Bashing the French, why?

[TheCameraman]

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT FRENCH, NEITHER DO I HAVE ANY CONNECTION TO FRANCE, THIS QUESTION IS PURELY OUT OF CURIOSITY.

This is a question I've been pondering for some time.
Ok, so I've been on the net for a while, and I've noticed that it has become more and more popular bashing frenchies, saying that they are cowards and the like. This usually comes from either Brits or Americans.

Now the Brits I can understand, seeing as they and France have been at anothers throats since they found out it was life on the other side of the canal, it's kind of a Love-Hate relationship.
However, the worst culprits of this bashing are usually Americans for some strange reason.
I can't really find any good historical reasons why they should try and "ridicule" the french so much, but maybe I am missing something. Also, this seems to have surfaced in recent years, so I suspect it might have something to do with recent political events.

Any thoughts?

Oh, and this is NOT meant to be a flame thread, I just want to see what people think about the matter. If you're only posting trying to start a flamewar or to provoke others, kindly sod off!

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Because the media tells us to. That's why people bash most everything. They are portrayed poorly in the media so we go with whatever they tell us.

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

I'm British, it's either in our genes or it's the law.

 

[johnman]

Us Brits spent the best part of the last 1000 years bashing the French, old habits die hard.
I think it has somthing to do with France always having these massive imperial ambitions but always failing to a certain degree, mainly because of Britian and a few allies.

As for Americans, I cant think of any reason, hell Fracne even helped you in your war of independance.

 

[Redingold]

Damn cheese-eating surrender monkeys!

 

[Salem_Wolf]

Isn't every nationality an open invitation to be bashed? At the risk of being moderated for this, I'm going to list examples (And I do happen to be American, quarter-Irish and quarter-Italian, so I'm really bashing myself here as well):

French - Smelly and cowardly
American - Obese and stupid
Japanese - Weird and highly perverted
Spanish - Moochers and dirty
Irish - Drunkards
Italian - Fat pasta lovers

Wait, did I go from Bashing to mixing in stereotypes? Crap, probably. But the point is, the French is just seemingly an easy target, but it doesn't take you long before you find people Bashing pretty much every country and nationality there is, not just the French. Perhaps the whole REASON behind it is because the French surrendered during World War 2 because they were weak-willed and Americans feel the need to remind them that we (helped) win the war and they surrendered.

It's all kind of silly really, but that's what I think the reason is.

Edit: Fixed my idiocy in saying "we" as in "America" won the war, that was partially true, but we alone did not win the war. My apologies.

 

[NeutralMunchHotel]

Because they're cheese-eating surrender monkeys?

I don't know about you, but any group of people with that snappy moniker should use it as much as possible. Apparently whether they like it or not.

 

[Snuggle]

I think it's because the French didn't join America in bombing the crap out of Iraq. Can't say for sure, though France definitely didn't participate in it.

 

[TheCameraman]

Isn't every nationality an open invitation to be bashed? At the risk of being moderated for this, I'm going to list examples (And I do happen to be American, quarter-Irish and quarter-Italian, so I'm really bashing myself here as well):

French - Smelly and cowardly
American - Obese and stupid
Japanese - Weird and highly perverted
Spanish - Moochers and dirty
Irish - Drunkards
Italian - Fat pasta lovers

Wait, did I go from Bashing to mixing in stereotypes? Crap, probably. But the point is, the French is just seemingly an easy target, but it doesn't take you long before you find people Bashing pretty much every country and nationality there is, not just the French. Perhaps the whole REASON behind it is because the French surrendered during World War 2 because they were weak-willed and Americans feel the need to remind them that we won the war and they surrendered.

It's all kind of silly really, but that's what I think the reason is.

I agree that might be the case. However, the strange thing I've found is that this bashing was almost non-existant until a couple of years ago. At least that's what I've noticed.

 

[Littaly]

It's because France got rolled over by Germany in WWII no? Yeah, I find it silly too ^^

 

[wooty]

Britains predjudice as mentioned earlier is easy, 1000 years of hated and rivalry before we both agreed that the Germans are a better nation to play with

I think the new "uprising" as it is, was over the Iraq war and France's lack of commitment to it, thats the latest memory I can conjour up as to why American-Franco relation are soured at the moment

I also think its around this time the phrase "cheese eating surrender monkeys" was coined, though dont hold me to that

 

[dwightsteel]

Because it's fun. I know it's not a good excuse, but what can I say? It's not like people world wide haven't been making fun of Americans, or most other cultures for that matter.

