On average, about a dozen or so anti-French jabs are written on twitter per week, most of them being some form of “French Surrender” joke. While some are deliberately trying to be offensive, others are living proof there is a “long tail” to America’s recent spate of French Bashing.

A few examples from within the last day or so:

• @timchi – “You can try and run over a french bulldog but it would surrender first”
• @asianlunatic – “Mantastic: When ur in France for holiday, the French will surrender to u, just to be on the safe side.” 
• @JohnHancock61 – “Great movie line from Flushed Away: Lead French frog: To action! French frog commandos: We Surrender!”
• @Simon4365 – “ahhhh the weekend or as the French say “we surrender”!!!” 
• @Hondo11 – “I’ll say it. Pietrus is not only French (known to surrender) he looks strikingly erily to a Primate. FACT” 
• @macslash – “It’s nice to hear Serlet attack Windows with a French accent. Would have expected him to just surrender.”

While most comedic outfits have abandoned French Bashing, especially Jay Leno and his forty or so jokes about supposed French cowardice and propensity to surrender, legions of twitterers, bloggers and comment contributors have kept the myth of French cowardice alive.

Having turned a traumatic historical event of epic proportions into a timeless character trait, French Haters have woven prejudice against France and the French into pop-culture.

Thankfully, one of North-America’s most astute international columnists has decided to take the myth of French cowardice and surrender head on. I present to you, Eric Margolis and his column : “Getting to the truth about World War II”. Thank You Eric. Merci.

Here are a few excerpts:

“France’s army did not simply surrender or run away in 1940, as ignorant American Know-Nothing conservatives claim. “

“Britain’s well-trained expeditionary force in France was beaten just as quickly and thoroughly as the French, and saved itself only by abandoning its French allies and fleeing across the Channel. “

“France lost 217,000 dead and 400,000 wounded.  Compare that to America’s loss of 416,000 dead during four years of war in the Pacific and Europe.”

Eric Margolis is an award-winning columnist who contributes regularly to the Quebecor Media Company and the Huffington Post. His articles appear in the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Times of London to name a few. Eric Margolis has also appeared on CNN, BBC, France 2, France 24, Fox News, CTV and CBC.

See also: French Bashers hit twitter @ Miquelon.org

New spot for Alan Colmes’ new show on Fox News. The ad is a spoof of all things perceived as left-wing and anti-American. “Anybody” from France is represented by Pepé LePew, Warner Brother’s anthropomorphic skunk. h/t to Browmf

While it is a fact our leadership betrayed us and surrendered us to the enemy in 1940, over 100 000 men in uniform died trying to slow the German advance. Had the French been the cowards you so often joked about, there would have been no battle of Lille and no evacuation of 340 000 British troops from Dunkirk. But historical facts were never your forte.

One last time Jay, let me remind you your mocking of the events of 1940 was – and is – as offensive to the French as 9/11 jokes are to Americans. In a print interview, you also went as far as calling the French Resistance a “mythical joke”, a highly offensive and revisionist comment you have yet to redress.

We will not miss you, save a sincere apology.
Marc from Miquelon.org

More from 112 Gripes About The French. Published in Paris in 1945 by the ‘Information & Education Division’ of the US Occupation Forces.

• The French fought in Africa, in Sicily, liberated Corsica, fought in Italy, took part in the invasion of Europe and fought through the battles of France and Germany — from Normandy to Munich.
• Units from the French navy participated in the invasions of Sicily, Italy, Normandy and South France.
• Units of the French navy and merchant marine took part in convoying operations on the Atlantic and Murmansk routes.
• On June 5, 1944, the day before D-Day, over 5,000 Frenchmen of the resistance dynamited railroads in more than 500 strategic places.
• They delayed strategic German troop movements for an average of 48 hours, according to our military experts. Those 48 hours were tactically priceless ; they saved an untold number of American lives.
• French resistance groups blew up a series of bridges in southern France and delayed one of the Wehrmacht’s crack units (Das Reich Panzer Division) for twelve days in getting from Bordeaux to Normandy.
• About 30,000 FF1 troups supported the Third Army’s VIII Corps in Brittany: they seized and held key spogs ; they conducted extensive guerrilla operations behind the German lines.
• 25,000 FFI troops protected the south flank of the Third Army in its daring dash across France: the FFI wiped out German bridgeheads north of the Loire River ; they guarded vital lines of communication; they wiped out pockets of German resistance; they held many towns and cities under orders from our commmand.
• When our Third Army was approachiung the area between Dijon and Troyes from the west, and while the Seventh Army was approaching this sector from the South, it was the FFI who stubbornly blocked the Germans from making a stand and prevented a mass retirement of German troops.
• In Paris, as our armies drew close, several hundred thousand French men and women rose up against the Germans. 50,000 armed men of the resistance fought and beat the Nazi garrison, and occupied the main buildings and administrative offices of Paris.

