In the U.S. Nowadays, Little Love for France

NY Times ^ | 7-6-2002 | Emily Eakin

[Pharmboy]

I had never seen the SNL skit. Pretty brutal; but they are as tough on the US also. The French seem to always be a bit thin-skinned, eh?

And indeed, the "XYZ" Affair got things off to a bad start.

[Johnny Shear]

Screw the cheese eating surrender monkeys!

[Tijeras_Slim]

If the French aren't to be bashed, why did God make them?

[Pharmboy]

I guess you're making their point--LOL!

[mgist]

I would say for the most part Americans are very indifferent towards the French. We don't pay any attention to them, they can't stand it. When we hear these stories of the French calling Americans arrogant it is irritating. I think they just want a little attention.

[Slyfox]

Forget France, go to Spain instead. They love Americans.

[Timesink]

A dislike of a given group is NOT, NOT, NOT a phobia. Only a FEAR of a given group is. Are any of us afraid of the French? No, we simply despise them. The Times is merely using the suffix -phobia in an attempt to editorialize that Americans' feelings towards the French are morally wrong and that we should be ashamed of ourselves. It's the same game they've always played with the term "homophobia."

[Thane_Banquo]

[Drango]

Know why they don't have fireworks at Euro Disney?

Every time they went off the French would try to surrender.

[Pharmboy]

Great point. When I was typing "Francophobia" into the keywords I did hesitate, but the Times used the term in the article so I followed like a sheeple. Brainf*rt for me.

[scocha]

The NYT overestimates the animosity that the average American has for France. As a result, the NYT misses the thing that really drives the French crazy: Americans do not care what the French say, think, or do. Meanwhile, they watch our movies, eat at McDonald's, and go to Disneyworld. The French would much prefer to be actively loathed than to be ignored. That is why they joyously embrace Francophobic rants like this. Tres pathetique, no? French culture is passe.

[Pharmboy]

That is priceless...LOL!

[Smile-n-Win]

Already posted here

[Thane_Banquo]

Are any of us afraid of the French? No, we simply despise them.

Who in his right mind would be afraid of the French? They surrender at the drop of a hat.

[Pharmboy]

Believe me, I searched with the searchword "France" and it did not come up. I was surprised. Thanks for letting me know.

[norton]

I recommend a one-time only alliance between FR, Lucianne, and NRO to protest against Justin Vaisse, François Bujon de l'Estang (names like that are reason enough...), and the NY Times for failing to cite our own favorite characterization of the French!

Seems that Cheese Eating Surrender Monkey repeated daily for the past couple of years, is at least as worthy of note as a single SNL skit.

Or maybe they can deal with the surrender part more easily than with the ease with which Hitler's 'final solution' was extended to Vichy after they accomplished defeat in WW2?

[Arkie2]

LOL! I had to think a second to get the point but the "surrender monkey" should now be de rigueur with any post involving the French!

[GreatOne]

Q: Why are the streets in France lined with trees?

A: So the Germans can march in the shade.

Damn frogs - I've always hated them!

[Maceman]

Francophobia is to America what anti-Americanism is to France, said Justin Vaisse, a professor at the Institute of Political Science in Paris

Francophobia? Phobia??!!!!

Like we are AFRAID of this sh!tty little country? Give me a break!!! I love this. The French are anti-American, because they have righteous indignation against us, and are bravely standing up to be counted against us -- but America is AFRAID of France? Yeah right?

How does anyone even bother to take these people seriously?

[Timesink]

Calling the anti-Semitic incidents a "spillover from the Israel-Palestinian conflict," he argued that "they don't make France any more anti-Semitic than the persistence of the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacists makes the United States a racist country on the verge of restoring segregation or slavery."

Funny, I don't recall any novels celebrating the KKK, lynching or slavery shooting to the top of the American bestseller lists the way a new anti-Semitic novel just has in France. Do any of you?

By the way, the number of active Klansmen in the US today is roughly a whopping 2500 people. That's 0.009% of the US population. Who here believes only nine-thousandths of one percent of the French are anti-Semites? (Hint: 3% of France is Muslim. And France wasn't exactly known for being a Jewish haven even before the Muslims started emigrating.)