…or nuked French Fries?
I’m certainly disenfranchised with the Bush administration, but Holy Cow! Is this the alternative?
Am I missing something? Like when Chirac says, “could be conventional. It could also be of another nature.” He means they’ll actually fight rather than the conventional French retreat.
I think where we are headed in terms of war, the social implications of middle eastern radicalism, and the possible threats to surrounding countries is a little grievous for there to still be so much in the way jokes and stereotypes in terms of European countries. If anything, his comments should be a major wake up call that we have not in any way “defeated” terrorism or even come close. If anything, we may have given even more a cause to pick up the fight. Their existance was never completely reliant on Al queda’s strength. Bin Laden was just an idol for many of them to follow.
[quote]lucasa wrote:
…or nuked French Fries?
I’m certainly disenfranchised with the Bush administration, but Holy Cow! Is this the alternative?
Am I missing something? Like when Chirac says, “could be conventional. It could also be of another nature.” He means they’ll actually fight rather than the conventional French retreat.
[/quote]
You can break French balls all you want as far as military things go, but remember that the greatest general the world has ever seen was French, and that their troops ran the table until Waterloo (yes Napolean was a Corsican, but he spoke French, fought for them, and had French troops). Not too mention it took a coalition of major powers, including the English and the Prussians, to defeat them. Pussies I would not call them.
I don’t like how he talks of a “confrontation between civilizations”, as this is just a little too biblical for me, aka Revelations (a time I was really hoping not to see).
But interesting nontheless.
I think that Bush and his admin. got nerves to plant the ANTI-FRENCH thought into the head of American people.
French was the one who ‘gave’ THE STATUE OF LIBERTY and French were the ones who designed Washington DC. When the United States flag, the red, white, and blue, became the official flag of the country in June, 1777, the French Navy saluted it as the first of all nations.
Can someone please clarify the ‘hate’. Maybe I have missed something here.
Bush is not to blame for the anti-French feelings many Americans hold. How in the world do you come up with that?
The French have proven to be a piss poor “ally” for the past 100 years or so.
If you look at the way the Vichy French acted during WWII and the way DeGaulle acted post WWII and watch similar behavior up through today you will understand why many in America despise the French.
The backstabbing behavior of the French has overwhelmed what they did during our Revolutionary War.
Of course what the did during the Revolutionary War was done by the French Monarchy if I am not mistaken.
I udnerstand Zaps feelings. The problem with France is that they’re still living in a world where France is a super power. Wich it never really was.
Anyway, everybody hates the French. I’m Belgian, and we hate the arrogant pricks.
But we hate them for the right reason. We hate them because they drink superior French wine. We hate them because they stole our cuisine and convinced the world they invented it.
We hate them because they make passionate love to small breasted, yet very feminine women in a cloud of garlic odor.
You hate them for warning you against a war and for being right about it.
And besides, Chirac has it all backwards. An attack by another nation is not a terorist attack. It’s an act of war.
A terrorist attack is, by it’s own defenition, an attack by terrorist.
So what is he going to do when someone flies an aeroplane into his precious Eifel tower? Nuke Teheran and kill a few million innocent civilians?
Very interesting. Although he minced words a bit, yes, he does appear to have threatened nuclear retaliation to terrorist attacks.
Talk about a sleeper hit. I would sure as hell hate to see what happens if someone tries to call his bluff. I also hope we have time to pull troops out of the region if he does in fact launch a nuclear assault.
Reminds me of that story of the monkeys paw. A bunch of defunct generals and tribe leaders wishing for a nuclear weapon, and here it comes, just not the way you wished.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Bush is not to blame for the anti-French feelings many Americans hold. How in the world do you come up with that?
The French have proven to be a piss poor “ally” for the past 100 years or so.
If you look at the way the Vichy French acted during WWII and the way DeGaulle acted post WWII and watch similar behavior up through today you will understand why many in America despise the French.
The backstabbing behavior of the French has overwhelmed what they did during our Revolutionary War.
Of course what the did during the Revolutionary War was done by the French Monarchy if I am not mistaken.
[/quote]
This is understandable. They really don’t have a great track record as an ally, although I think the French people have a better conception of how America saved them in WWII then we think they do.
And yes, they still think that they’re a superpower, which is laughable, being as they haven’t won a battle since Napolean led them.
And yes, the French monarchy supported the Revolution on the grounds that they were fighting England through our war. I’ve been to Yorktown, though, and there is no measure to how they really helped us in that war - without them, it would have taken alot longer to win that war, and cost more lives. There are monuments on the James River to the French Navy, many of whom died fighting with us.
Ironically, it was the very war that they supported that would end up being the end of their own monarchy, as it was the American Revolution with its idealism about the rights of men that led to the French Revolution in 1789, with the cries of “Liberty, equality, fraternity”. Thomas Paine was also a large contributor to that Revolution in intellectual department, though I think they almost hung him after the Reign of Terror.
And from then it has been the slippery slope into crazed imperialism for them, ending after WWII. I honestly think that it is just a bitter nation consumed with the fact that they are not as imporatant as they once were, and that no one listens to them on the world’s stage.
And I do think that we paid them back dually for the Revolution in WWI and WWII.
[quote]Wreckless wrote:
And besides, Chirac has it all backwards. An attack by another nation is not a terorist attack. It’s an act of war.
A terrorist attack is, by it’s own defenition, an attack by terrorist.
So what is he going to do when someone flies an aeroplane into his precious Eifel tower? Nuke Teheran and kill a few million innocent civilians?[/quote]
Imagine the outcry if Bush would threaten such a thing.
The closest I have heard him make such a threat is his refusal to remove any options from the table.
The French are different.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
This is understandable. They really don’t have a great track record as an ally, although I think the French people have a better conception of how America saved them in WWII then we think they do.[/quote]
You’re absolutely right about the french people, they have a deep respect for what the US did in WWII. I had the opportunity to get to know a frenchman this past year. He was an engineer and was taking classes at the same dojo I attend while he was in the US. He really changed the way I view the French. While their government is somewhat laughable, their people are generally good to go.
BTW, alot of people tend top forget about the French resistance, idividually they can be tough as nails. At least the one I knew was, he was pretty tough in the ring;)
[quote]Professor X wrote:
I think where we are headed in terms of war, the social implications of middle eastern radicalism, and the possible threats to surrounding countries is a little grievous for there to still be so much in the way jokes and stereotypes in terms of European countries.[/quote]
Unfortunately, very few people see things that way.
“The French are cowards, therefore I must be brave. Ahhh, feel soo good now!..”
Insecure morons.
[quote]bigflamer wrote:
While their government is somewhat laughable, their people are generally good to go.
[/quote]
That’s exactly how the rest of the world views America as well.
[quote]Brown_Sugar wrote:
bigflamer wrote:
While their government is somewhat laughable, their people are generally good to go.
That’s exactly how the rest of the world views America as well. [/quote]
Really, you actually know the entire rest of the world? I’m honored to speak with such a well traveled citizen of the world.
[quote]Brown_Sugar wrote:
bigflamer wrote:
While their government is somewhat laughable, their people are generally good to go.
That’s exactly how the rest of the world views America as well.
[/quote]
This is from a guy that thinks Bush is responsible for people disliking the French.
[quote]Wreckless wrote:
We hate them because they make passionate love to small breasted, yet very feminine women in a cloud of garlic odor.[/quote]
Zat is, how do you say? Very funny.
One of the problem might be that many people have learned everything they know of the French from watching “The Simpsons”