why does the french have to be the scapegoat?

[mecharmor23]

Of all the people who have opposed the Iraq war, it seems that the French got hit the hardest with political insults. Sure Germany and Canada got a criticized but that disappeared , leaving only the French as the remaining scapegoat.

The French has been victims for such a long time, WWI, WWII, cold war and now this. I mean Germany opposed the war, and I don't see the U.S. government calling hamburgers krautbread or something.

Japan opposed the war as a majority of the citizens protested against going to U.S. going to Iraq.
I don't see the U.S. government insulting them.

It doesn't make sense, why does France get the worst of America's grumpy side?? Alot of the times I have been seeing people in forums saying "french this" and "french that".

Hearing about other opposing nations is considered rare when comparing with France.

Bottom line:

Why France??

[TheAbominatrix]

Well, there are a few reasons, though they are pretty pety. A lot of Americans hold a grudge against France for their well-known attitude towards Americans (though the question here is, who hated who first?) and because of what they saw as an act of cowardice during WWII (though they ignore that France was not the only country to surrender without struggle, though France had the largest forces of those that did).

Scapegoats are always the easy way out. Disliking someone is the easiest thing to do, giving everyone a common 'enemy' is a good rallying factor. When people protest something, the easiest thing to do is make them look foolish, then who in the right minds would listen to them? It's pretty lame, and I really don't care about the French (and I agree with them fully on this Iraq nonsense). The only part that bothers me is that France refuses to help even after everything America did for them (especially all the post-war aid), but they do have a good reason, after all.

[Dr Unne]

So far as I know, France and Germany were the most outspoken in being officially against us with the whole Iraq thing. France is also a veto power in the UN, right? And France and Germany are some of our closer allies, I assume. But I don't really know. That's why people were upset with them, so far as I know. And people were certainly as upset with Germany as with France. As far as the whole "freedom fries" thing is concerned, God only knows.

[Rei]

I read this one article in American Heritage once that said something about our relationship being very passionate. When they like us, they love us, and when they don't like us, they hate us, and vice versa, I suppose. Of course, lately, it's been all hate, but hey, I'm sure in the next decade or so the tide'll change.

As far as why France: Uh...that's the breaks?

[gokufusionss1]

I just hate france

[Shadow Nexus]

Critizize England and Spain too, people oposed war there.

And well....people go against France for a very obvious reason: They call "breakfast"..."petit dejuneur". And that sounds very annoying. Thats why, when I become ruler of the world, will destroy everything French, starting with the awful Le Figaro and finishing with all the wonderful painting and literature. Sure, sure, La Madeleine, Paul Gauguin, Manet, Notre Damme, all wonderful, yes, but...petit dejuneur...I don't know even if I wrote it well, but it sounds annoying.





Death to everytihng French. Oh, yeah, they conquered us like 200 years ago, and I'm stil angry, I demand for reperation!


Note: All above is sarcasm. Well, I think petit dejuneur sound annoying, but "prune" sounds more annoying. Let's destroy the anglosaxon.

[escobert]

As stated before I thik it's because they have been a close allie to the US since the revolluion. Also we helped them in WWI and WWII. They also changed all things German durring WWII so like hamburgers were called something else durring that time. It's just somehting our government likes to do.

[The Captain]

As others have stated, both France and America have had a very flippant friendship, with plenty of twists and turns. I think our current reckoning for blaming France is, like TheAbominatrix said, purely a petty form of vanity, jealousy, or perhaps we Americans just don't like being looked down upon by anyone. Call it the chip-on-the-shoulder syndrome we always possess. It works in our favor because it motivates us to excel, but can also make egos even bigger, which can only lead to bickering. I think if push came to shove, America and France would still be allies. Their relationship sort of reminds me of a sibling rivalry, and right now, both are teenagers. Hopefully, soon, both will grow up, stop the bickering and realize that we need each other, as we need many more countries then we've previously seemed to.

Take care all.

[Nait]

I thought it was because some Americans are loud-mouthed bigots.

[War Angel]

Aww, come on... the French are bastards. I mean... really.

[Shadow Nexus]

or perhaps we Americans just don't like being looked down upon by anyone

As far as my experience goes, latin countries are the ones that look down upon USA more. So blame them.

On the other hand, I don't believe people in USA are jealous of France, seriously, as far as my experience goes, both USA and France are the most vanidous countries in the modern world. In other words, it has too many people saying "France/USA is the best country in the world". Well, China probably has more for obvious reasons, but I think you get my point.

On the other hand, for some things that patriotism isn't so evil. Just for example, here there's the typical dialogue between two Spaniards, talking about how horrible the high speed train that has been build is (It came two years later and it's 30% slower than it should be):

- What do you think of the AVE? Aint it awful?

-Heh, why? This is Spain, we are supposed to do things wrong and late.

-AHhhahahah! Yeah!




:rolleyes2

[DocFrance]

I don't think it's that big of a deal. We really haven't done anything to France, and all the light anti-French sentiment is coming from the people. And trust me, it is light. It's not like I hear someone say "God, I hate those French bastards" once an hour. And we're definitely not rounding up French citizens and sending them to concentration camps.

And the "freedom fries" is a reference to World War II, when we began calling saurkraut "liberty cabbage." I think the freedom fries joke was started by Jay Leno or some other stand-up. And it really is just a harmless joke.

[IlGreven]

It all boils down to one thing:

Jerry Lewis.

They took the best half of the Martin-Lewis duo, and when they were done with him, they gave him back to us, unwacky, unfunny, and unwilling to do anything but MDA telethons...

THAT'S why we hate France.

[The Captain]

Touche`!

Take care all.

[Cid]

Yeah, I think we are outspoken against them just because we all know how much France hates the US.

I was having a conversation about this with someone the other day.. why do they hate us so much? He had a good point, I suppose. They love American culture... the music, the celebrities, and especially the movies. They have this self-loathing guilt about liking American culture, so when they're not watching our movies, they need to hate us.

I just don't get it. I mean, we helped them out a lot in the past, and they helped us out. Strange.