ANTI-FRENCH NEW WAVE: One very positive aspect of recent world events has been a resurgance, a veritable nouvelle vague, of the highly enjoyable art of French bashing. Whether its their opposition to U.S. foreign policy (when U.S. foreign policy is the reason they're not speaking German today), or their condescending and arrogant dismissals of Americans as "condescending" and "arrogant," Zee French can't help but sound a little hypocritical. And I don't want to hear Bush called a fascist by any Frenchman, when the country chose Jean-Marie Le Pen as one of two finalists for their presidency. In America, Pat Buchanan got about 1% of the presidential vote in 2000.
The blogosphere has gotten into the act as well: John Paul Pagano has coined the memorable phrase "baguette-swinging Jew haters" to describe the Frenchies, while Isaac Slepner has the toilet in his bathroom decorated with frog decals because, he says, "The French are for shit."
UPDATE: No less an authority than Tom Friedman proclaims the French worthless!
Posted by Stephen Silver at February 9, 2003 01:56 AM