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To a commentator on staff at our local newspaper, (written in 2004) I regret the unkind remarks about the French in your article, “French incense apathetic types.” I find the French no better or worse than we. They are as insightful, compassionate, and capable as we; as chauvinistic, prideful, and stubborn as we. Your article smacks of ethnocentricity (America is the center of everything) and represents a low form of stereotyping. It fosters isolationism and widens the gap of strained relationships with countries who think differently than we. Your strongest and most negative statement is perhaps this one: “I have never made it a secret that I have always loathed France and the French.” Are you actually proud of that declaration? Were you born despising the French? Is that their problem or yours? Haven’t the French been our allies through two world wars and Operation Desert Storm? Didn’t they give us the Statue of Liberty? How I wish you could have been with me in France when many French families invited me into their home precisely because I was an American. I wish you could have listened to Radio France International on Thursday afternoon, April 10th of this year, when a French woman called in to say how happy she was at the U.S. intervention in Iraq, to marvel at their organization, to thank them for their sacrifice, to praise their generosity, to criticize her government for their lack of commitment in doing the right thing, and to tell those against the war to mind their own onions, as they say. And she was not alone. Your next sentence was also narrow-minded: “I can truthfully say that I have only met one person from France that I liked, and I have met several.” Whose fault is that? In light of your congenital hate for the French, I can understand why you have never met a likeable person that was truly French (Philip left France at 3; he doesn’t really qualify, sorry). Why would a Frenchman attempt to love you with such hate pulsing through your veins? I suspect the problem is not that the French are so bad, but that you won’t give them a chance to be nice to you. Your hateful, biased and superficial remarks seem to reveal that you are more negative than they. A third unfair remark came toward the end of the article: “I cannot do other than despise a nation that cares not for the safety and well-being of people in general, who would take actions that would sacrifice the lives of soldiers and civilians alike for the sake of Hussein’s money with which to line their pockets.” I assure you first hand that many French do care for the safety and well-being of people in general, just as many Americans do. In this war, they have disagreed with the Americans about intervening in Iraq without the support of the U.N. They have agreed with us that intervention is necessary and that Hussein should go. Moreover, few French have lined their pockets by doing business with Saddam Hussein. Does a whole people deserve condemnation because of questionable decisions by some of its politicians and businessmen? Finally, your negativism about the French suggests that you may be more arrogant than they. Most of your article is unfair, biased, and unkind. The call to boycott all things French is silly and unnecessary, as if it would have any positive effect on anyone. In an effort to promote understanding, I offer to take you to France, give you a tour of the country, and introduce you to some very loveable French people on two conditions: 1) you plan to accompany me in the summer of 2004 and 2) you pay my travel and living expenses. Let me know… |