User:Ikkisan/Essays

Essays.

The French bashing phenomenon

Guidelines

• Each section should start with an abstract or a summary of what is to be found in it.
• The text should be written as to be "intemporal" (content can be added, but what is already written shouldn't have to be actualized)
• A reference should be provided for each fact.
• ...

What is French bashing?

Attempt of a definition

French bashing is a set of negative stereotypes about the French that are prevalent in the Anglosphere, which validity is seldom questioned, and that range from innocuous teasing to contempt, and on rare and isolated instances, hate speech and racism. While they share many similarities, the USA and UK have specific vocabulary regarding the French.

On the other hand, there is a set of positive stereotypes about the French in the Anglosphere.

French bashing may be tracked back to the centuries of quasi-permanent state of war between England and France. But it's only in the months running up to the war in Iraq, during 2003, that French bashing became present in mainstream media, and through the internet, available to the whole world to see. Including the French who in the last years started reading the American and British newspapers.

Bashing culture in the US

Al Bundy (cited by Jonah Goldberg)... I hate the French...

Typical stereotypes about the French

Stereotypes can have several levels of signification, positive or negative.

Positive

• Haute cuisine
• Fashion, luxury
• "Art de vivre"

Negative

• "They hate us"
• Bad hygiene
• Disgusting food (cheese)
• Surrender

One strong stereotype about the French is that they surrender for any reason.

Battle of France: The defeat of the French against the German army in 1940 is until this day a painful memory associated to a feeling of surprise, and lack of comprehension....

Before 2003

Surrendering

French and Indian war Most of the American prejudices towards us come from their British heritage and thanks to Napoleon the 19th century German immigrants had few reasons to love us too. But in my opinion there is an anti-frenchism that dates way back before ww2 and even the “go west” decades. It comes from the colonial era 17th and 18th centuries when the enemy of the British/German/Dutch settlers where those Franco-canadians who mixed and allied with the Indians, used their way of fighting, hit and run tactics, torching the frontier, attacking the settlements at dawn, killing the farmers in their fields and taking the woman captives. The much publicized and distorted Fort William Henry massacre epitomizes the cowardice, treachery and duplicity of the French. Mister Fantasy's comment #29, "Faggots" thread

Battle of France

Since 2003

French bashing took place in the context of a major diplomatic failure of the US government. Although many countries opposed the American views on the Iraq situation, including Canada, Germany, Russia, China and Japan, France took the more vocal opposition.

French bashing in the media

This did not occur without critic (this article is also a good starting point with references to the journalists and media). Wimps, weasels and monkeys - the US media view of 'perfidious France' Gary Younge and Jon Henley The Guardian, Tuesday February 11 2003

French bashing in the political world

French and Feminine: Hegemonic Masculinity and the Emasculation of John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential Race. Critical Studies in Media Communication, Volume 24, Issue 2 June 2007 , pages 132 - 150. anna@sightline.org Anna Fahey (Sightline institute, Seattle)

Abstract: French leaders met the September 2002 announcement of preemptive U.S. military action in Iraq with open disapproval. Thereafter, in the build-up to the “Iraq war,” as U.S. military strikes began in 2003 and continued in 2004, France became the target of nationalistic attacks in the United States. Building on this anti-French sentiment, George W. Bush's 2004 presidential campaign used narratives that cast Frenchness as feminine, assigning “Frenchness” to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry—and thereby characterizing him as unfit for the White House. Specifically, political conservatives sought to strip Kerry of the masculine qualities perceived necessary to serve as president of the United States. Analysis of American political and media discourse from September 2002 to November 2004 shows that the 2004 presidential campaign came to be defined in substantial part by nationalistic and sexist political communications that capitalized upon and reinscribed patterns and norms of hegemonic masculinity while also feminizing and devaluing dissent in times of war.

Ordinary French bashing

(faits divers, expériences vécues)

Is French bashing racism?

It's alright to hate the French since they hate us first.

Allport's scale http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allport%27s_scale

Define racism... from a US perspective European perspective

"But there are two things I hate more than I hate the French: ignorant fake war buffs, and people who are ungrateful. And when an American mouths off about French military history, he's not just being ignorant, he's being ungrateful." in The French, by Gary Brecher war_nerd@exile.ru => even an admirer of the French and their military history can say that he hates the French. What

Free speech: historical and legal diffferences

The French and the Americans agree wholeheartedly on one specific kind of free speech: criticizing each other.

It's quite healthy actually. Both people are more critical about themselves

Laws are different: free speech is more limited in France Sure, defamation is punished by law in both country. and free speech has many other limitations (devoir de réserve, confidentialité dans certains métiers, atteinte à la vie privée.)

The fact that racist speech is punishable by law in France, and not in the US is a major difference. Each system has his pros and cons. This fact explains why the French react so badly to French bashing.

What to do about it

• www.superfrenchie.com

• www.miquelon.org

References

PS: explaining is not rationalizing, but definitely a good start for fixing.

--

treinstein@hearst.com what's his take on French bashing? http://www.thebostonchannel.com/reinstein/11456461/detail.html

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/sep2003/frie-s20.shtml Friedman of the Times declares war on France. By Bill Vann, 20 September 2003