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I was reading the “Damned Frogs are le rudest tourists in da world” article by the Time… Well, André, each year you’ve that sort of article who ranks the worst tourist in the whole world : two or three years ago, the were British, the last year they were Americans…
Along with them and the Germans, we are ALWAYS ranked as amongst the worst kind of tourist.  In fact that sort of polls are completely unreliable, as another with the same method on the same subject but carried by a different company would have certainly different result… So don’t worry, André…
I would remind you that the Time also proclamed the death of French culture, and proclaimed Putin as man of the year, along with nice folks as Hiro-Hito, Stalin and if I am not wrong, Adolf the Nice Guy himself !
And, let celebrate ! After all, we win…

Mr. Danziger is as francophile as Matt Groening : behind us it’s all “screw da Frogs, they’re no humans !” while before us, in Paris (the only town in France, apparently !) almost always, it’s more “Oh! La ! La ! La France ! But I adore your magnificent country ! With all that class, the femme fatale…” They remind me a bit of Pepé Le Pew and the hunchback that the knight of Lagardère plays to fool Gonzague (“Merci, Monseigneur !”)
You know what, I start to like Howard Stern : he truly hates us ! And he would be no afraid to tell us ! That is more honest !

I was thinking about the Sri Lankan article (pro-gov. apparently), calling us the worst cowards the World has ever seen. I had read it a long time ago, and, for some time, I considered to answer to the journalist and to post here, about this, but I did not, because I am to tired to deal endlessly with bigots, countering his overused rants with overemployed arguments.
Let it suffice to say that the Sri Lankan military is not able to control nearly a half of its own territory, which, appart from the tragedy that Sri-Lankan are living, made me think that mocking the French army is beyond any form of irony.
Until Sarkozy takes presidential office, France had a good reputation in Middle and Far East…
So the francophobic attitudes were rather confined to a quite small elite (most generally businessmen class which is not, at least in the anglosphere, exactly renowned for its francophilia). But, ironicaly, since we became America’s new poodle, one can assume that reputation somewhat plummeted (see China’s row and the “spontaneous” albeit short demonstrations of francophobia), but, as Disraeli would say, they are lies, damned lies, and statistics…

Re Jeff Danzinger’s drivel:

“Using to old joke about French military prowess is cheap, I admit, but there is some truth to it. They hardly distinguished themselved in World War Two, after all.”

Not only cheap it’s pure vomit…As to his truth — I don’t know what that was all about; that part of the French population who fought in the war more than made up for those who followed Vichy, so he should cut the crap. I suggest that he go back to the drawing board and read history.

If he had fought in any war and had fought in a war himself, I might have a bit more respect for him but taking cheap shots is just being plain nasty. 

Re: “… and regularly attend the cartoon festival in St. Just-le-Martel near Limoges.” Maybe he should come to my side of town and we’ll test his bravoura in person!

Ardent Francophile he says? Well, then he’ll understand if he’s told VTFF!

… that part of the French MILITARY population

andré,

Re: “which make their Sri Lankan feats pale in comparison,”

Someone should tell the author of that article that he should explain why Sri Lankans are considered the cannibals of south Asia!

The most obnoxious, if we really want to define the obnoxious tourist is the American tourist who’s usually so parochial and who believes that by increasing his screams, people will understand what he’s trying to say.

I find it kind of funny that when you google for “freedom fry award” (the name I voted for btw) you come across this page
http://www.billingsgazette.com/newdex.php?display=rednews/2005/05/20/build/nation/65-star-wars_v.inc

An article written in 2005! 🙂

Concerning what Danny says (#3 &  #4) no, “freedom fry award” will not backfire, but “francophobe award” will, because the real die hard francophobes will be proud to get a “francophobe award”! They’ll say “So what, I AM a francophobe!”. Whereas no one wants to get a “freedom fry award”, and be reminded of how idiotic they are (for having come up with “freedom fries” in the first place).

Sorry if my comment comes a little late.

About the Ski Lankan article (@29 – Onion Johnny) – I think this article would have been impossible to write in pre-Google days. The author simply googled anti-French materials, much like the anti-French protests in China, and recycled photographs, ideas and anti-French drivel from sites like the one we all know but shall not name.

The web has made hate-speech so much easier by providing  prehashed hate materials.

(@28 – Onion Johnny) – About Howard Stern, he’s the grandaddy of French Bashing, and most of his comments are at the roots of Smigel / Miller / Leno’s bashing, and he justifies all French Bashing by constanly referring to World War II and Vichy France.

