why are americans ignorant and hate the french?

Question

why do people say that they hate the french because the french didn't help us in iraq or that they are ungrateful for our saving their cheese eating asses from hitler?

why don't people look back in history and realize that this country only exists because the french sent $$$ and their army to help fight against the british.

why do we hate the french for having the opinion of not going into iraq the way we did. after all, THEY WERE NOT THE ONLY POWERHOUSE that disagreed with us. if they were, we wouldn't have to send all of our troops to iraq.

why do we hate them when even now that we sit in this quagmire and our eyes are open to bush and iraq, the french are not waving their finger saying 'i told you so.' we would be. in fact, we would be saying 'show me the bombs of mass destruction!'

why do we say they are impotent when the world sees us as being the bad guys and the world backs them up?

vive america, but why are we ignorant to history and world issues unlike europeans?

Answer 1

Ok.. I take the plunge and be the french person answering here. Right. To start off, thanks for trying to raise the issue here, but to be quite honest this is a political one, not a cultural one. I am born french, but I have travelled a lot and have made many many long term friendships with Americans, Canadians, Japanese, Chineses, Africans, Swedish, to mention only those living quite far away from my country.
I have read some of the responses here, made me laugh to see that French women are considered physically dirty by some, or that French dudes are getting more sexual preferences from the female gender. I am french, I am proud of that fact. I do bath or/and shower daily. I actually wax my armpits and legs and bikini line. My brothers do not fall all the girls they would have loved to. Our gouvernement is not acting currently to what the French people are wishing for. It is fact. The political situation in France is close to anarchie. Again since 1968. And it is wrong to suggest we do not have any troops in Irak and Afganistan as my brother-in-law is an Hercule pilot and he is actually bringing food and supplies to the US troops in Irak as we speak.

You see, all this are misconception, the idea that they know some civilisation or culture that they basically only know from what you have read and saw on TV.
It is just human beings human beings.
Everyone think that they are the best that can possibly exist. Thats why, still to this day there are wars.
I don't think that this will change as I do not think the human kind is able of that. But I do not hate anyone for this. I return a frienship when it offered to me and ignore the ignorant.

All I can say to you is, do not carry this on your shoulders. It is quite a burden. You like the French cultural heritage and tried to learn more about it. Thank you. So just love it and do not condemn others for not doing the same. The USA is a free world for most part.


Merci de ton soutien.

Answer 2

Americans are no smarter than anyone else. They tend to hate the people of a country because of the actions of the politicians. During WW2, Germans and Japanese were hated. Some people today hate Iraqis, Iranian or just all Arabs. Does this make any sense? No, but unfortunately Americans aren't any brighter than the rest of the world.

I have been to France, in fact, I have been to a whole lot of countries, including Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Iraq, Kuwait, Romania, Hungary and maybe six or eight more. The thing I noticed is that people are exactly the same in every country. Why should we hate the people of any country?

The problem is the politicians. They are the ones who start the wars. And they are the ones who tell us who we should hate.

Answer 3

Don't believe everything you hear in the media. The buzz created over freedom fries and whatnot was all hype designed by the media to gain viewership.

However, the animosity between the French and the Americans dates back to World War I. When the US entered the war, the French (and British as well) did not want an independent American Expeditionary Force; they wanted American troops to serve under French and British commands. President Wilson and General Pershing would not allow this.

It also stems from the use of French small arms during the war. A sub machine gun, who's name is lost to me, was issued to AEF troops. Cumbersome, prone to failure, incompatible parts for field repair, generally an all-around bad weapon. Countless AEF troops were KIA because of this weapon.

Recently, it is more economic and cultural than anything. The French take on employment and the American view are as polar as north and south. In France, once you have a job, you are pretty much guranteed a job for life. very difficult to terminate an employee. That is why France has a 19% unemployment rate.

Americans are not ignorant to history and world issues. France has, since the Revolution, been at war pretty much the entire time (a war to restore the crown by Austria, Prussia, etc, Napoleanic Wars, Franco-Prussian War, WWI and WWII, French Indo-China War). In all of those, they have a pretty bad track record. Even in defense they have failed (Contnental System, Maginot Line).

