the last half hour?”
Why are Americans are effing loud, fat and dumb?
Tit for tat Miquelon.
Maintaining a stiff upper lip or being sedate is fine but socking it to those hate peddlers is one way to get back at them too.
There are plenty of ‘stories’ that can be recycled and which can be used to bash the Americans too. Once they’re published on the net, Google takes care of circulating them around. Heck, I’ve heard Russians mocking Americans, simply odious stuff about Americans. Those can be translated and published.
(Pity! I’ve got American friends who might not love the French but respect them.)
Hillblogger — I don’t know, it may be satisfying to “bash back”, but then, wouldn’t we just be confirming the “anti-american” stereotype? After all, it’s their main defense! “Hey, they hate us, why not hate them?”
No, I think we must neither be conciliatory nor aggressive: we must be firm. You know — “Humble and gentle in victory, gracious and dignified in defeat”.
Hey, as a French-American, I appreciate what you’re doing with this site. It’s sad that people can blindly bash and hate us with no repercussions, but if another culture or race were bashed, then the penalties suddenly come into existence.
Keep up the good work!
As soon as the news broke about the Paris Department Store incident this morning, the usual surrender meme came back to pollute comment sections …
I’m exhausted
Disgusting. I found your whack-a-mole image very inspiring; that’s pretty much it. The fact is, the French-bashers have lost the battle, but they’ve won the war: Now that official French-bashing is finally over, we’re going to have to face a much tougher foe: unofficial French-bashing, delicately woven into the fabric of pop culture.
I can empathize with your exhaustion. It’s depressing.
One of my comments was selected as HuffPost’s PICK !
Enough with the “SURRENDER MEME” in the comment sections every time the Huffington Post has an item about France.
For over five years, we – French expatriates in America – have had to endure all kinds of harassment, public humiliation and ridicule, all because our government refused to follow the Bush / Cheney in lock and step over the invasion of Irak.
Mocking the 1940 armistice by Marshall Pétain show lack of understanding and respect. 92,000 men died fighting in 1939-40 and 20,000 French resistance fighters and 40,000 POWs died from 1940 to 1945. Civilian losses include 120,000 killed due to military action and 230,000 victims of Nazi reprisals and genocide including 83,000 FRENCH Jews.
This is no laughing matter, yet day in, day out, Monday morning quarterbacks spew their hatred of the French here and elsewhere with the impunity that comes with remote disconnection.
Once again I shall maintain that mocking the 1940 deblacle is as funny to the French as 9/11 is to Americans. It’s time to get past the Jonah Goldberg / Grounds keeper Willie zingers and show some mutual respect between our sister republics.
Marc A. Cormier
BRAVO!
Marc, I just read your comment in the Huffington Post. Bravo!
Bravo, Marc!
Americans who take to bashing the French, I maintain, are the parochial types like their beloved loud and dumb warmongering commander in chief Bush.
[…]
Worthy of note in the blogsphere: A Miquelon post that hits back French bashers with facts and figures
A huge bravo for Marc who has remained dignified and calm amidst the vitriol against the French because our government refused, and rightly so, to sanction President Bush’s illegal, immoral and criminal invasion of and war on Iraq.
[…]
I find it bizarre to hear all these French people complaining about people being anti-french when you are notorious for being major assholes to americans and being extremely anti-american. So why not shine light on both issues and defeat them together. that way the French aren’t being discriminated against and neither are the Americans. everyone wins!
I agree that its disgusting to make jokes about French being cowards and what not else when so many lives were lost, but there must be a mutual respect.
Jane,
Enlighten me but what makes you believe that we “are notorious for being major assholes to americans and being extremely anti-american?”
Your pathetic generalisation eg., “major assholes to americans” and “extremely anti-american,” reflects your extreme cultural bias and your absolute ignorance of how the French consider Americans, i.e., worthy of praise and respect when they are right and must be rebuked when they are wrong (what are friends for?), and worse, it seems YOU ARE quite determined to prove the thinking IN MANY PARTS OF THE WORLD, not only in France, that many Americans are indeed loud and dumb.
