According to French politician Jack Lang, and some journalists, the fact judge Melissa Jackson refused to grant bail to Dominique Strauss Kahn is proof anti-French sentiment was part of her decision. From a purely legal standpoint, her decision is understandable: the accused is a flight risk, he was taken off a plane.
What’s really interesting to us, at Miquelon.org, is that after 8 years of no support from the French political establishment, French Bashing is now a convenient card to play when it suits someone’s political agenda.
So far, we have seen little or no French Bashing save a few lousy headlines in faux-French over the DSK Affaire. Most attacks have been aimed squarely on DSK’s personality, his status and his lifestyle. Just like in France.
If anti-French sentiment is expressed in this case, we’ll be the first to denounce it. In the meanwhile, Jack Lang might want to keep his opinions on the matter of French Bashing to himself.
- Source : LePost.fr
Jack Lang au micro d’Europe 1 : “Il n’est pas impensable qu’il y a de la part de certains magistrats, le procureur en particulier ou la juge, la volonté de se payer un Français, un Français qui plus est connu. On a le sentiment d’un acharnement médiatico-judiciaire, d’un lynchage”.
Jay Leno : “[DSK] accused of sexually assaulting a a maid – or as the French call it: room service. [Fake French Laugh]”
I don’t think much French-bashing will come out of this.
Rape is something French-bashers respect. Just like most of the bashers secretly admire the nazis.
And Jack and the other French politicians should keep their mouths shut just like they did during the worst of the French-bashing era. They are opportunists of the worst kind.
From what I can see now, ditto the forums, reply and reactions from articles, journalistics reaction to that stuff, etc, we can’t see any real and widespread french bashing per se, save from some usual nutjob. Not even from conservatives, which astonish me, at least for now (we’re talking about conservatives after all). So, Lang should shut his mouth : what was his reaction when the french were deliberately and profusely targeted few years ago ? I think this is a warning shot directed at the elites, from whenever they are, and it’s a good thing.
Who listens to Jack Lang anyway…
Merci à Miquelon pour son travail.
Latest Druge Headline : FROG AND THE MAID: BAIL TO BE SET AT $1M
And it starts…
Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s last ‘seduction’: French culture complicit in IMF head rape allegations …
“I’ve needed to get something off my chest for quite some time: I’m fed up with French “seducers” and the culture of permissiveness that surrounds them. ” …
http://www.leparisien.fr/dsk-la-chute/le-new-york-post-fustige-les-etrangers-depraves-19-05-2011-1457549.php
Marianne and Uncle Sam fire up a new war
While discussing the Strauss Kahn affaire, tonight on HBO: Real Time with Bill Maher – Maher claimed the “French are more rapey than us” – We has rebutted by Dylan Ratigan who doubted the claim was fact based.
According to the UN who compile statistics about this terrible crime, facts speak otherwise.
There’s been quite a bit of French-bashing actually, not just in the New York Post or the Daily Show, but also in the Wall Street Journal and even (thinly veiled) in the New York Times and the rest of the American press, where France is now being characterised as a nation of misogynistic rapists.
And anti-French sentiment does play a strong role in this, as you could see in discussions among Americans from the very start. As one person put it, summarising the general sentiment: “it’s great to see a rich white guy dragged down like this, the fact that he’s a pompous Frenchman makes it even better”. I think DSK being French is one of the things that make him so appealing as an accused, along with him being wealthy and head of the IMF (ever read Bonfire of the Vanities?).
As for Jack Lang, I don’t see why he would have commented on France-bashing at a time when it didn’t affect him or France at all, but merely consisted in Americans ridiculing themselves. The arrest of DSK is quite a different story.
Et France-Amérique fait le topo sur le French Bashing.
I don’t think denying DSK bail is “French-bashing”. If he had been able to return to France, would the French authorities have then extradited him to the USA?
The most shocking thing about this case is the reaction in France , particularly from the political class who seem to act as though attempted rape is nothing serious and that the Americans are being puritain about the whole thing. The culture of political cover-up and the retrograde attitudes towards women really are shocking for a supposedly modern, civilised country.
The politicans over there seem to think they are some sort of royalty, not subject to the rules like everyone else.
@theBigM
I haven’t seen anyone saying anything remotely similar to implying that rape is nothing serious, in fact every major politician has very clearly stated how serious the allegations are. What you do see in the media (and among a lot of people) though is a reaction comparable to that in the US, as in ignoring presumption of innocence and treating this as if DSK was guilty, as well as descending into pathetic amounts of self-flagellation which the French love so much. The saddest part is if the situation between France and the US was reversed you’d probably still see the exact same thing: that is rabid francophobia in the US, and self-hatred in France.
“The culture of political cover-up and the retrograde attitudes towards women really are shocking for a supposedly modern, civilised country.”
