United States and French Relationship

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United States and French Relationship

Freedom fries and Chanel boycotts should not be dismissed as isolated and juvenile posturing on the part of the American people. Rather, the visceral reaction to French reluctance to follow the Bush administration into Iraq should be addressed as a substantive and not simply cosmetic distrust Americans share of the French.

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In France, the “renegade cowboy” George W. Bush is anathema to a country more comfortable with shades of gray than the black and white lenses with which the United States views the world. The US and France rarely see eye to eye on cultural and political issues simply because we do not share the same world view.

American eyes view the “outside” a bit differently than the French and this is at the root of most foreign policy differences. The Hobbesian view of man, largely based on Judeo-Christian beliefs that led to the famous “axis of evil” appellation, grates French ears. Further, while most French nationals speak a foreign language, travel extensively, and consider themselves global citizens (but alas, are not tous américains), recent allegations that John Kerry “looks French” and even speaks the language have reminded us all that antipathy towards the French and xenophobia persist. Alain de Chalvron of France 2 explains, “for us, to speak any other language and have an open view of the world, for a President, should be a plus” (Kurlantzick).

In France, while Michael Moore is heralded at Cannes for his controversial documentary deploring gun violence in the US, he is maligned as anti-American on US soil. Further, while most Americans view McDonalds as a great symbol of economic prosperity, its exterior wall is now the tableau of choice...

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Huntington, Samuel. 2004. “Who Are We? The Challenges to America’s National Identity”, New York: Simon & Schuster.

Kurlantzick, Joshua. 2004. “Talk of the Town”. The New Yorker. April 19, 2004.

Meunier, Sophie. 2000. “The French Exception”. Foreign Affairs. July, August 2000.

Nunberg, Geoffrey. 2003. “A Lexicon of Francophobia, From Emerson to Fox TV”, The New York Times, February 9, 2003, http://www-csli.standford.edu/~nunberg/francophobia.html

Safire, William. 2003. “Chirac’s Latest Ploy”. The New York Times. April 24, 2003.

Tsai, Michael. 2003. “France-bashing again a popular pastime”. The Olympian. March 9, 2003. http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20030309/living/17204.shtml

Wallis, Frank. 2004. “Laura Ingraham’s Paranoid Stereotypes”, counterbias.com, May 10, 2004, http://www.counterbias.com/027.html

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