Oh but the french are lame

[Jon-86]

Seriously this mind set of view of the French that a lot of people have I just don't get! Propagated in the media time and time again. Its not all the fault of Jeremy Clarkson or Al Murry nope their seems to be a general consensus that the French are bad for some reason.

EXPLAIN THIS SHIT.

You can't honestly tell me the main reasons are because of waterloo or the French being beat in WW2

Explain your bias anybody who has one. I've been to France a few times. Been to Paris and up the French alps. A welcome break from the nutters who I live near. French people are class. And a say long live the auld allie!

[MultiCanimefan]

The only thing I can say is that I agree with you, I never understood it either.

[KidneyThief]

At 6/24/09 04:03 PM, Jon-86 wrote:

EXPLAIN THIS SHIT.

Ignorance..... It causes a lot of irrational biases.

[Tancrisism]

I agree with the OP in this case too. It's completely irrational and stereotypical. I've met plenty of cool French people.

It is true, though, that when I backpacked around Europe they were usually the most awkward... Perhaps it was coincidence.

[ThePretenders]

Maybe the English are jealous of the French so they resort to stupid stereotypes.

All countries have stereotypes e.g. Germany - humourless, efficient, Italy - machismo, America - redneck etc. and as long as you take it with a pinch of salt, it's not damaging to the person. Unfortunately the smae can't be said for racial stereotpyes, which are more damaging to the person in the group no matter how much or little he fufills those stereotypes.

[stafffighter]

I beleive that a lot of this comes from the resurge of the steriotype after France wanted no part of the Iraq war. Remember freedom fries? This enforced them as cowardly even though most of the damn world wanted no part of it. I remember Conan joking that you know you're in trouble when Germany doesn't want to go to war. (steriotypes again) So in the sake of hyper-patriotism we needed someone to be better than. There you go.
Personally I'm an American who's very proud of his French heritage. France has been home to a lot of amazing people and achievments.

[xKore]

The mutual hate between England and France is age old, mainly because there have been many a war between them over the centuries. It's just like how Japan and China hate eachother, but it's a mutual, rival-like hate.

[SonicSheep]

At 6/24/09 04:03 PM, Jon-86 wrote:

EXPLAIN THIS SHIT.

Simple, we the English, have had a rivalry with the french since the birth of our country. Then when the UK was formed, the rest of the countries in the UK were dragged into our petty bickering thus spreading the anti french-ness throughout the British Isles.

You can't honestly tell me the main reasons are because of waterloo or the French being beat in WW2

Not really, like I said, our countries have always been rivals so we like to play on even the smallest negative thing about the country to make us feel superior to them.

Explain your bias anybody who has one.

I have no bias against the french. I play on the stereotype of being the typical french hating englishman occasionaly, but I like the french and am seriously considering living there in the future.

The whole 'surrender monkey' thing is just pure stupidity. They may have been beaten in WW2, but they continued to fight through resistance movements being commanded by French generals in the UK.
In WW1 the French could be said to have fought the bravest of all the allied sides.

Heck, most wars france has been in they have won. Its just the whole WW2 thing that anti french people like to play on.

And I say long live the old ally!

Fixed. Speak English! :P

[White-hole]

Welllll.... in fairness they were fairly nasty when they went overseas and built up their empire, and almost always left a mess behind that they weren't interested in cleaning up, but i suppose most European countries did that at the time, though i would say the French were the worst.
Not many links to show you except maybe this, its either that or a Wikipedia link!

[TrafficPie]

Im not french but they are equal to any other country/race in the world. They have excelled in foods and arts but are hopeless in other things. France has the Eiffel Tower and Lourve so they pwn your gay country. Na jokes but they are no worse then anyone else.

[Der-Lowe]

It's because of the reluctance of France to join the US in its "War on Terror", I believe.

[killxp]

At 6/24/09 06:17 PM, stafffighter wrote: I beleive that a lot of this comes from the resurge of the steriotype after France wanted no part of the Iraq war. Remember freedom fries? This enforced them as cowardly even though most of the damn world wanted no part of it. I remember Conan joking that you know you're in trouble when Germany doesn't want to go to war. (steriotypes again) So in the sake of hyper-patriotism we needed someone to be better than. There you go.
Personally I'm an American who's very proud of his French heritage. France has been home to a lot of amazing people and achievments.

Yeah, pretty much nailed the reason for the msot recent wave of feelings, at least from the US, towards the French. It was all from their reluctance to join the "War on Terror" when that war focused its efforts in Iraq. Yeah, no other country wanted a part of it, but, as mentioned before, there was always this rivalry between the English and the French with stemmed out to the UK and the French. When the US chose its target, it chose well as none of the other major contenders would be willing to back up the French because of petty rivalries of the past and in inaction they all pretty much just ganged up on them. If you are French spend more time here. Late.

[Jon-86]

Thanks for the input folks, a can kinda see where its coming from now. Although a do think its too far overused in the media and TV in general. It seems more negative rather than "generic making fun of a stereotype" but that might just be me?

At 6/24/09 08:47 PM, SonicSheep wrote: Fixed. Speak English! :P

Naw :P

[therealsylvos]

"land burning, work-shy peasants."

[Tancrisism]

At 7/1/09 10:03 PM, Jon-86 wrote: It seems more negative rather than "generic making fun of a stereotype" but that might just be me?

Yes, I definitely agree. It's idiotic.

[Ericho]

The French aren't just competant fighters at least, and in a war-torn world of today, people are becoming more war-mongering and dislike those who tend to act like pacifists. Don't worry, there's still a lot of people out there who defend the French and us making of them, like Bill Maher or Doug Stanhope.

[Ledgey]

I like the French somewhat, language can be annoying but then I didn't have the best experience in secondary school French.

Also, I hate Chirac and Sarkozy.