What do people have against France?

Question

Here in the U.S, it seems like everyone in my school are against the country and people of France. Even my own friends. I am the only confused one who isn't against them. Why are Americans so against the French. Maybe not even just the Americans....

Answer 1

As Paul said this was orchestrated when the French refused to help for the invasion of Iraq (What is funny is that it was Germany who threatened to veto the motion at the UN but the French who were accused of it).
What happened after 9-11 was that those countries offered help, money and troops to go after Ben Ladden and Al Quaeda in Afghanistan, which the US accepted. But as soon as the Talibans were routed, before even putting down a plan to finish cleaning up and helping the country get back to its feet Bush turned round and said that it was Iraq the big bad one. He had proof. Saddam had the N-bomb and WMD. So forget Afghanistan, time to all go attack him.
The other countries refused. All their studies and secret services told them that there was no nuclear bomb and no WMD. They had agreed to help against Al Quaeda, not to give troops and money to further the ambitions of Bush (and yes, they had money in Iraq, so did plenty of US companies through European fronts). The French took the lead in that protest. In answer the Bush administration started a campaign of slanders. The French were cowards (cheese eating monkeys), the French were stupid and jealous, the French were hand in hand with Saddam, anything French was unclean (remember the Freedom Fries!). The French hate the Americans. History was rewritten in the blink of an eye to show that the French were baaaaaaad, "greedy, loathsome people who survived by sucking on the blood and money of the Americans" (an email I received).
As the French say : "Slander someone, some will always stick." The real origins of the slanders have now been forgotten, the slanders have not.

In answer, the French now think that Bush and his administration are a bunch of stupid, idiot, greedy, blind..... etc etc.... people and loath them. Despite what you heard most do make a different between America and its government.

Answer 2

With the 2007 new French President Nicolas Sarkozy you will see a new relationship between France and the United States. Sarkozy is a fervent supporter of the American way of life. He is the most pro-American French president ever. So the big-brother, little-brother, sibling rivalry between France and America will no longer exist. What caused the friction in the first place? The French and the English wanted to maintain the Suez Canal in 1956 but the United States along with the USSR voted against the French/English. It was the only time in the United Nations history that the US and the USSR voted together on an issue. Also you have teh French monarchy going bankrupt after financing, and also sending military, war boats and foot soldiers to help the American. About 50% of the American revolutionary soldiers were French.

Answer 3

When the Bush Administration decided to invade Iraq, France was against it. France had $40 billion worth of contracts with Iraq, which is one reason they opposed it. There actually a campaign to discredit France because they had the "audacity" to disagree with the US Government. Now the people of the US (for the most part) agree with what was the opinion of France in the first place. They also seem to forget that the Statue of Liberty was a gift FROM the French, and other than the US flag that statue is probably the best known symbol of the USA. The French also helped us out in the Revolutionary War, and the French underground helped us out in WWII, frequently at the cost of their lives. The French also were instrumental in figuring out what AIDS really was and contributes vastly important scientific research. Orchestrated dislike of the French is nasty politics, pure and simple, and anybody that falls for it is a "sucker".

Answer 4

France does not like Americans. France went bankrupt during the American revolution, when America broke from England. The people of France were starving and people were dying but there was no money. This is just a small cause that lead to the French Revolution. (there are many other issues that lead to the French Revolution but debt was a huge factor.) So that may have something to do with it. Thousands of people died in France during that time. Hundreds of thousands actually. I dont beleive that Americans really hate the French. The French have always been friends to the Americans but I hear that French people are rude to Americans who knows. Its probably some childish game people play.

Answer 5

I am an American, and I have nothing against France or the French, and I don't know of anyone else in the US that does. I don't know where your school is, but that school must have forgot to teach the lesson on how if not for France we Americans would be speaking English.

Answer 6

Hi! I'm french and i feel the same in France about the french people who hate the US. I've been 3 times in your country and i realised that most things said in France about it are wrong. The French who hate the US have never been there actually. All my friends who have had the opportunity to visit the USA love this country. So i think ignorance is the reason of this stupid behaviour. And i'm sure it's exactly the same in the USA: people there who are against France say wrong things and have never been to my country.
Like you, i had been very disappointed about that until i understood that in every country you have this kind of behaviour, but you also have wise people without prejudice and these people count. I have american friends, we know we have cultural differences but like them! It's so good to share our views on the world with tolerence. It's so enjoyable to teach one another things we couldn't learn otherwise.
Start to say to your friends that in every country you have good and bad people, in France and in the USA and let them choose their camp.

Answer 7

Americans who are against France don't remember that "sometimes your best friends try to keep you out of a fight."
Also, France is a very aesthetic place, and American tourists don't always follow simple codes of French manners. They like it when you say excuse me before you ask a question, and they like it if you try to speak French. However, they can be impatient with tourists, but if you live in a tourist resort, as I do (Fort Lauderdale), one can get tired of tourists. The French are more honest than pretentious, and they don't believe all the sweet smiles of the Americans. French can be very friendly and helpful if they like you, but if they don't like you, they don't pretend that they do.
I was from New York and visited France and they were very interested in NYC, but they are not as interested in Alabama, Kansas, or G.W. Bush. Hey, neither are many Americans.

Answer 8

People here don't like France mainly because of ignorance. They just don't like them because of how they are and what they are and their customs. Its different from us. Also, in the early 19th century France has not been a good allie because of its parliarment and indecisions of its government. Americans here I guarantee you do not know much of France's bloody history and what the french people have to go through to have their own country. Ignorance, Stupidity and downright Immaturity of the people here in America is what they have against France. They only think of America and the Americans to be greater than other countries

Answer 9

Hhhmmm... Are you from France? I will tell you what the issue is it goes back to the year 1307 Friday the 13th, 1307 Back then The Templar Knights a Christian religious order who only answered to the Pope had become very wealthy and the King of France at the time King Phillip the (3rd?) owed the Templars many debts. He felt threatened by there growing power and land ownership and instead of paying them he conspired with the pope to have them all hunted down arrested and even burned at the stake. Those same Templar Knights (some of whom escaped) are the decendents of todays Freemasons who founded and still for the most part run the United States of America. Throughout the years the hatred of France has been handed down through there brothers and relatives. An understandable dislike for them but be it an all to long lasting one.

Answer 10

shahrzad29: I know exactly what you're talking about, people at my school are like that too.

Lots of you people have answered this question wrong...

Kids at school don't care about the new French President, the history between America and France, or France's politics.

It just seems like the fashionable thing to do: hate the French.

I'm not sure myself, sorry.