I honestly don't mind people making fun of Americans. It's easy (what with the overweight population, and all the crap that we stir in our own right) and it's not like they're necessarily wrong to do it. Same with the way we make fun of the French.

 

[wordsmith]

I live in the Channel Islands (between England and France), and I recently had something pointed out to me.

If you're from St Peter (a small town in the West of Jersey), you take the piss out of people from St Ouen (a neighbouring small town). But that doesn't matter, because...

If you're from the West, you take the piss out of people from the East of the island. But that doesn't matter, because...

If you're from Jersey, you take the piss out of people from Guernsey (A neighbouring island, we call them Donkeys). But THAT doesn't matter, because...

If you're from the Channel Islands, you take the piss out of the English. But not even THAT matters, because we ALL take the piss out of the French.

So basically, we all take the piss out of the French because we're the biggest bunch of in-fighters ever to live, and it's one of the few things we all agree on xD

 

[the protaginist]

Here I thought the American hate stemmed from their withdrawal in their Vietnam...

 

[Loge]

If you live next door to them you either find them extremely charming and really nice people (you speak french good or atleast make a good effort)

or extremely hostile, arrogant and prickish (you don't speak french and make no effort)

It's same if you join a french online game server and start blarbing around, language seems to make a world of difference for many of them

Oh yes, and they are easy targets for non-sensical my countries dong is longer than yours' talks due to grand military failures. One might mention Napoleon against that but he still lost pretty quick and fast in the end. Yet no one mentions the cultural achievements left behind in the wake of his armies. The "code civil" in many occupied countries was a clear step forwards for these countries (and they didn't get rid of it after the occupation)

It's not about winning wars, it's about leaving the biggest, long-lasting impact on societies and people's lives.

 

[The Maddest March Hare]

Because every country has something that can be taken and used in jokes. Britain has tea and snobbishness, Wales has farmers and their private life with their flock, America has obesity and France has its history of running away from everything, and those are just some of the more popular countries to hurl uninformed insults at

 

[JemJar]

I've been reading up quite a bit on the French lately - I'm moving there shortly so I thought I'd get myself up to speed.

Spoiler: Spoilered for Length

Some decent writers claim that there's a bit of a misrepresentation of British and French relations. Much as the French are the butt of British jokes and mockery apparently the same is not so true in reverse - the French simple aren't as cutting about us as we are of them. On a fundamental level there's a lot that both countries seem to admire about each other - we wish we all got the long lazy lunches the French do and they wish they were half as good at music and story-telling.

But there are some weird cultural splits - most British resentment of the French often comes from a perception of arrogance, a trait which is generally despised in the UK and forms one of the cornerstones of British anti-American sentiment too. And the stupid stereotypes of the unwashed, unshaven Frenchman (or woman!) versus the posh, pretentious British gentleman or Vinnie Jones-esque football hooligan. Obviously it helps that we fought wars for centuries too.

The Americans are seen by both the French and the British as brash, unsophisticated, arrogant (not such a crime in France) and uneducated (definitely a crime in France - which is very proud of its education system). The French in particular really aren't a fan of the American capitalist model and its consumerist ideals - the massive shopping malls and supermarkets just don't fit into the French view of life. The French are also fiercely independent, desperate to ensure that the country does not have to lean on any other power for support, aid or defence. That the British have become increasingly like the Americans and increasingly close in international politics is a great source of disappointment for the French - the fact that we turn to the Yanks for our nuclear capability for instance leaves Britain on a sort of WMD-umbilical cord.

The Americans, of course, see the French as getting in the way of their geo-political modus operandi: gather as many of the biggest nations you can and use superior economic and military power as leverage to further their agenda overseas. This being the slightly cutting version of "promoting democracy and freedom for all people" or whatever the catch-phrase du jour is. Couple of cases in point: France's departure from NATO and the various attempts to resist the invasion of Iraq. "French Fries" became "Freedom Fries" - god knows what "French Kissing" became - and a lot of people giggled at the fact that the classic national landmark of American values (the Statue of Liberty") was made and given to them by... the French.

 

[cordeos]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6197921.stm
"An encounter with a rude taxi driver, or a Parisian waiter who shouts at customers who cannot speak fluent French"

its things like this

 

[Aesir23]

For the U.S, I remember that it started because the French wouldn't join the war in Iraq. Canadians were bashed temporarily by Americans as well for the same reason.

I don't think I've heard any Canadians bash the French from FRANCE. Quebec though, is an entirely different story. I'm not particularly fond of them myself.