Why do Americans dislike France?

In My Humble Opinion
101

Shagnasty and others:

*1) They have pretended to be a global military player long after they should and tended to turn tail and run at the first sign of real trouble.

  1. They believed they were the 3rd superpower during parts of the U.S. - Soviet Union Cold War which is just laughable.

  2. They can be semi-socialist and arrogant on what can and cannot be dictated based on whims (French language protection for example).

  3. They don’t seem to like work all that much except when it comes to organizing strikes.*

So that’s why you hate ME ?:slight_smile:

And I’m rude ? And I’m arrogant ? And I’m testy ? And smelly ? And…

And Wikipedia has sanctioned this attitude by devoting several pages to the subject…
Merde alors !

Really I’m not French. I’m francophone and I find this thread amusing, like all other French bashing threads on this board.
Looking forward to the next one.

102

I was mainly riffing off the OP. I lived in Lisbon for two years, and while the Portuguese can be dour and clannish, they are a friendly people once you get to know them. Dealing with shopkeepers could be a frustration, as you always got the impression that they really wished you would just go away and stop inconveniencing them. It’s now been 13 years since we left there and my wife’s former employees still send her birthday and holiday wishes; we have fond memories of the place.

103

It wasn’t widespread. It just got a lot of press attention because it was such a wacky thing.

104

I actually saw a sign advertising ‘Freedom Fries’ at a food vendor during the state fair this past August. The sign was written in red, white and blue letters and pastered with American flag stickers. It was so pathetic to see in 2008 that I did not know whether to laugh or cry at the ignorance.

105

I believe you misspelled “stupid”.

106

I suppose “widespread” is a relative term. How many other countries have been the aim of similar derision? I think the number is zero.

Google gives 52K+ hits for “cheese eating surrender monkeys”.

To say that there is no anti-French rhetoric in the USA is just silly. There IS and it is widespread. Again, you only have to go back to 2003 and find plenty of derogatory remarks about France and the French on this very board.

When I hear that type of remark I get a feeling of an adolescent jock making fun of someone because he’s not a jock but somewhat more refined. It is totally childish and insecure and shows great ignorance because France and the French people, whatever their shortcomings, are a great people to whom the world owes much and are friends of America.

The fact that American politicians, columnists and media repeated that kind of drivel shows they were pandering to a widely spread prejudice. Nothing to be proud of.

107

What’s funny about “cheese-eating surrender monkeys” is that it was originally uttered by Groundskeeper Willie. One of the most blatant examples of ethnic stereotypes on television. This is where a large part of the humour in this expression derived from. I think the conservative politicians in the US who borrowed the expression missed this.

108

Right, but there was anti-French rhetoric in the US before 2003. There’s been anti-French rhetoric in the US for as long as I’ve been aline, I know, and I deeply suspect before then.

And the origin of the “Cheese eating surrender monkeys” comes from a Simpsons episode from 1995. So when it’s said, has been said before in this thread, that anti-French attitude comes from their opposition to the Iraq war, that’s inaccurate.

And what wasn’t “widespread” was the boycott of French goods, or the change in name to “freedom fries”. That was rare. Stereotypes about the French aren’t, but like I said, they’re not new. And there are American stereotypes about a lot of nationalities. Remind me to tell you a Polish joke sometime.

109

It does seem like a lot of this rudeness is a self-fulfilling prophecy by both sides. I’m American and I dont hate the French. In fact, I admire a lot of what they believe in. To me, I will always be grateful to them that they were our first allies and helped this country in its infancy.

However, despite it all, I think its funny to make fun of them. I wont go so far as to rename foods, but a line from a cartoon is something I can laugh at and appreciate for its intrinsic humorous value. I’m sure Americans are similarly made fun of in France and thats ok with me to

What I do not like is all these accusations of who’s being a retard on purpose. Face it, we have our interests and they have theirs. They are going to help France first, and we are going to help Americans first. Its only natural that each side protects their own interests and tries to paint the other as less than sincere

I have perceived that here in America, there seems to be a prevailing attitude that the whole of Europe, and in particular France, owes us for saving them in WW2. I’ve seen this repeated many times in my lifetime, in jest and serious discussion. And the fact that the French are perceived as being ungrateful perhaps adds to the acrimony

110

That’s what we’re saying here. And in 2003 it gew exponentially due to France’s opposition to the invasion of Iraq.

Consider now other countries. There is no such level of “permanent” anti-them rhetoric nor does it escalate as much when there are incidents.

Spain pulled the troops out of Iraq and Bush has held a personal grudge to this day but most Americans are not even aware of all this going on.

111

I think also a large part of it is that they are the only ‘acceptable target’ left; mock any other ethnicity/nationalities on TV and you have complains, lawsuits, firings. The world has become much more PC and wary of offending people, but the French? Take your pick, no-one’s going to complain, it’s already too ingrained.

112

For me, there are things I love about France and the French and things I hate about them.