Onion Johnny,

Re: “But, ironicaly, since we became America’s new poodle,”

Sarkozy being feted in the White House doesn’t entail France being a poodle. But maybe there’s something you know that I don’t — and would like to know since when did we become America’s new poodle?

For info, France is still a thorn on America’s side at NATO despite “promises” by Sarkozy to Bush that we’d increase troop participation in Afghanistan. American delegates at NATO are frankly at their wits’ ends over French recalcitrance on many issues affecting NATO (and by gum, I totally approve of this attitude by France!!!!!)

If you are referring to France’s “desire” to become an integral part of NATO, (allow me to borrow Jean Paul’s line) it’s not that simple: It’s more political than that — France wants to a larger say in the operational scheme of things and I suspect would like to capture the 2nd in command position at SACEUR at the very least.

A Hillblogger :
Désolé, j’écris en français, parce que ma maîtrise de l’anglais n’est pas parfaite.
L’expression “America’s poodle” est excessive, certes, mais elle n’est pas totalement injustifiée. Nicolas Sarkozy fait bien quand il nous réconcilie avec les EU, c’est indéniable.
Cela dit, l’empressement presque servile manifesté fréquemment à l’égard de cette administration américaine actuelle qui est surtout connu pour son hypocrisie, sa corruption et surtout son incompétence, ne me parait idéal. Ne vous méprenez pas : je n’ai rien contre le fait qu’il passe ses vacances aux EU, ni qu’il cherche à nous réconcilier avec eux, mais je pense qu’il aurait dû attendre le départ de Bush : s’associer à leur clique dans ce contexte n’est pas habile…
Il n’est pas malaisé de comprendre, en outre, les ardeurs belliqueuses de notre bien-aimé gouvernement sur l’Iran (une intervention d’une rare bêtise, surtout que nous n’avons pas les moyens de nos ridicules menaces), ou la Chine (notre habituelle attitude hypocrite et moralisatrice, justifiée sur le Tibet dans l’absolu, mais déplacée), comme étant une volonté forcenée de s’alligner sur les “faucons” (déplumés depuis peu) de Washington.
Quant à l’OTAN, je ne suis pas sûr que nous y gagnons : les Américains décident de tout, les Anglais suivent, ils parfois une fleur aux Allemands sages et disciplinés, mais je doute qu’on y voit un officier français, c’est généralement un club Anglo-Américains : la valetaille n’a pas son mot à dire ! Dois-je vous rapeler les mépris dans lequel nous sommes tenus : sur les forums, les blogs militaires (et autres), dès qu’on évoque la France il y a toujours au moins un billet avec le mot “surrender” écrit.
Cela dit je ne suis pas un expert, loin s’en faut, je vous prie donc de me pardonner mes lacunes ou mes erreurs,  mais je m’intéresse à la chose militaire.
A ce propos, je terminerais en vous disant que je trouve votre blog extrêmement bien fait et très intéressant !

Marc, je suis entièrement d’accord avec vous sur la “googlisation” des opinions ! Cela dit, je pense qu’il n’y a pas grand chose à faire contre ça : plus on se mêle de combattre la calomnie, plus on la nourrit.
Je pense que même si nous, les français, parvenions à capturer Ben Laden, nous même, à détruire le terrorisme islamique (voeux pieux !), remportions plusieurs victoires militaires sur la Corée du Nord, l’Iran, disons (rêvons vu l’état de notre armée, qu’on prétend amputer davantage), même après cela nous serions toujours considérés par certains (ils sont, hélas ! nombreux) comme des lâches par nature (et pas même des humains : des singes !).
Quant à Stern, je tiens à vous rassurer : je le méprise, plus que je ne le hais, et on ne peut pas le rendre seul responsable du “french bashing” : seulement, lui ne se présenterait certainement pas comme francophile devant nous, tout en écrivant, disant, ou dessinant, ici, des horreurs sur notre compte.

Yes, some “soft” french bashing here:
France as a underdeveloped country, where only AT&T has coverage (“look, if you take AT&T, you will have coverage EVEN in France !!!”)

A little, here… Quite mild I think…

I mean, come on, mexican hotels are almost systematically depicted in the US media as mere ruins, run by thieves and assassins, and infested with mutant cockroaches…

Still, it could have been any hotel/motel in the USA.  I’ve seen Amercian motels that I would not enter without wearing a HAZMAT suit. 

This is one of the most condensed Anti-French diatribes I have seen in years. Being a cultural laggard is great for some, but French Bashing has come and gone, and anyone with a shred of decency would have realized the absolute hypocrisy of it all. Will the French remain the proverbial punching bag for aspiring writers, inadequate comics and others who shackled by political correctness let out all their pent up venom against all things Gallic?

