Posted on 03/06/2003 3:24:00 PM PST by knighthawk
Anti-French sentiment has found an outlet in America: A new Web site where members of the public can send jokes and express their general displeasure at Paris' stance opposing the US bid to launch war on Iraq. "FranceStinks.com" was set up by a 50-year-old Burbank, California-based television producer with a string of businesses to his name who refuses to reveal his identity, going instead by the pen name "Yankee Doodle" so as not to get too many rude letters, he says.
"Americans, myself included, have always had a very fond place in our hearts, and in our style and in our cuisine and in everything for France, and when you feel closer to someone ... are more hurt when you feel betrayed," the Webmaster says.
To express his feelings and give a forum to like-minded people, he spent four days two weeks ago setting up the site - marked by a traffic sign with an image of the Eiffel Tower on it and a 'prohibited' line scratched through it.
His mission statement is as follows:
"When it comes to knowing who their friends and allies are, the simple truth is that France Stinks! ... The French are happy to sell us everything from runny cheese to over-priced old grapejuice, but when it comes to reciprocal respect ..."
The site includes 16 pages of jokes and anti-French cartoons of the ilk: "What did the mayor of Paris say to the German Army as they entered the city in WWII? A table for 100,000 m'sieur?"
And, "How many Frenchmen does it take to defend Paris? Nobody knows, they never tried."
Photo-montages include one that reads: "White flags: new technology that could save your life."
A list of 162 brands and French businesses to boycott is given, with requests for Web surfers to complete it.
"Yankee Doodle" moreover called for a Tea Party on Tuesday March 4 at midnight.
Similar to the famous tea party thrown at the port of Boston on December 16, 1773 when patriots threw boxes of tea belonging to the British Crown into the harbour to protest unfair taxation, Yankee Doodle calls for US patriots to throw all French products in their homes down the toilet.
"Purify your homes and destroy their products then replace them ONLY with all-American goods or those of our real allies in the world," the site urges. "Drink English beer! Drink Italian wine! Eat Polish sausages!"
He also proposes an online shop to buy all kinds of clothing and items including teddy bears that carry anti-France slogans.
The Webmaster also has a similar site targeting the Germans, in unison with France both at the UN Security Council and in a recent NATO meeting aimed to slow action against Iraq as proposed by the United States.
"GermanyStinks.com" may have received around 300,000 hits, but its French counterpart has had five to six times more, "Yankee Doodle" says.
"It's because Americans have never really felt close to Germany. With both world wars, yeah, those guys don't like us, that's what we expect. But not France. So my website is a place to express that in a kind of a community."
And he says that in thousands of sarcastic or insulting messages received from French Internet surfers, the vast majority of visitors use the term "cowboy" as an insult.
"Yes, we are cowboys, and proud of it," "Yankee" counters. "The cowboys are brave, honest, it's not an insult. A cowboys doesn't look for a fight, but will never run away from it."
His message to the French: "If those airplanes had flown into the Louvre or the Quai d'Orsay, you would feel differently."
Among comments and jibes is offered a list - following the successful renaming by a restaurant of the term "French Fries" to "Freedom Fries" - of alternative names for the French kiss, proffered by patriots.
Among them: "Liberty Lick," "Freedom Frisk," "Patriot Act," "Swirlique," "Star Spangled Kiss," "Red, White, and Bliss Kiss," "Tongue of Surrender," and "The First Of Many Inspections."
If people want on or off this list, please let me know.
At Saddam's war crimes trial, will Jacques Chirac be a codefendant?
Must have been some of those "high minded" Bostonions like you!
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I dunno, but that is DAMNED funny.
BTW, I hope the originator of the site is making money from it through advertising. THAT is the American way, btw.
Screw the French!
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