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Around a decade ago, many French nobles volunteered themselves in the American Revolutionary War. The French government helped in funding the war (Bobrick 29). A hundred years after the Revolutionary War, the American Congress ordered its cafeteria to name the French fries as the freedom fries. Soon afterward, a press release was made to the consumers of the French mustards claiming that the only French component in the products was the French name. This happens to be a sad moment of U.S hostility towards France. Renowned politicians in the US are prevented from having their vacations in France and are advised that they are only allowed to talk about France when they are condemning it (Shatz 1).
It is evident that American’s attitude towards France was worse than that of other European countries in the year 2003 that include Russia which had been in a constant war. It was estimated at 29 percent favorable and 60 percent unfavorable. These percentages were on par with those of the American attitude towards Saudi Arabia, which has been its major enemy for decades now. Research shows that American’s attitude towards France has improved over the years to around 63% favorable and 31% unfavorable (FISHER 1). However, this percentage remains higher as compared to other countries such Egypt. This happens to be remarkable since the US and France share a common revolutionary democratic history and have fought alongside each other since independence. A good example is the French anti-Americanism that has got a long history.
i. The relationship between the two countries has been running cold in the recent years.
In the year 2003, the US government was opposed by the France government not to invade Iraq. America had also been opposed by Germany, but no one made any attempt to rename sauerkraut. There has been something with France that began during the administration of Bush (Loughlin 1). The US Army was worried in 1945 about the troop’s Franco-phobia when the US soldiers flooded liberated France. It was forced to issue them with a pamphlet that encourages cultural understanding. The pamphlet listed and reported the most joint American negative stereotype about France.
The American Franco-phobia was crystallized by the Simpsons a hundred years before the Iraq war. They referred to the French as “cheese-eating surrender monkeys.” This was about the perceived weak military of the French and their purportedly snobby tastes. However, the cheese consumption per capita in the US is almost the same to that in France (Conway). The French military has also managed to conquer most of the countries in Europe as well as western and northern Africa. For the US, it needs the help of the Russian, British and French itself to obtain lands that had been taken away by the Napoleon Bonaparte.
The American Franco-phobia is so puzzling and utterly at the odd with cultural and historical forces that are supposed to bring the two countries together. Research shows that most Americans identify themselves with Germany and UK. Many of them have a British heritage as compared to the French. This makes them adopt the long-standing Germany and British anxieties toward French.
There is a little stigma against expressing Franco-phobia while comparing to anti-Germany or anti-Japanese attitudes.
This is as a result of the absence of a unified and strong French-American community. The attitudes have led to the flourishing of the Franco-phobia more freely than the other anti-national attitudes. A good example is that currently in American offices, one can easily get fired for making fun of the Indian or polish, but it will be taken to be obvious for the French. Both the American and French consider their systems to be Universalist. They both view their social-political models to be the ultimate end political development. This makes them see the other’s system to be contradicting and innately offensive. America claims that is better off than what the rest of the world gives it credit for. However, France ridicules them that it is not as great as it thinks. The two countries assume that their greatness is utmost and thus cannot be attained.
In conclusion, America despises France as an inferior country despite the fact that they have fought alongside each other in many wars. The French government helped in funding the American revolutionary war. It is evident that American’s attitude towards France was worse than that of other European countries in the year 2003. The relationship between the US and France has been running cold in the recent years.
France, a country that once fought alongside the US, was against the invasion of Iraq by the US. The two countries are now fighting to outdo each other regarding greatness. Renowned figures in the US are discouraged not to have their vacation in France and instead encouraged to talk ill of the country. Lastly, from the above discussion, it is not wrong to declare that the two countries are antagonists.
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