Our comments at the Huffington Post

To find and respond to French Bashers on twitter, check out these searches :

• “French surrender”
• “Arrogant French”
• “Surrender monkeys”
• “Hate French”

Examples

1. “nØbama apologizes to France for America leaving so many crosses on French hill sides during WWII. Americans have been arrogant, we are arrogant” -  @TPO_Hisself.
2. “French toast? Threaten it with your knife and it will surrender.” @davidpowellbham
3. “Q. Why dont they have fireworks at Euro Disney? A. Because every time they shoot them off, the French try to surrender.“  @JessicaJayyy
4. “rude, ignorant, racist, jealous, envious, inert, thick, stupid, paranoid ! but too dumb to be arrogant thats the french” @facunditas

South Park’s French Bashing Explored.

The world of cartoons is a powerful way to get out any message you could never achieve with traditional actors or more conventional means. Much like Aesop’s fables, the use of animated characters often serves as a vehicle for political and social satire that avoids serious scrutiny. After all, it’s just a cartoon right?

The Simpsons, Family Guy, King of the Hill and South Park have all achieved success through poking fun at our collective hypocrisies or our contradictions. Unfortunately, when empowered with such a potent vehicle, the creative teams behind these cartoons sometimes let their own prejudices show through.

The Simpsons famously entered the fray of Anti-French prejudice with several barbs, most notably the “Cheese eating surrender monkey” epithet spoken by Groundskeeper Willie in an episode aired on April 30, 1995. In another episode, the character Lenny is also used as a vehicle for Anti-French stereotypes: “I’m shaking like a French soldier!”. Anti-French prejudice from the Simpsons is also evident in licensed games such as “Medal of Homer” (See note 1).

Matt Groening disputed his association with that now famous Anti-French slur: “That was not the original context. It was all about Willie yelling at students in a French class. People took that expression out of context (…) Besides I adore France, to be associated with this was insulting” (See note 2). Given the Simpsons long record of Anti-French attitudes, Matt Groening’s comments can only be considered as pure hypocrisy. But enough with this antiquated series that overstayed its welcome 6 years ago.

Last Wednesday, South Park aired an episode ripped from the headlines that deals with Somali pirates. At one point a French crew surrenders to children wielding toys. In another scene, another characters exclaims: “they were French so of course they surrendered immediately”.

South Park’s late foray into the world of French Bashing is not only regrettable, it proves once more that anti-French prejudice is so entwined in American pop-culture that it will take monumental efforts on our behalf to undo the harm done by years of laissez-faire.

In the meanwhile, little can be done with our limited means. We can however let the creators of South Park know how we feel with it comes to mocking the most tragic event of our recent history or we can also share our opinions with the myriad of bloggers, writers, columnists out there who are applauding this new Anti-French jab like circus seals.

(1) Miquelon.org article on Medal of Homer
(2) Source: Interview with Erwan Cario, July 25th 2007

Related links

• South Park Episode 7, season 13 “Fatbeard”
• Entertainement Weekly by Ken Tucker who thinks this is a “funny depiction of the French as pretentious cowards”
• AvClub.com – tv.ign.com

Our Response: Dear Barry

I’ll be frank and direct here since there is no point going any other way about this. I have spent the best part of the last six years fighting prejudice and anti-French attitudes in the American media after France’s refusal to follow the Bush administration into Iraq (See www.Miquelon.org).

If you have some argument with your president, I suggest you take it up with him directly instead of lambasting the French with a partial and incomplete historical record.

To address your points specifically :

