There’s been a bit of controversy over the mini-craze of French Bashing. (and by “bit,” I mean it in the same context as in “We’ve been a ‘bit’ interested about Osama bin Laden”)
The French have become an easy punch line. My personal favorite is Grandpa Simpson referring to the French as a, “Bunch of cheese eating surrender monkeys,” though substituting “Freedom” for “French” has been fun too.
“Rollins has good French Vanilla today.”
“You mean FREEDOM vanilla.”
But all jokes aside, there are deeper issues at play here. Here’s a collection of several articles or sites, some of which I’ve sat on for a while waiting for the chance to put them all together, that should give you a good round-a-bout view.
The April 28 My Turn article in Newsweek argues that America doesn’t remember France’s history. After pointing out that French fries aren’t even French, he goes on to question his perceived questioning of France’s dedication. Mr. Taveau said if we look at France’s history, we would find such insults or punch lines to be underserved and unfounded.
On the other side of the fence, the top entry on April 28 of L.T. Smash’s blog, argues that France’s leaders don’t remember history. After acknowledging France’s decorated military history, and its long running relation with America, he points out the recent failure to follow through with UN resolutions.
Throwing in my two cents, there are three points I’d like to make:
First: Instead of making broad generalizations, focus your barbs at the people who deserve them. Placing the French (or the Americans, or the Iraqis, etc) all in one basket is wrong and insulting.
I make Freedom/French jokes because I think the thought behind them is funny, not because I think we need to criticize a whole group of people - that’s a dangerous thing to do.
It’s the same reason why I say I dislike the National Democratic Leadership, rather than Democrats. I have many friends who identify themselves with that. They are good people and are (usually) not the ones making outrageous claims that don’t deserve a reply (but are made in the forum of politics, which will ensure a lively debate regardless of the merits of the issue).
The French, though easy to mock, do not all deserve our disdain now. We should keep that straight.
Second: I believe American’s are largely questioning the recent turn of events in France’s history. When one raises concerns about the leadership’s action in the present, it doesn’t mean we are condemning or disregarding the past, or the future for that matter.
We can be friends who had good times in the past, are going through a rough patch now, but are looking forward to a return to good times in the future. Of course, that means steps will need to be taken to reclaim that position.
Third: I would like to have it stated for the record that the French have not been totally “innocent” of hate humor either. They have been bashing us too.
The site Bretzel for Bush is a French anti-war site that is raising money to send a lump load of pretzels to the President. For those of you who don’t remember, over a year ago Bush briefly lost consciousness after choking on a pretzel. He bruised his face, but was otherwise okay when the fall dislodged the pretzel.
This group hopes that the shipment symbolizing their displeasure with the group influences Bush’s stance on the war and UNICEF. Since they haven’t sent it out yet, they’ll probably out of luck with the former, but we’ll see how they do with the later.
I don’t agree with all of their positions, but I give them kudos for their creativity.
Last, the French haven’t only maligned Americans, though that has happened. Some McDonald’s were scarified in the process – as if the Golden Arches are so sacred taking them down would cause Americans to stop and ask, “What have we done to prompt such desecration?
No, this is a case about how the British have been targeted – and how many of them were helpless to fight back.
In one of the saddest stories of the war, The Guardian reported certain British cemeteries were vandalized by war protesters. Condemning graffiti like swastikas, or slogans like "Dig up your rubbish, it is contaminating our soil," were spray painted onto the marble monuments for British soldiers.
For me, it is one of the most depressing pictures of the war that shows how human emotions can get out of hand.
By having a wider perspective, I hope we all can avoid the attitudes or misconceptions that can lead to such base actions.
Read these sites (and others) and think.
It can be one of the smartest things you do.
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