VOICES: The French Connection
The jokes are everywhere - you've more than likely heard worse than this.
How many Frenchmen does it take to defend Paris?
No one knows. It has never happened.
Ouch!
A community forum was sponsored by e.c. last week in response to the outrage raised by my co-worker Gene Padden's "Protesting Protesters" column. The over 100 people estimated in attendance represented a wide spectrum of public opinion. It's far too simplistic to divide them into only two categories - pro-war and anti-war.
The room pulsed with passion - apathy was nowhere to be found. And yet, in spite of such conviction, it was a fantastically civil affair.
For the most part.
The second to last attendee to speak at the microphone cracked a joke about how maybe we ought to bomb the French while we're out bombing people.
"I'm from France," the next and final speaker expressed through his thickly authentic accent.
Oh, how I have drooled over images of that moment. The Frenchman (my apologies for not having catching his name) got a big laugh before closing the evening with sentiments that reportedly pleased both Padden and the peaceniks. The incident fortified my annoyance with the French-bashing trend that's ripped through the United States, leaving me sadly embarrassed for my fellow, but angrier, Americans.
I have two young daughters who I work daily to teach a number of values. For example: generosity does not demand a favor in return. In other words, you don't do something nice for someone just so that you can hold it in their face weeks, months, or years later when you want something. But my countrymen are trying to prove me wrong.
We've consistently fought for and protected the French in the past, disgruntled citizens accuse in letters to the editor. They then demand that France support the United States now in a war that a lot of people of many assorted nationalities (including American) don't feel is justified or at least the wisest course of action.
What kind of arrogance does it take to demand that everyone agree with you? It's an arrogance that many have come to associate with the United States. And our behavior of late illustrates why. Any war we've ever entered has been entirely for selfish, self-serving reasons - maybe we did help France in World War II, but it is by no means the reason why America chose to fight that war any more than a war against Iraq will be about liberating the Iraqi people. President George W. Bush doesn't give a hoot about the oppressed women of the Middle East and the attempt to justify war with such ridiculous propaganda is downright shameful. If we're going to kill millions of innocent people, let's at least be honest about why so many people lives ought to be sacrificed.
The thing that really gets me, however, is not the self-righteous insults heaved at an entire nation. It's the boycotting.
Who is going to suffer from a boycott of French wine and foods? Not President Jacques Chirac or Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin or any of the politicians responsible for French foreign policy. The farmers will suffer and their vineyards and barnyards. As far as you and I know, French farmers are as opposed to France's opposition of war with Iraq as our peaceniks are against our country's fighting one.
There's a lot I don't know about French foreign policy, but I don't have to know those things in order to respect any country's right to stand up against our big bully of a country. Maybe you don't think the United States is a bully, but there's more than one reason that much of the world perceives us that way.
The Frenchman who closed last week's community forum told us that he loves America - even though he doesn't agree with every choice our country makes. It's exactly how he feels about his own country.
That's the way I want to feel about mine. But it's awfully hard to love those people who spew nonsense like "Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys!"
-- alicia grega-pikul, 27 February 2003