• “Who’s the arrogant one? ” – Right off, I detect prejudice against the French.
• “America, after doing most of the fighting, bleeding and dying to liberate France from her Nazi conquerors” – Pure revisionism. Saving Private Ryan was not a documentary : I do not owe my freedom to US troops, but to the ALLIES. On D-Day, there were Canadians, British and other Allied Troops. I also owe my freedom the African Free French troops who landed in Provence. Secondly, had the Soviets not bled the German war machine on the eastern front (with a ratio of 20 to 1 Soviet to American dead), D-Day would not have been possible. Therefore, I, my French Compatriots, do not owe our freedom to any specific power, but to ALL ALLIES regardless. Thirdly, who are you to use the mantle of World War II and D-Day for your own grandstanding ? Unless you were there on D-Day, I have nothing but contempt for your posturing.
• “America, (…), gallantly lowered its profile to allow General Charles Andre Joseph Marie de Gaulle and his rag-tag Free French army” – I don’t appreciate your “rag-tag” qualifier as you are talking about members of my own family who risked their lives to free Europe of Nazism. Any man or woman who fought the Nazis deserves to be respected and not labeled as a second rate soldier. The historical record shows that Paris was partially liberated by a citizen uprising under Henri Rol-Tanguy before Allied troops entered the city. Even WIKIPEDIA disagrees with you : “Supreme Allied Commander Eisenhower did not consider Paris as a primary objective; instead, American and British Allies wanted to enter Berlin before the Soviet Union’s army and put an end to the conflict.[5] Moreover Eisenhower thought it too early for a battle in Paris; he wanted to prevent another battle of Stalingrad, and knew that Hitler had given orders to destroy Paris. In a siege, it was estimated 4,000 tons of food per day would be needed to supply the Parisians, plus effort to restore vital infrastructure including transport and energy supply. Such a task would require time and entire Allied divisions”

For more information about what the FRENCH DID:

• The French fought in Africa, in Sicily, liberated Corsica, fought in Italy, took part in the invasion of Europe and fought through the battles of France and Germany — from Normandy to Munich.
• Units from the French navy participated in the invasions of Sicily, Italy, Normandy and South France.
• Units of the French navy and merchant marine took part in convoying operations on the Atlantic and Murmansk routes.
• On June 5, 1944, the day before D-Day, over 5,000 Frenchmen of the resistance dynamited railroads in more than 500 strategic places.
• They delayed strategic German troop movements for an average of 48 hours, according to our military experts. Those 48 hours were tactically priceless ; they saved an untold number of American lives.
• French resistance groups blew up a series of bridges in southern France and delayed one of the Wehrmacht’s crack units (Das Reich Panzer Division) for twelve days in getting from Bordeaux to Normandy.
• About 30,000 FF1 troups supported the Third Army’s VIII Corps in Brittany: they seized and held key spogs ; they conducted extensive guerrilla operations behind the German lines.
• 25,000 FFI troops protected the south flank of the Third Army in its daring dash across France: the FFI wiped out German bridgeheads north of the Loire River ; they guarded vital lines of communication; they wiped out pockets of German resistance; they held many towns and cities under orders from our commmand.
• When our Third Army was approachiung the area between Dijon and Troyes from the west, and while the Seventh Army was approaching this sector from the South, it was the FFI who stubbornly blocked the Germans from making a stand and prevented a mass retirement of German troops.
• In Paris, as our armies drew close, several hundred thousand French men and women rose up against the Germans. 50,000 armed men of the resistance fought and beat the Nazi garrison, and occupied the main buildings and administrative offices of Paris.

More about why the US landed in France:

• We didn’t come to Europe to save the the French, either in 1917 or in 1944. We didn’t come to to Europe to do anyone any favors. We came to Europe because we in America were threatened by a hostile, aggressive and very dangerous power.
• In this war, France fell in June of 1940. We didn’t invade Europe until June of 1944. We didn’t even think of “saving the French” through military action until after Pearl Harbor – after the Germans declared war on us. We came to Europe, in two wars, because it was better to fight our enemy in Europe than in America. Would it have been smarter to fight the Battle of the Bulge in Ohio? Would it have been smarter if D-Day had meant a hop across the Atlantic Ocean, instead of the English Channel, in order to get at an enemy sending rocket bombs into our homes? Would it have been smart to wait in America until V bombs, buzz bombs, rocket bombs, and – perhaps – atomic bombs had made shambles of our cities? Even the kids in Germany sang this song: “Today Germany, tomorrow the world.” We were a part of that world. We were marked for conquest.
• When France fell, our last defense on the Continent was gone. France was the “keystone of freedom” on land from the Mediterranean to the North Sea; it was a bulwark against German aggression. France guarded the Atlantic, and the bases the Germans needed on the Atlantic for submarine and air warfare.
• American security and American foreign policy have always rested on this hard fact: we cannot permit a hostile power on the Atlantic Ocean. We can not be secure if we are threatened on the Atlantic. That’s why we went to war in 1917; that’s why we had to fight in 1944. And that’s why, as a matter of common sense and the national interest, President Roosevelt declared (November 11, 1941): “The defense of any territory under the control of the French Volunteer Forces (the Free French) is vital to the defense of the United States.”

SOURCE : Published in Paris in 1945 by the ‘Information & Education Division’ of the US Occupation Forces.

Update : following the Friday April 3rd monologue by William Maher where jokes were made about the supposed non-cleanliness of the French, we have no choice but to put an immediate end to this endeavour. We sincerely apologize to our community.