I think I stayed in a place like this on the edge of Vegas. Anyway, I am always amazed at the faux-french actors they always use with their pretend French accents. Either nobody French is in acting in the US right now, or nobody French would want to partake in this, or possibly the ones making this ad are concious of the anti-French overtones and had no choice but to hire a faux-french actor.

Quoique – Vu la réaction de nombreux French-Bahers du dimanche – je ne parle pas des Stern / Leno, mais plutôt des Danzigers, Groenig, Miller etc. ils sont prompts a afficher leur francophilie supposée pour désarmer les critiques (my best friend is gay / I have a lot of Black friends / defense). C’est justement ces faux-culs qu’ils va falloir cibler avec le prix du “Freedom Fry Award”. Non ?

I would tend to agree Cyrano, it will not backfire if we give the award to a part-time French Basher, someone who thought he / she could get away with it and would rather not be reminded of their comment(s) –

I will be putting the first nominations together shortly, but I might also have two nominations per category : (a) popular award (b) editorial award ?

I’m sorry, but why should we be polite to this guy ?
Haven’t we been polite enough ?

Barney – I though long and hard about this … Let’s not get down in the ditch with those we disapprove of.

Réponde à pareil imbécile serait lui donner une sorte de sentiment d’importance qui pourrait le persuader de continuer : une sorte de blanc-seing, en somme.
Du reste le “french bashing” semble se ringardiser, dans la mesure où il n’est plus vraiment en faveur et qu’il est employé, avec tout les poncifs du genre, par des auteurs de second rang : ne me dites pas que Kagan, par exemple, est une star mondiale ! Je suis plus préocuppé quand Jay Leno et les autres font la même chose…). Il n’a pas disparu, certes, mais le gros de la tempête a passé, et pour longtemps il me semble.
Au fond, Ryan Tate est plus à plaindre qu’à blâmer : en être réduit à être un journaliste d’opérette et manquer à ce point d’imagination, jusque dans la bêtise, voilà un sombre prélude à son avenir journalistique… Quoiqu’à l’heure de “l’infotainment”….

Je suis on ne peut plus d’accord.

Hello everyone! This is the email I just sent Miquelon. Love your country!

Miquelon, You know I just spent three weeks in France last year (at no small expense!) after three weeks of French lessons so I was surprised to see your post. It seems like you are perhaps not a regular Gawker reader, so let me say: We often parody or mock things (eg stereotypes) by exaggerating the “logic” of those things. And here I do exactly that with anti-French sentiment. Do you honestly think I could believe all that? And if I did, would I express in a “gossip roundup?”

You might still be offended by my post, I suppose, but at least you know where I stand. Also, you should consider slowing down and thinking about the context of what you are criticizing!

Have a nice weekend and thanks for your email and post,
-Ryan

And now my fellow bloggers, Mr. Tate give us a perfect exemple of the ultimate justification of a xenophobic rant : it was a joke, the french have no humor (and they eat dirty rotten things and have -oral- sex all the time). Now read what Mr. Tate wrote in “article”, then replace “French” with “Black” or “Mexican”, or, even better with “Jewish”… Still funny ? Well, not for him if he ever do it : he would be almost immediately fired…

“On peut rire de tout, mais pas avec n’importe qui” (Pierre Desproges)

First of – thanks to Ryan for dropping by. Always appreciated.
Now down the nitty-gritty, I think Onion Johnny hit it bang on.

The “just kidding” defence – seems to be the universal justification for Anti-French attitudes from Ryan, to Randy K to Danziger etc. etc. etc. I have countless emails from years past from columnists who wrote “tongue-in-cheek” pieces that we not meant to be “taken seriously”

Perfect quote from Desproges.

This commercial is hurtful; it reinforces the prevalent stereotype among Americans of French people as stinky people with substandard hygiene. The underlying anti-French view in that commercial is that in France, dogs can wipe their butts on carpets and it’s fine because French people are dirty dogs themselves!… This commercial stinks and whoever created it has without a debt anti-French sentiment. AT&T can kiss my French ass! I will never do business with them ever again.

I just read Ryan’s “gossip roundup” for the 25th time, and fail to understand his post-mortem. Being well acquainted with sarcasm, contextual writing and true tongue-in-cheek, we can claim without doubt that Ryan’s bit is “Parody Fail”.