Extraordinary attitude!
Lest there be any misunderstanding: It’s safe to say that most French backed our government’s refusal, as Marc stated, “to follow the Bush / Cheney in lock and step over the invasion of Irak.”” and that we did so because we believed that Bush and his fellow chickens, er hawks, were totally wrong to invade a nation based on lies… Wouldn’t you say that America’s own officials involved in the Iraq study group proved that Bush had lied.
It is not a measure of courage or intelligence for a government and a people who have at their command an omnipotent military to poke holes on every square foot of land in a third world country and cause devastation and misery to its already suffering population but it takes immense courage and great intelligence NOT TO DO something as odious and ignoble as that.
And for that we are called cowards?
Have posted above under HuffPost’s Pick which is Marc’s post
Btw, just for clarification, France Blog is my daughter’s blog.
Excellent France Blog ! Excellent !
First of all, I’d like to apologize on behalf of my fellow Americans for their incessant bigotry toward the French. Our media is relentless, isn’t it?
But if you’re living in the US, of course, you do realize that we bash ourselves even more, right?
I am in no position to tell you not to take this personally. I am American, and I see Americanophobic bigotry everyday just on the internet. It IS personal.
I am glad that you are standing up for your country and her people. Keep up the good work!
To French Blog,
I was pointing out the general attitude towards Americans in France. You are making to many assumptions. And I don’t have a cultural bias and why do you think I am for the Iraq War? For god’s sake I APPROVED of the french for sticking up to the American government and not going into Iraq. Now the only way I can see why you made those assumptions was that you had a preconceived notion as to who I was (based on being American) and said I was dumb and loud. now seriously. If anyone you are the one being an ethnocentrist, with your very sensitive anti-french attitude and the way you carelessly throw around insults about Americans. shame on you for lecturing me.
I NEVER CALLED YOU COWARDS READ BEFORE YOU WRITE
Dear Jane,
“I was pointing out the general attitude towards Americans in France.” General attitude? I don’t believe that you are right, but not at all, to say that the French are “major assholes to americans” and “extremely anti-american,” as being the “general attitude towards Americans in France.” Have you actually weighed what you said? How did you know? Did you hold some kind of survey among the French population to be able to come up with your generalisation of the French attitude towards Americans?
“You are making to many assumptions.” I don’t think so… You left your door wide, very wide open for criticism by your colourful and unwarranted description of a supposed “general attitude” of the French towards Americans. Did you really think that we should sit by while you unfairly accuse us of being “major assholes to americans” and of being “extremely anti-american,” and believe that you were not biased?
“why do you think I am for the Iraq War?” To be perfectly honest, I did not (and will not) assume that you were for the Iraq war or against the Iraq war — I merely reiterated the reason why France was against the Iraq war, which you, if you really want to be truly judicious, should accept was what triggered anti-French sentiments of incredible proportions in American media, in many Americans, etc.
” Now the only way I can see why you made those assumptions was that you had a preconceived notion as to who I was ” Wrong! Completely, utterly wrong! (Read previous paragraph please.)
“…(based on being American) and said I was dumb and loud. “branding you personally as dumb and loud. Please don’t get carried away. I did not assume that you were American — you may be a Brit, an Australian, South African, Chinese or whatever for all I know (and care) but I did assume that you liked Americans (And why not? Most Americans I know are very very likeable people.) I also accept that my phrasing, “it seems YOU ARE quite determined to prove the thinking IN MANY PARTS OF THE WORLD, not only in France, that many Americans are indeed loud and dumb.” might have led you to think that it was the intention but rest assured that the phrase was in reference to the way by which you yourself have branded the French as being “major assholes” and “extremely anti-American.” If you really want to know, I was trying to call your attention (hence, the use of the introductory phrase “It seems…”) to your perceived “general attitude” of the French towards Americans, that your writing about and it using those offensive phrases was not doing you nor many Americans or Brits/Anglo-Saxons a favour. If you were seeking mutual respect, you did not or were not doing it properly.