While some may not agree with Bill Maher’s libertarian politics, his support for PETA or his anti-religious stance, nobody stood up for France and the French during the era of French Bashing with more force and conviction. Bill Maher took the Republican Party head on and voiced serious and structured criticism of their Anti-French rhetoric.

The “initiative citoyenne” legislation for the Legion of Honor was not designed for foreign citizens, however we believe that using a similar process should be initiated and forwarded to the Ambassador of France in Washington.

To petition the French government, you must be a French citizen. We will need your name, date and place of birth, your postal address and phone number, your consular registration number if applicable. This information will not be shared with anyone except the French government and their consular agents.

More information on the Legion of Honor – L’initiative citoyenne

More information on Bill Maher – Wikipedia [fr] – Wikipedia [en] – BillMaher.com

Photo : David Shankbone

We at Miquelon.org expect a spike in Anti-French and Anti-SPM sentiment in the Canadian media and press in the next few days. French citizens in Canada are advised against engaging in conversations on this topic and should refer any queries to websites that deal with the history and news of the islands.

• News from and about Saint-Pierre & Miquelon (English): radiobarachois.net
• Continental Shelf Committee (French only) : spm.org
• Saint-Pierre & Miquelon History (primary sources): grandcolombier.com
• Saint-Pierre & Miquelon General Information: st-pierre-et-miquelon.com

Current: Feb 2009

“They say this other guy is unpatriotic, or this guy likes French people. That’s what they said about Kerry (…) They try to make it out like Democrats aren’t tough enough, aren’t macho enough. It’s the same strategy.” - Barack Obama, August 18, 2008. Sources: IHT – FOXNews – ABC News

On another front, this one being in the Gulf of Aden, the news of French successes against Somali pirates is being greeted with sarcasm by Jennifer Fermino – are we Italian? – of the New York Post. Harping on France’s 1940 surrender, which we remind our non-French readers, is as funny to the French as 9/11 is to Americans, Fermino plays loose with history and claims the French have not had a military success on water since 1884.

Please use the comment section of the New York Post to leave informative and thought provoking comments.

First “joke” listed: “What’s the shortest book ever written? French War Heroes.”

Well this is a great start…

Next joke: “When I was in high school, I was in the French club. We didn’t really do anything. Every once in a while, we’d surrender to the German club” – Brian Kiley

Then we’re treated to some Fresh “Quotes About the French” most of which were already indexed by us in the French Bashing section of the site.

“As far as I’m concerned, war always means failure.” – Jacques Chirac, President of France
“As far as France is concerned, you’re right.” – Rush Limbaugh

“What do you expect from a culture and a nation that exerted more of its national will fighting against Disney World and Big Macs than the Nazis?” – Dennis Miller

“You know why the French don’t want to bomb Saddam Hussein? Because he hates Americans, he loves mistresses and wears a beret. He is French, people.” – Conan O’Brien

More jokes:

“American teenagers are six times more likely to get pregnant than French teenagers. And what does that tell you? It tells you that American teenagers are better looking. But I say, let’s learn from the French — don’t hand out condoms to high school students, take away their deodorant.” – David Feldman

But it gets better.

“Why did the Post Office have to recall its series of stamps depicting famous Frenchmen? People were confused about which side to spit on.”
“What is the first thing the French Army teaches at basic training? How to surrender in at least 10 languages.”
“Why do the French Smell? So blind people can hate them too!”

Reasons for being French?

• When speaking fast you  can make yourself sound gay.
• Experience the joy of winning the world cup for the first time.
• You get to eat insect food like snails and frog’’s legs.
• If there’s a war you can surrender really early.
• You don’t have to read the subtitles on those late night films on TV.
• You can test your own nuclear weapons in other people’s countries.
• You can be ugly and still become a famous film star.
• Allow Germans to march up and down your most famous street humiliating your sense of national pride.
• You don”t have to bother with toilets, just shit in the street.
• People think you”re a great lover even when you”re not.

Comedy Central’s jokes about the French seem to fall in three categories: (1) Surrender jokes, (2) Body Odour and (3) Hatred for the French.

Of course, according to the website’s terms and conditions, you must not use, allow, or enable others to use the Site, or knowingly condone use of this Site by others, in any manner that is, attempts to, or is likely to be ethnically offensive, discriminatory hateful … It would seem the “terms and conditions” are the biggest joke on joke.com.

Comedy Central is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom International Inc.

• Contacting Comedy Central
• Contacting Viacom

Please be polite and informative when sharing grievances.
In other news, a notorious French Basher just signed a deal with NBC for a 10 o’clock show.