Excuse me? This coming from the country with the most rapes per capita and the least females in public office in the Western world?
“The politicans over there seem to think they are some sort of royalty, not subject to the rules like everyone else.”
Sorry, I couldn’t hear you over the sound of Obama’s 3000 men personal guard stomping through Europe.
@nrk – There have been some odious comments in the French political class. From Jack Lang’s comment about how “nobody was killed” – “il n’y a pas eu mort d’homme” – to Jean François Kahn’s (Marianne) comment about “screwing a servant” – “détroussage de domestique” – to Bernard Henry Levy’s claim DSK should not be treated like anybody – “on sait bien que tout le monde n’est pas pareil (…) que ce n’est pas un quidam”
For BHL, he was not saying that he SHOULD not be treated like anybody, but that he IS not. Average people don’t get paraded around in front of hordes of photographers. His point was that the use of the “perp walk” (supposedly a sign of American equality between rich and poor) is completely hypocritical as it only serves to humiliate the famous suspects. And JF Kahn wasn’t banalising rape, he was saying he didn’t believe there was a rape.
In any case, those are very isolated comments, and they don’t reflect the general attitude of the French media, which has been treating all of this as if DSK had already been found guilty and taking it as an opportunity for some national self-denigration.
As for politicians, the left hasn’t commented much beyond saying that presumption of innocence should be respected, while most politicians on the right don’t appear to even understand that concept. I’m sure it would be the reverse if DSK had been from the right wing. It’s quite sad that opinions on this matter seem to follow political lines. Apparently people in this country don’t seem to see the difference between disagreeing with someone politically and wanting to see him rot in jail for the rest of his life regardless of guilt.
While most of the US in focused on a politician’s pant bulge, in other news last week a French soldier was killed in A-stan.
Caporal-Chef Nunes-Patego, combat engineers of 17e RGP (Para engineers regiment). He is the 59th French soldier killed.
One can already hear the bashers at ff.com celebrating.
nrk – I’m sorry to say this, but I think attitudes to women are a bit more enlightened in the USA than in France.
You say that there is much more violence against Women in the USA, but I would question that. According to some sources I have read only 1 in 10 ten rapes in reported in France and I’m pretty sure that if this event happened in France, because of the privacy laws over there, it would have been covered up.
From my perspective, I’m not sure if this story reflects France as a whole, but it highlights the fact that the French elites seem to think they have the right to behave as they wish, as if they have some sort of “droit du seigneur” over women and can indulge in boorish sexist behaviour, all safe in the knowledge that the privacy laws will cover it up.
I think, in the long run, this might be a good thing for France, as there is now a genuine debate about sexism/macho attitudes going on and hopefully women will no longer have to put up with this.
The comments of some of the French establishment were shameful…
The comments of some of the French establishment were shameful…
So says the BigM, whose virulent anti-French comments are always very tasteful and appropriate.
TheBigMwroteI would not say the French were not brave. Who can forget the brave stand of the French section of the SS, the Charlemagne Division, numbering 7,000 strong in 1944 who fought the Russians hard at Korlin. And what about the Vichy French forces who put up a brave fight against the US and British forces in North Africa?
What the hell are you still doing here ?
I agree with theBigM’s last post.
I agree with theBigM’s last post.
Well, even a broken clock is right twice a day.
French women have access to birth control and abortion and maternity leave and post natal help and daycare and … that American women can only dream of.
On a French forum there’s French people talking about how cool the politician is. A couple of British ex pats are complaining on another about how French people in France are saying that it’s all normal and that it’s just anti French by the USA. This incident has done more for Anti-French sentiment than any cartoon or loud mouth blogger ever has. Except no-one will say anything about it because of the publicity. It will become one of those “Everyone thinks it but no-one says it” which is even worse.
Which means things like that director of The Pianist who drugged and raped a child then fled to France from the USA will come up in news services. Very anti-France, but not obviously.
Control your politicians, then talk. 😛 Otherwise it’s all useless
“” This incident has done more for Anti-French sentiment than any cartoon or loud mouth blogger ever has.””
Not really .
I think you fail to appreciate what decades of unbridled anti-French barbs in pop culture have done for anti-French sentiment.
Apart from the NY post, which is now pro DSK, and some blog comments, there’ hasn’t been much French bashing actually.
Besides, French-haters who are for the most part Republicans, have no problems with disrespecting women so they wouldn’t necessarily bash the French over that.
Our very existence offends French-haters so there’s always gonna be some French-bashing no matter what we do. What fluctuates is the level of intensity of the bashing.
“”Which means things like that director of The Pianist who drugged and raped a child then fled to France from the USA will come up in news services. Very anti-France, but not obviously.
Control your politicians, then talk. 😛 Otherwise it’s all useless””
Where are you from ?
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