“If anyone you are the one being an ethnocentrist, with your very sensitive anti-french attitude and the way you carelessly throw around insults about Americans.” Carelessly throw insults about Americans? Very sensitive? I see, you mean if I called Americans major assholes, they, or you, should accept or embrace the epithet gladly? Anyway, I’m afraid you’ve lost me there. Last time I read this thread, the insult, eg., “major assholes” was coming from you! As to the thinking in many parts of the world that Americans are “loud and dumb”, I didn’t invent it; I checked out Google and presto! There were many entries containing the description in more than 3 languages; you’ll perhaps be surprised but Americans themselves have been saying this about themselves and some Americans blogs have asked whether it’s true that Americans have indeed become “loud and dumb (and fat).” To put matters to rest, rest assured I do not think you are loud or dumb.
“shame on you for lecturing me.” If you do not want to be lectured, please don’t hurl baseless accusations and insults around. There is a saying, if you can’t stand the kitchen heat, stay out of the kitchen…
“I NEVER CALLED YOU COWARDS READ BEFORE YOU WRITE” Ah! I never said you did. I guess, you should read too before you write. That paragraph there was a separate thought that was not meant exclusively for you. It was an opinion generally directed at Miquelon, at every other reader and of course, could include you; it is my personal reflection on the conduct of French bashers in general.
Hey, relax Jane! Tis the season to be merry! I personally welcome your call for mutual respect to be exercised in this forum!
France Blog,
All I got from what you wrote is that you are good at twisting words. Like you did about the stereotypes about americans saying “loud and dumb and fat”, I reiterated the stereotypes of the french “major assholes to Americans” and “anti-american”.
Whatever you got from that statement it wasn’t meant to be offensive, it was directed at a couple comments in general on this page condemning people for being anti-french while saying rather rude things about Americans. Obviously I am here for a reason, I am interested in this site and France. I’m sorry you were “offended” or whatever you were from my post. My point was that light should be cast on both anti-american and anti-french attitudes, because I have noticed on this blog that many posters want respect for France and things french but say rude things about American and Americans. My intentions were good I can assure you. I have in the past contemplating moving to France, and learning French. I have nothing against the French or France in general.
To respond to your post about the stereotype of french being cowards I think it is more or so because of the events during WWII, and I wrote another comment saying that it was unfair and wrong to call the French cowards when they lead underground resistance movements against the formidable might of the nazis and the courage of the people even when their country was being torn apart by war.
France blog, all I had to see is one post in your blog where you type up factual errors about American people. How can you stand up against tired myths surrounding the French and then imply that Americans are the fattest people in the world – which they’re not. <a href=”http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23890071-29277,00.html”>Australia has usurped the US</a>. A fair and balanced blogger will be inclusive in his research rather than exclusive.
I think Jane’s got a point here.
I’ve seen in other French blogs where one was saying in so many words that Sarah Palin was the new face of America – despite her having the lowest approval rating in history among any other running VP.
Some Frenchies are using “the fight against Anti-Frenchism” to be Anti-American. That’s very unfair and hypocritical.
Jane,
“All I got from what you wrote is that you are good at twisting words.”
That’s a back handed compliment I don’t believe I deserve, so, let’s go straight to the point:
You came to this blog which is an anti-French bashing blog and dropped a stereotyping epithet against the French calling us major assholes to Americans (your exact words) and claiming that it was a general attitude in France. Correct or not?
You now are trying to turn the table at me as if I had started the name calling. Did you really expect the French to feel good about what you’ve said, to thank you for that odious stereotyping, to welcome your unbridled name calling without batting an eyelash?