Tout d’abord un grand merci à Marc Saint-Auban qui fait un travail exceptionnel pour notre défense, et pour la défense de ceux sans représentation formelle.
Il est important de répondre systématiquement à tous ces dérapages pour faire savoir ce que l’on pense et pour  se faire respecter.
Ce petit jeu de lâches appellé le “French bashing” existe simplement parce que nous ne sommes ni representés, ni organisés politiquement.
N’importe quel imbécile en quête de publicité peut s’attaquer à une minorité, sans conséquences légales.
Le “French bashing” n’affecte pas les Français de métropole, mais seulement ceux qui résident sur le continent américain, pour des raisons multiples.
Ce phénomème, en voie de disparition je l’espère, est inacceptable.

C’est pas nouveau ! C’est juste la clique qui veut tenter  d’imposer l’anglais à l’univers parce qu’au train ou vont les choses, les Américains finiront par s’hispaniser et les Britanniques parler l’Ourdou. Bref, ils sont vert de trouille.
Avant de me faire taxer de racisme primaire, je vais jouer les Ryan Tate : donc, je suis ironique, je vous rappellerai que pour ces joyeux drilles, nous sommes un pays musulman (une obsession chez ces types) et que nous parlons l’Arabe Algérien ou le Berbère.
Maintenant, pourquoi ils sortent ça, à ce moment précis, dans ce contexte, j’en sais rien, ça reste obscur : ils sont peut être payé au nombre de commentaire vachard sur la France par semaine j’en sais rien… C’est un peu l’histoire selon laquelle Kerry avait l’air “trop français” : a pas compris… J’avoue que je n’y comprend goutte.
Le plus drôle c’est qu’apparament, la France est le numéro un en Europe pour l’Anglais seconde langue.

Funny, isn’t it ?

La musique de fond, c’est pas une marche soviétique ? Il me semble. Magnifique. Spassiba Tovaritch !

[…] wants to give birth, already, and leave the hospital like a tough American patriot…. Source: Ryan Tate’s Anti-French Tirade Who Would Be A Worse Mom? Paris or Lindsey? Vote Now And Get A Free iPhone. Angelina Jolie Used […]

One theory I have, and that I will develop on a guest post on Superfrenchie’s site sometimes later is that French-bashing is a form of bullying. Indeed, the bashers use the same tactics as school bullies, complete with the usual excuses of “That was just a joke”. Well, if the intended victim doesn’t find it funny, no, it’s not a joke.

I like self-deprecation and accepting to be mocked shows confidence and strenght. However in the case of French bashing I have lost my sense of humour entirely due to the insidious effects that it had on my life. I used to openly said that I was French to anyone I would encounter, but for the past few years I usually tell that I am Canadian from Quebec because of the paranoia and fear of repercussions. I have been persecuted for being French in some very insidious and strange ways but I will not elaborate in this post.

Willa, I have had the same problem.

I usually tell americans I encounter I’m from Belgium.

to Barney and Willa – funny, when I travelled through Europe four years ago, I found it necessary to tell people I was Canadian, and not American, for the very same reasons.

“Now read what Mr. Tate wrote in “article”, then replace “French” with “Black” or “Mexican”, or, even better with “Jewish” Still funny ?”

Uh … no. Because the rest of the paragraph is riffing on French stereotypes, so it wouldn’t make sense. The Mexican or Black or Jewish stereotypes get their own mocking posts–and no, he would not be fired because those groups get the same treatment Gawker and way more than the French do.

Again, it’s mocking of the stereotype, not the French people. That’s a subtle, but important difference. (Actually, it’s not that subtle at all. It should be pretty obvious to average reader.)

Fellow Francophones and -philes,

I do not know Ryan Tate personally, nor do I make much a point of following his writing – however, I do feel the need to take a moment to come to his defense.

Your extreme sensitivity might be getting the best of you here.  I assure you, being a frequent reader of Gawker, that Mr. Tate’s tone was absolutely, entirely sardonic.

Gawker writers and readers share a common enemy, as evidenced by your “French Bashing Level” ascriptions… to peruse the past week’s activities on Gawker.com, you would find countless, equally ironic lampoons of the current administration, News Corp., and talk radio, e.g.

Before you assure yourselves that Ryan Tate is so virulently anti-French, I suggest you get acquainted with his and his fellow writers’ m.o.

I´m German, and my grandfather was in France with the Wehrmacht. When he came back, he made the same jokes about French cowards and unwashed girls (he made even more crude jokes about Polish girls, btw).

So there must be some truth in it.

Do we have to be polite with susanne as well ?

And with the 3 gentlemen before her, who strangely enough all defend M. Tate  (a great francophile of course) as well ?