My guess is the French are sick of war period, and they will at all costs try diplomacy to resolve all issues, even when it is clear diplomacy will, or has, failed (see also Appeasement of Hitler).

You also forget that the Old World in general has always had a smug attitude to anythigng outside of it, whether it be colonies or the New World. I see a sense of entitlement in Old World policies on world issues, economics, defense and education. They view the US as an upstart that shouldn't be where they are, and this is because of the fact the philosophies are so different.

And, before I forget, the French did not enter the War for Independence until 1781, after close to a decade of prodding and diplomacy by Benjamin Franklin, only after key victories at Saratoga, Cow Pens, Princeton and many others. They also only did so because it was a war against the British, a sworn enemy since the time of William the Conqueror. The French contribution, while valuable, was minimal at most.

Answer 4

M, it is true the French have helped us gain our independence. Reading your letter you left out two world wars we fought for the French. However we helped them fight world war one and felt our troops were inferior weapons. World war two the surrendered to the Germans without the Germans really firing a shot. Look at the U.S. Soldiers graves that are on French soil. When Americans got to France the are spit on and generally give a hard time.
So good lady it is not just the Iraqi war but history. The French have always thought of themselves better than everyone else.
One way you can show a weapon of mass destruction would be to us it like Saddam did. Yes Saddam used poison gas on his own people
I think we might have better reasons to dislike the French than what might appear on the surface, and not just a conflict in Iraq.

Answer 5

I don't "hate the French", in fact, I love the fries, and the toast, and La Madeline has pretty decent food, so SOME good has come out of France.


That French government is completely pussified, and I would assume that all French citizens were not carbon copies of the government there.

There are a lot of well-founded jokes, like scaring them away with a bar of soap, but those are just jokes,

Americans in general are not ignorant, more accurate would be extremely over-informed, OMG.

Take a chill pill, like an American!!

Answer 6

Why the PREJUDICE and HATE? Why ascribe to all (over-generalization) the remark "Americans are Ignorant"?

PS -- Have you been to France, Germany, Belgium, Afghanistan, the Middle East ... Japan, China, any member nation of the EU, Africa, the Caribbean ... any other place on this Earth? Yes, MY Family has .. and it is as part of the proud tradition of service in the Armed Forces of the US -- VOLUNTEERING to serve for others who CHOOSE NOT TO ... and we have experienced the PREJUDICE and HATE from those of our own nation ... those who choose to NOT understand both American History/Government and World History as well.

(I've been to France ... I speak French .. and I can state (I was on leave ... not in uniform) that I did receive RUDE treatment at Restaurants, Shops, and other places ... they automatically "assumed" I could NOT understand their language ... and it was hurtful to actually "Understand" the remarks that they were making while taking MY Hard Earned Income in exchange ... and sometimes, just sometimes, I responded (with restraint) in FRENCH with remarks that indicated I DID understand what they were saying ... needless to say, when I did that ... the remarks STOPPED ... and my companions on this vacation time were amazed how much better service we obtained).

Answer 7

this is so obvious. Capitalist who ripe off Americans daily with long hours at low pay control the media. They do not want us to know and believe they could have a 35 hour work week, high wages, good medical care, etc. (long vacations) like the french so they put a spin on the french which makes them appear undesirable.

Answer 8

The sad reality is that many Americans are ignorant to other cultures. I think Americans have always disliked the French even before Iraq. While America is beligerent and militaristic and die-hard capatalist France is socialist prefers diplomacy. While American life is fast-paced and conservative, French life is relaxed and progressivley liberal. They do most things differently than us and for the most part that yields better results for thier country, that's why we despise them. Oh well it only hurts us Americans not them.

Answer 9

Americans are jealous on French because they get all girls, because they are thin and eat delicious food. they are jealous because they have old and great history, beautifully cities which reflect history and respect. They are angry because french are proud and think with their own head, and don't follow to USA. They don't need to, because they have lots of money and stable country. Not like poor countries who follow USA.

Answer 10

i'm american. i don't think i'm ignorant nor do i hate the french. i am of french ancestery. i have always heard that the average french person doesn't like americans.