Love:

Food
Art
General culture, particularly when it comes to familial and social epicurianism.

Hate:
Socialism and trade unionization taken to extreme and silly levels. Of course, as a staunch individualist, my definition of silly is far to right of many on these boards.

Intergovernmental relations and global power that far outweighs its deserved influence.

The 35-hour work week, ridiculously generous benefits, refusal to deal with their immigration problem (although we can’t speak too well on that one ourselves)

What appears to be a sense of superiority that exceeds even the stereotypical redneck’s embracing of the: USA Number One! mentality.

Here’s a great annecdote. My wife is from Quebec. She speaks French beautifully, albeit with a Quebec accent. A few years ago she was working as a server in this yuppie tavern in downtown Phoenix.

In come two French businessmen who sit in her station. She’s thrilled because, other than her weekly call home to her mom, she never gets to converse in French. She approaches them, greets them asks for their drink order, in French.

They looked at her with disgust, and one of them said, in English, “Yoor aksant iz awfool. Please to speak weethe uz een Ingleash.” She thinks the cooks, to whom she told the incident in her broken Spanglish, did something to their order, but she could never get them to fess up what it might have been.

As a result of this, I’ve been working hard on my French since we got together four years ago, but I work on maintaining a classic French accent. I figure, if we go to France, we’ll have an easier time getting along, and the good folks in Quebec aren’t such dicks that they’ll look down their noses at a European French accent, at least they never have in any our trips there. More than one person has even complimented me on how beautifully, their term, I speak, particularly for an American.

113

Why would it bother you? Why would you care? Their country. Why is it the business of America to be bothered by how other countries do their things at home and yet the rest of the world has to put up with America sticking its nose and upsetting things everywhere and cannot complain?

“deserved influence”. WTF is that? The fact is that some countries like France and the UK have global influence due to their understanding of diplomacy and global politics. The USA does not understand this and only understands the power of bullying and that is why, in proportion to economic and military power, France, the UK and other countries have much greater power than the USA. It’s not that they don’t “deserve” it, it’s that American diplomacy is totally incompetent and ineffective when compared to that of other countries. “Do as I say or I kill you” is not considered “diplomacy” in other parts of the world.

114

EVERYBODY hates France.

Jacques Julliard, “Sur une déculotée,” Le Nouvel Observateur, July 19, 2001, after the poor reception to France’s offer to host the 2008 Olympics. Quoted in the book Anti-Americanism by Jean-François Revel.

That sums it up pretty well.

115

I have often seen this attitude rising up in discussions on other boards, usually on the subject of British gun control.
Gratitude is not a fuel that brings many miles to the gallon. And constantly reminding the poor relation how grateful he ought to be to you doesn’t breed gratitude, only resentment.

116

Personally, I think it’s a combination of four things:

  1. Bad stories about Parisians, whether or not the people are there on vacation, or just run into Parisians. I used to work for the American subsidiary of a certain European helicopter manufacturer that was about 3/4 French, and it seemed that in my 3 years there, with the exception of one exceedingly cool guy, all the Parisians were dickish and aloof, which can be construed as acting arrogant, and the Marseille-ians and people from other parts of France were terrific folks and lots of fun.

  2. Their extreme determination to go their own way in world affairs. To many Americans, it seems like when the UK, the US and what seems like everyone else in the modern, industrialized world go to do something, the French oppose it.

  3. Association with Arabs, which has been mentioned before, and explored well earlier in the thread.

  4. The attitude among some people, many Americans among them, that France and French culture in general is superior to American. I had a British girl tell me once that no good wine was made in California, and that only the French and one particular Chilean winery do it right. Combine that with all the crowing we hear about French food, French cinema, and French style, and there’s bound to be a backlash.

117

I never got the whole hatred since France is one of our oldest allies-weren’t they a huge help during the Revolution? Hell, Napoleon probably did us a favor during the War of 1812, distracting the British and all. :wink:

118

Yeah, so? What have they done for us lately? :smiley:

I still hold that French anything is over-rated and over-priced. Food, wine, women, it doesn’t matter.

119

The Louvre, Versailles, Sacre Coeur, Musee D’Orsay… If you haven’t been, you can’t judge.

120

This is stereotype much more than reality. As has been said, if you want to know rude, go to NYC. And to the tourist today American authorities are the most unpleasant to deal with by far. Stories abound about how unnecessarily rude American authorities are.

Again, just not true even if it fits American stereotypes. America wants a lapdog and the French will not play that part as they have every right to not do. The fact is that they have a weight in international affairs much greater than their economic or military strength would siggest and this is because they know how to negotiate, listen, take others into account, etc. Things which America does rather poorly. France is much more willing to go along to get along than America who just want to get their way no matter what.

So what? Are we supposed to please the USA by pretending Arabs don’t exist? Especially since America itself is the protector of Saudi Arabia and of any other unsavory regime which has something to offer in return? This is silly.

So because a British girl likes French wine Americans should dislike France? That sounds like a really bad case of inferiority complex.