(no subject)

[rm]

I can't even believe I'm posting this, but

What is up with Americans and France?

I'm watching this crap on CNN about pre-election anxiety disorder, and someone is going on about how Democrats are having nightmares because Bush has been so demonized and how Republicans are appalled that this Francophile might take office.

What the fucking fuck? I don't get it. Of all the rampant stupidities at hand in this election, the French thing has got to be the absolute lamest.

I understand the historical and political reasons for this level of pettiness, but I don't understand the level of significance this little footnote keeps insisting on taking for itself.

Hello... we're in a war and it's not going well. The economy is shit. Healthcare costs have gone from potentially scary to terrifying right now. No matter what side you're on, WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THE GODDAMN FRENCH?

Comments

[lllvis.livejournal.com]

distressingly, I think I can shed a little light on the subject.

First, the French. Going back to Reagan and Libya where France said we could not fly through their airspace, there has been growing animosity with the French in that they haven't seen eye to eye with us on things that we have deemed important enough to wanna bomb somebody over.

Second of course there has been the recent cadre of European countries who disagree with us on our current actions in Iraq, if not also Afghanistan. France is a primary member of that group.

Also, there are plenty of rumors (and possibly non-rumor truths) about France being heavily involved and implicated in skirting all those pesky UN resolutions against Iraq.

This lengthy amount of time and timely issues they disagree with us on has made the French easy targets.

Tie this in with Kerry who has a family lineage (supposedly) that not only is east-coast old-money but French in heritage as well. Witness the Opinion Journal's attempt to comedically describe Kerry, at every single opportunity, as "the haughty, French-looking Senator who by the way served in Vietnam" as just a single example of how many have taken to using anything French as some kind of tease, disparage or insult.

There could be more, but that's how I see it. Personally, I've enjoyed the sudden very low cost of French wines as a result. My poor friend Daniele has to put up with this almost daily to the point I often get to be the target of her venting of these stupid AND insensative comments get tossed her direction...aand yes she is unmistakably French.

As for important things to be considering in this election I agree, why are we bothering discussing the French? Perhaps because, yet again, they are easy targets for those who do not wish to work on actual important topics.


Just my .02

[karnythia.livejournal.com]

I know this wasn't the point of your post, but it made me laugh. I'd had a similar response several times now, especially when the arguments about ketchup started. Can I metaquotes this?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yeah, feel free.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

o/~ I'm afraid of Americans ... o/~

[bloo-stocking.livejournal.com]

Why are *we* talking about Kerry's military service of 30 years ago? Why are *we* talking about whether Cheney's lesbian daughter was harmed by Kerry's words in one of the debates? Oh, and don't forget Heinz-Kerry told a reporter to "shove it." Just more idiotic distractions because Bush and his handlers are so busy putting out fires and back-peddling lately. The French issue is just one more blanket the GOP is trying to throw over us all to make us believe we're better off with the cowboy.

When I went to DC for the second huge anti-war rally last year, two of the best things I saw were a man running around wrapped in the French flag and a woman carrying a sign that read "Bush needs a French kiss."

[editrx.livejournal.com]

I'm doubly damed as a French Jew in a heavily redneck neo-con area of the country.

Which just happens to be a French Canadian area, too. But Catholic.

Go figure. My neighbors do not see the irony when they go to the bar and speak in ... French. About how awful the French are.

[algor.livejournal.com]

Well, have you seen Last Tango in Paris?

Seriously, I think it's just that the French consistently are of the attitude of "You're American...so what?" and a lot of people (who I shall call the "Toby Keith School of Diplomacy") can't handle that.

[don-negro.livejournal.com]

I've actually come to have a fair amount of respect for the French. In them I recognize a love of place and a lack of concern for other people's opintions that looks downright Texan to me. And I'm sure that fact pisses the Republicans off to no end.

[sethg]

Furthermore, with that plant in England having screwed up, a French company is America's sole source of flu vaccine.