Anti-Frenchism is Alive and Well
Wednesday July 23, 2003
Up until a moment ago, I felt that the spate of anti-French sentiment in the US had died down a bit, or maybe I've just become immune to it. Then
I read an article in FoxNews, Let's Not Pardon the French, and my blood began to boil.
From the opening paragraph ("The country's less than Western, less than ally-like stances would have seemed less baffling if we hadn't started from a wrong premise: Namely, that France is a member of the civilized world") to the claims about France's kinship with Saddam Hussein and affinity toward "any and all of the globe's uncivilized elements," FoxNews manages to distort everything it can about France.
I've avoided writing about anti-Frenchism, because frankly, I figure that anyone who agrees with me already knows everything that I have to contribute, and anyone who doesn't is too ingrained in their prejudice to be swayed by logic, but this time I just can't hold back.
Here are the facts, as I understand them:
This isn't even an issue about whether you agree with the war in Iraq or not. The fact is that I as an American and France as a sovereign country have the right to disagree with my government and their ally, respectively. You, on the other hand, have the right to disagree with me and France, but to hate me/them for it is simply illogical. Would you disown your brother if he were anti-war and you were pro? How about your best friend? How about your child?
I find it pretty ironic that the United States is built on the foundations of democracy, one definition of which is "The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community" (American Heritage, 4th edition) and yet anyone who is "not with us is against us." I'm not a politician or historian, but that sure isn't what I remember from civics class.
Oh yeah, and for those of you who say the French are arrogant for choosing the French word courriel over the English word email, take a look at menus that say freedom fries and freedom toast.
Discussion: What do you think?
Myth: The "Rude French"
Language: French Influence on English
From the opening paragraph ("The country's less than Western, less than ally-like stances would have seemed less baffling if we hadn't started from a wrong premise: Namely, that France is a member of the civilized world") to the claims about France's kinship with Saddam Hussein and affinity toward "any and all of the globe's uncivilized elements," FoxNews manages to distort everything it can about France.
I've avoided writing about anti-Frenchism, because frankly, I figure that anyone who agrees with me already knows everything that I have to contribute, and anyone who doesn't is too ingrained in their prejudice to be swayed by logic, but this time I just can't hold back.
Here are the facts, as I understand them:
- France is a sovereign country.
- France has historically been an ally of the United States.
- France opposed the war in Iraq.
- Sovereign countries are allowed - by definition - to have their own opinions, even if they differ from those of their allies.
This isn't even an issue about whether you agree with the war in Iraq or not. The fact is that I as an American and France as a sovereign country have the right to disagree with my government and their ally, respectively. You, on the other hand, have the right to disagree with me and France, but to hate me/them for it is simply illogical. Would you disown your brother if he were anti-war and you were pro? How about your best friend? How about your child?
I find it pretty ironic that the United States is built on the foundations of democracy, one definition of which is "The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community" (American Heritage, 4th edition) and yet anyone who is "not with us is against us." I'm not a politician or historian, but that sure isn't what I remember from civics class.
Oh yeah, and for those of you who say the French are arrogant for choosing the French word courriel over the English word email, take a look at menus that say freedom fries and freedom toast.
Discussion: What do you think?
Myth: The "Rude French"
Language: French Influence on English
Comments
Thank you!
the thing you have to add to that is that French RG said that they were no massive destruction weapons that s why france didn t want to engage Irak. Plus we were afraid to destroy the little stability of this region. We know now that we behaved as friends by telling americans not to go there.
This is one of the few anti-anti-french articles I’ve read that doesn’t then contradict itself by being anti-everyone else.
Hooray for common sense!!! (Boo to even more common stupidity!)
Thank you so much for writing this. I realize it’s an old article, but I just found it. Fortunately, I live in an area where I don’t run into much of this, but it happens now and then. It seems to me that we’re going to encounter bigots of some sort in one way or another; it’s unavoidable. But it’s always nice to hear someone responding to one with logic and calm.
Thank you for your very informative site. I enjoy reading it all & listening to the pronunciation. I’m heading off to ‘be’ in Paris for 5wks in August & this has been a great add-on for my preparation. I especially liked the ‘French Influence on English’ piece which I’ve sent to French friends here in Australia, who are always surprised at how many words I use of ‘theirs’. Keep up the great work.
Thanks so much for speaking out! I am an American living in France, married to a French citizen. I am so SICK of this extreme American attitude. I too thought we were a country that believed in freedom of expression, that it was indeed a right, what happened? And why pick on France? Just about every country in Europe is against this disasterous war in Iraq, not just France.
Thanks for laying out some cogent thoughts about anti-Frenchism in America. Let me say that I can however only agree with you in a qualified way.
First, let me say how I agree. I love France. I love the French language. I am a student of European history in general, and of French history in particular, running back to the time of the Franks (Salic or Ripuarian, take your pick…
–or even back to the time of the Gauls. I occasionally daydream about relocating to France or Belgium to work and live, perhaps even for the remainder of my days (I’m about to turn 40). To that end I keep working on my French, which is why I visit this site, and use grammars and Rosetta Stone and French online radio, etc, every day (I’m even listening to French radio right now as I type this out).
I also believe that reasonable minds can differ about current American foreign policy. I also affirm that it is not only the right of allies and friends to differ from US foreign policy, it is their duty to voice those concerns and positions, even in public fora like the UN. But the question for me–and for many Americans–is not one of “rights” at all, and this is where I have to disagree with that part of your remarks.