What gave you the right to bash the French with your odious stereotypings and then to feel so offended when a French person takes a vigorous stand against your French bashing (because that was exactly what started this exchange)?
Virgomonkey,
“How can you stand up against tired myths surrounding the French and then imply that Americans are the fattest people in the world – which they’re not. <a href=”http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23890071-29277,00.html”>Australia has usurped the US</a>. A fair and balanced blogger will be inclusive in his research rather than exclusive.”
Well, thanks for the info but I didn’t see that when I was googling about overweight in America.
“I think Jane’s got a point here” A point about what? That Americans are not loud and dumb and fat? I’ve already told her I didn’t think she was.
“I’ve seen in other French blogs where one was saying in so many words that Sarah Palin was the new face of America – despite her having the lowest approval rating in history among any other running VP.”
I honestly believe there’s some truth in it if one were to base the definition on the fact that she’s been a major political force for the Republicans in the recent US presidential election. To my mind, she represented tens of millions of Republican Americans.
“Some Frenchies are using “the fight against Anti-Frenchism” to be Anti-American. That’s very unfair and hypocritical.” No, it’s human. You attack a person unfairly, his/her first reaction is self-defence even if it means hitting back which is a mode of self defence.
I had my first experience of non stop French bashing and endless bullying in 2003 at an international school by my American, British and Canadian classmates/schoolmates when I wasn’t even 14 all because France refused to go with Bush and invade Iraq. I was called names and played practical jokes on until my parents stepped in to make them stop. Despite this horrible experience, I have not become anti-American, anti-whatever nationality for the sake of being one. However, I will not take anti-Frenchism sitting down either and I know many French won’t too. This reaction is neither unfair nor hypocritical.
Miquelon,
Thank you for accomodating my comments in this forum.
Will be breaking for Christmas — Merry Christmas and a Joyful New Year to you and to every reader of Miquelon.org.
Best wishes to all.
PS. I might not be able to post as often come 2009 as I expect to have a heavy load at uni this coming term but will try to be back as often as possible. Again, many thanks and heartfelt congratulations for this wonderful forum.
France Blog,
Indeed I stand by my statement that anti-Americanism is a general attitude in France. In fact its practically a lifestyle. Be it a transportation committee of the government laughing about how stupid the word “airbag” is and saying that the French must not be like the Americans and use a more sophisticated word. Or from the very ignorant woman in a bar amidst a crowd of admirers, who said that America is fundamentally racist, and that everyone in America is fundamentally racist, and went on to call New York its own country, all the onlookers taking in every word nodding.
I have stories, some personal as well. While in France for the first time I was sneered at and ignored by the people, even when I tried speaking French.
A friend of mine was in Paris on holiday and was riding the subway when a man snatched up a lady’s purse and tried to get away with it. So my friend ran after the thief and was able to get the purse back. And what did the people around him say. They called him a “stupid American” and told him to just go home. Another story is that of a co-worker who while in a small town in France was confronted by a woman and a man who tried to take her camera while she was taking pictures of the scenery. So I’m sorry if I was blunt, but that was all I meant, giving my own stories and what I have heard. I do not think all are, I’m just saying a lot do and that it would be good to tackle both.
France Blog,
Its embedded in french society, if I may say so, more than anti-french behavior is embedded in American. There was a tv show in France, a puppet show, that aired the day after 9/11 with a small skit parodying the situation. With newscasters sitting at desk while a screen behind them showed the towers in flames. And then the newscaster said “Allah 1 Jesus 0”. Talk about inappropriate.
Or what about France’s protests against McDonald’s and Disneyland? After all, who is the one that eats and goes to these places in France if not the french? Or how about how the French Government tried to label Jurassic Park as a threat to French Culture? These aren’t made up, given all this can’t you see how I might be under the opinon that France has a “general attitude of being anti-american”.
