America haters

Between 2003 and 2007 there was anything genuinely positive about France or the French in most of the American medias. From outright detestation to plain scorn, tease and racist “jokes", we had our fill of hatred and vilification. And I’m just thinking of the mainstream media, be it TV, radio and newspapers where clichés and disinformation abound. 

The way France and the French were spoken of in some quarters often made me think of Radio Berlin speaking of the Jews in 1943. But thas was just the visible part of the French-bashing iceberg in the US. 

But there was another medium where all blows seemed to be acceptable, even the most vulgar and wicked of them all: the blogosphere. 

When surfing some blogs dedicated to international politics you were in for a nice little ride through all the best that some sick minds were all too happy to deliver. 

For those who wouldn’t have paid attention, here are some of the things that are regularly hurled at the French:

Irrelevant, snooty, weak, coward, unhealthy (they smell), racist, anti-Semitic, ungrateful, a bunch of commies and a lagging economy. Add to this that their military is a joke, they’ve lost every single battle they fought, they resent their loss of prestige and long after their vanished glory (probably the days of old when Louis the 14th or Napoleon were rulers of Europe…) and the prominent moments of their history are Vichy and the four years of German occupation.

And this is just the innocuous part of it…

Oh well… Why do these French-bashers so much hate their own country?

Let me explain.

1. These insults pretty much fell flat as, by and large, the French couldn’t care less: next to nobody in France knew about these bouts of vulgarity. For the most part, it did not reach them, and besides, they had other fish to fry. 

2. By resorting to the most wicked, gross, prejudiced and biased historical facts and twisted racists comments, the authors of these attacks showed themselves at their worst: uneducated, crude and boorish! As if that wasn’t already, deplorably, the most worn-out stereotype about Americans. The greatest disservice that can be done to their country was inflicted on it by the very ones who pretended to be righteous Americans, the true American patriots. That was totally counterproductive if you ask me.

3. By making themselves look so nasty, obnoxious and hateful, these French-bashers pretending to speak in the name of all Americans, while they did absolutely no harm to France and as a matter of fact may even enhance its image in the world, did great and lasting damage to America’s image and goodwill in the world. Regrettably, the amalgam between them and Americans in general was easy to do!

Is this really what they wanted? I doubt it! 

But if so, go ahead! It’s your country you were hurting, not mine! 

Note: the picture is that of “Time and the old women” by Goya (1810/1812), an image that best illustrates envy, wickedness, stupidity, deviousness, cowardice, meanness and generally speaking, everything that makes you feel nauseous. I somehow found that image kind of appropriate to our theme…