What irritates many Americans about post-WWII French policy (if I may be so bold as to speak for others) isn’t that it is characterized by a spirit of independence, or even a completely appropriate appreciation of French sovereignty, but the perception that the French currently seem to identify that sovereignty with simply adopting a position contrary to that of the the U.S.
For me–as an admitted Francophile–that is as much a mistake (and even a surrender of sovereignty or independence) than if they habitually took a reflexive and slavish PRO-American stance on global issues. Both extreme positions are a surrender of independence, in that both would be determined by U.S. policy.
One occasionally gets the impression that they derive more pleasure from ‘tweaking the nose’ of the “hyperpower” than from either an objective appraisal of their own long term interests or from a real fraternal appreciation of historical and cultural sympathies. I think this is what gives rise to such attitudes among many Americans.
As to the assertion of our being historical allies, one must admit that such would have to be considered a mixed bag, from the French and Indian War to the armed Vichy opposition to the American landing in North Africa in WWII (and other open hostilities in between) on the one hand, to standing shoulder-to-shoulder against the Germans in the defense of French sovereignty and culture in the trenches of WWI on the other.
Finally, the objections Americans have about France today are probably not too dissimilar from those other Occidentals throughout history have had about French policies, such as the feelings of other Europeans over France’s willingness to ally itself with the then common enemy of the sovereignty of all Western nations: the Ottoman Empire.
Despite current and historical differences, I am yet confident that if France saw itself threatened yet again, whether by (yet another) German invasion or from some other nation (as unlikely as that may now be), you would be able to see (yet another) plot of French soil filled with the graves of Americans willing to help her defend her culture, language and sovereignty–despite all the bumper stickers and the “Freedom Fries” wisecracks.
Vive le France, Vive l’Amerique, and Vive Laura!
Robert
I have read the Foxnews article with much surprise and infinite sadness. The point isn’t, whether one should feel obliged to like or even feel the most remote sympathy towards the French or any other people, but that, historically, active involvement from the part of the media in hatemongering against a specific people or ethnicity has never ended in anything good. I am not only appalled that Foxnews, an international company who broadcasts programs all over the world, including in France, would stoop so low as to publish something like that, but also worried that pretty much every piece of information mentioned in the article (if you can call it that!) is either false, distorted, or presented in such a way as to give one a poor opinion of the French, not only as a culture, but as something they are not: an ethnicity, one almost feels like saying a race… Indeed, as the text progresses, it sems to amount to doing little but to attempt to deny the French their individuality, which probably the most obvious and idiosyncratic characteristic of their culture, and to view them exclusively as a group wholly supporting the actions of one of its members: Hence, if one Parisian journalist published memoirs of past exotic sexual encounters, all French become sexual perverts; one old man gets beaten up by a thug , all French despise the elderly; Many Holliwood stars have choosen France as a second home, but one of them happens to be Roman Polanski, hence all French are child rapists….
On the one hand, I’m tempted to agree with those who say that, when you hear what the rest of the world has to say about the Americans, the French are getting away with it pretty good but. on the other am frightened by the fact that tjis sort of text might fall into the hands of some that might take it seriously, especially since it is published by a main international news network…
Thank you for a wonderful article. I sometimes feel that all the US can do is Yellow journalism, with the facts seldom in focus.
PS: the French were right about Iraq.
It’s refreshing to know there are some citizens of the US who have a regard for other nations in the world. Too often US citizens give the impression that the world revolves around the US and other nations should ask “How high” when the US demands “Jump”. I realise one cannot brand a nation because the crass behaviour of the few, but unfortunately the media gives too coverage to the few. I have found your site very useful even if you do not use english spelling – I forgive you but then I’m NOT English, British maybe BUT not English.
so very late, yet not out of date. the subject is still relevant out here in the belly of the beast, the great american midwest. i still encounter entrenched patches of francophobia.
thank you for the line of defense but here at ground floor level, the fact remains that some newscaster’s tone has set a mindless trend to hate/dislike anyone who comes from a dissenting point of view.
the instant i mention nationality, i am presented with a visible barrage of rejection or hostile behavior. of course there more than enough who balance their sentiment with personal appreciation of the individual. within my own family i meet resentment about the french position against the war.
rabidity is not exclusive, it travels well.
We owe the very existance of our country to the French. That is why the strength of the anti-French sentiment in the US is so appalling. This editorial is the epitome of ingratitude. And he also convieniently forgets that the French are responsible for the aqualung, Braille, bicycles, sewing machines, pencils, hot airballons, parachutes, barometers, batteries… the list goes on.
“Oh yeah, and for those of you who say the French are arrogant for choosing the French word courriel over the English word email, take a look at menus that say freedom fries and freedom toast.”
Point taken, and yet, isn’t that what you’re critisizing here? Wasn’t it stupid that people changed the word to “freedom” whatever (or am I mistaken, and you actually think this is acceptable?)?
So why would it be any less arrogant when the French do it?
It seems a given that the French are highly nationalistic. So are the people who hate the French. To me, it sounds more like two sports fans arguing over who has the best team than anything that should be taken seriously, and it has largely faded. No one calls anything a “freedom” whatever anymore, and the French have become bigger hawks than we are.