You ignore all the good things I posted and are trying to make me out to be the “bad guy”. No Idea why, just from two lines which I may have written a little more politically correct, but you forgot the the next couple of lines of that post and the entire next post.
“Tit for tat Miquelon.
Maintaining a stiff upper lip or being sedate is fine but socking it to those hate peddlers is one way to get back at them too.
There are plenty of ’stories’ that can be recycled and which can be used to bash the Americans too. Once they’re published on the net, Google takes care of circulating them around. Heck, I’ve heard Russians mocking Americans, simply odious stuff about Americans. Those can be translated and published”
Looking back at this disgusting post its probably what made me comment in the first place. I personally don’t ever come into contact with anti-french behavior in my life so reading something like this. Someone condoneing being anti-american over what some Americans may have said really irks me. And the fact that you had the nerve to resond to my, what I thought was harmless, post and to completely ignore this one….well it just proves that you have a cultural bias. In your mind you believe anti-americanism is no big deal and that anti-frenchism is a widespread phenomenom. Please, I’m not buying it. Do you know how much your culture is envied and copied around the world? I guess you wouldn’t while just moping around searching for all this anti-french bashing.
The only reason you think anti-french behavior is so widespread is because you are constantly searching for it. If I had to “search” for all the anti-americanism in this world….well I’d be near wanting to kill myself by the end of it.
Hello all, no time to respond as I am on vacation, somewhere between Tennessee and Mississippi tonight. I’ll leave you with a quote, talk about it amongst yourselves : “The worst readers are those who behave like plundering troops: they take away a few things they can use, dirty and confound the remainder, and revile the whole.” – Nietzsche
As for symetrical arguments, I’ve explained before that I don’t agree with the premise that anti-Americanism excuses anti-French behavior. We need to break this cycle one way or another, my purpose on the web is clear : to be a watchdog and denounce anti-French attitudes in the press, media and entertainement industry.
Bonnes fêtes
Marc et les amis de Miquelon,
Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année!
<blockquote>”I honestly believe there’s some truth in it if one were to base the definition on the fact that she’s been a major political force for the Republicans in the recent US presidential election. To my mind, she represented tens of millions of Republican Americans”.</blockquote>
But how is that the “face of America”? You do realize that there are 300 + million of us, right? If you want to be fair, you would say that SP was the face of the Republican party. This is where I felt that Jane had a point. It was because she noticed your slant toward American-bashing. That is what I’m pointing out to you.
And if you didn’t have an anti-American slant on your mind, you wouldn’t be googling American fat-stats.
<blockquote>”You attack a person unfairly, his/her first reaction is self-defence even if it means hitting back which is a mode of self defence.”</blockquote>
You are right! It IS human nature. But there’s so much crap you can find on Americans that is ACCURATE. Why not bust us where we should be busted instead of resorting to factual errors and hyperbole? I recommend that you read Superfrienchi’s blog. He bashes back, but he does so factually.
<blockquote>”I had my first experience of non stop French bashing and endless bullying in 2003 at an international school by my American, British and Canadian classmates/schoolmates when I wasn’t even 14 all because France refused to go with Bush and invade Iraq. I was called names and played practical jokes on until my parents stepped in to make them stop. Despite this horrible experience, I have not become anti-American, anti-whatever nationality for the sake of being one. However, I will not take anti-Frenchism sitting down either and I know many French won’t too.”</blockquote>
For that, I apologize. And can empathize as well.
Just don’t take the innocents down. Swing back at the bigots. Direct your speech to the Anti-French – not to the wide-spread of Americans.
You see what I mean?
A typical racist (through the ages) proving its point:
– “They smell bad.”
– “Their women are easy/promiscuous.”
– “They are lazy.”
Here, it’s the laziness: http://store.despair.com/effort.html
– “Their women are easy/promiscuous.”
easy? I know this cliché for american women in France but french women????
If they believe that i can understand they bash France after meeting the first french woman in their life… I mean even expecting a smile is really naive actually…