Dear susanne, my grandfather tells me stories about how as a Free French soldier from Senegal ‘liberating’ Germany from nazi scum (that includes your grand-father I’m afraid) he had sex with many easy German girls.
A ‘blow job for a meal girls’ he called them. Girs who later claimed they were raped but I assure you, susanne, it was all humor and my great-grand father was a great germanophile.

Just like he and platoons had to shoot german soldiers (I hope that doesn’t include your grand-father) in the back they were running so fast. Those cowardly germans.

Remember how the war ended in 1945 (not in 1940) after your country was destroyed, you people slaughtered and your women raped ?

You think we don’t make jokes about it. Why not ? We’re all germanophiles.

to Susane :
Reading this, from the grand daughter of child and woman murderer, it’s quite funny I think … Especially since you seem proud of him …
Fortunately, Germans are, unlike you, very kind people.
Eric Half Polish~Half French

C’est là qu’on voit que les mecs sont sérieusement atteint quand meme.
Meme ici sur un site anti-French bashing ils viennent deverser leur haine dégoulinante.
les fuckfrance et ces 50 variantes ne leur suffisent pas à ces malades.

It’s very strange that the video has been removed…after all, they don’t remove all the YouTube videos which appears in the list here…:

http://www.luntz.com/news.html
You should repost it.

[Warning: An Internet troll is someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.]

He’s right and you (Tos) owe us big time. The Russians (tos) did bear the brunt of German aggression – mostly because the French capitulated so quickly and fought so poorly in WW2, thereby creating “fortress europe”, a relatively secure rear area from which to launch an attack at the SU.  Ultimately, French cowardice and incompetence on the field of battle resulted in the horror and atrocities of the Eastern Front – If the french could have held the line for even two years, or possibly even, perish the thought, ATTACKED while the Germans were cutting down poles like ripe wheat WW2 might have been over in 2 years or less. But no, they sat inside the fortifications of the Maginot line, sleeping late and (tos) while Hitler conquered Poland, Norway and Denmark. TRULY BRAVERY INCARNATE. After the French folded and the BEF skedaddled back to GB it was over for good and all until the Americans decided to save you (tos) from the Germans & the SU – those commisars would have loved to get their hands on those pretty french (tos) no doubt and do just the same as they did to the german frauleins. The SU tankers had a great joke they used to tell their families back in the SU – “1,000,000 of our children were born in germany”; if not for america it would have been 5,000,000 throughout europe you stupid fucking french man. The allies WOULD NEVER HAVE HAD THE MANPOWER, WEAPONRY, OR POLITICAL WILL TO CHALLENGE THE REICH IN EUROPE WITHOUT AMERICA. THAT’S IT. Gestapo or NKVD, Hitler or Stalin – those are your certain historical outcomes without American intervention you french pussies. You think the dutch were sailing to Alsace with an invasion fleet you punks? Good luck covering up all the jews you sent to die BTW,  more from France than any other occupied country you pansies.

Oddly, I would say that Mr. Tate has in fact pointed out the most wonderful parts of France, by highlighting precisely the things that Americans say are awful about them. Perhaps irony is not such an important thing in France…though, I’ve seen excellent examples of it in the literature and cinema…but in America, in his generation, it is unfortunately the dominant mode of communication. Sincerity is not particularly welcome, or recognized. By showing precisely what the barbarians in America think of the things that make France a wonderful place, it illuminates both the brilliance of France, and the utter misery that is America. While both are complicated, and cannot simply be written off in one small, and rather glib little paragraph, nods can be made quite easily. 
However, on the subject of sincerity, and earnestness, I have been trying to decide whether this blog is the ultimate in a source of humour that I delight in, or if it is truly sincere. In either case, quite well stated cases. 

Apparently irony and satire are no longer part of the French vocabulary. When did that happen? Voltaire must be spinning in his grave.

(Read the TOS)

Name calling, historical histrionics, monday morning quarterback and arm chair general … We could get down and dirty here and remind our guest how American capital bankrolled Hitler … But what’s the point, his mind seems to be made up.

Mrbad example

It is very difficult to make conterfactual history. But I think that you are clearly wrong. Without the Britons and Americans France would have liberated itself, but the way for instance Yougoslavia did, under an own national communist leadership. The French Tito would habe been for instance Rol-Tanguy or Tillon.  We could not (for geographical reasons) be invaded by the SU, but a franco-soviet cooperation was enough to liberate France. The US-British landing helped France not to become national-communist but was probably not that essential to liberate her from German occupation.