July 05, 2006

Fwench Puzzled by July 4th Flags

From Agence France Presse:

It's a true epidemic: the red, white and blue, stars-and-stripes banners are everywhere in the United States - on house facades, front lawns, cars and clothes.

"It's a little strange, this obsession of the flag," French author Bernard-Henri Levy wrote after traveling across the country.

"Everywhere, in every form, flapping in the wind or on stickers, an epidemic of flags that has spread throughout the city," Levy wrote in "American Vertigo" of the riot of banners he saw.

I feel your pain, Bernard-Henri. The French tri-color is, at best, an uninspired design, but that's not the real problem.

The real problem is that the tri-color is most familiar to the French (those few who choose to serve it, when outlanders still can be enticed to join the Foreign Legion) as a rallypoint to mark the extent of the latest retreat. Or perhaps on letterhead detailing a special, secret business arrangement with Saddam Hussein.

It seems that the once-great French nation has never truly recovered from the shame of Vichy France and the collaboration epidemic.

Quelle dommage.

Cross-posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto.

Posted by: Bluto at 04:36 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
Post contains 190 words, total size 1 kb.

1 It's easy to see why citizens of other countries would misunderstand our respect for our country's flag. I attended the Formula 1 race in Indy last weekend, and it is standard procedure to wear your country's flag as a cape to support your favorite athlete or team. Same with soccer (foot ball?). I don't have a problem with that, and don't think it automatically means that the flag wearer intends any disrespect to the flag he wears. But their flags don't stand for the same things ours does.

They are jealous. And have a bad odor. (being outdoors is of no help).

Posted by: haywood jablowmi at July 05, 2006 05:16 PM (6XKXf)

2 Frenchtards. The frogs have no heart.


Balls either.

Posted by: greyrooster at July 05, 2006 06:41 PM (NMQrK)

3 It seems that the once-great French nation has never truly recovered from the shame of Vichy France and the collaboration epidemic.

France was never a great nation, because they never advanced the cause of Liberty, human rights, or civilization. Every act the French have ever committed has been out of nothing but greedy self-interest, and they have never been an ally to any other nation for the sake of freedom. France is our oldest enemy, and contiues to be the most odious to this day.

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at July 05, 2006 07:12 PM (v3I+x)

4 The French misunderstand the flag, but so do many Americans, who seem to be more concerned with the cloth itself than what it represents.

What good is the flag when the principles of liberty which it's supposed to represent are lost? Protect freedom first and let the flag worry about itself.

Posted by: Michael Hampton at July 05, 2006 10:37 PM (FVbj6)

5 Amen to that!

We could change our flag (and actually have before) and still be essentially the same nation we are today.

If we ever change our IDEALS, however, we will NOT be the same nation we are today. We may be the same people, on the same piece of land, and maybe even flying the same flag--but we wouldn't be the same nation.

Posted by: The All-Seeing Eye at July 06, 2006 12:05 AM (fZeeX)

6 I understand why the Fwench are uninterested in flying their flag, the white flag is so boring, so lacking in depth, so bland..

Should spur some emotion once they add the crescent to it though.

Perhaps a variation of this.

Posted by: Mathewk at July 06, 2006 02:12 AM (pVHqF)

7 You sorry bunch of smug, inbred, redneck cunts.

None of you have the education to have the first fucking idea what your talking about. Might I suggest your 'great nation' starts teaching some history? Within five minutes of starting to actually *think*, you'll realise quite how retarded this thread it.

Go fuck yourself up the wrong 'un, you ignorant little turds. And clean up the resultant spattering of shit and love-juices with your fucking flag - that's about all it's good for.

Twats.

Posted by: My Argreeable at July 06, 2006 03:47 AM (csS7P)

8 My Argreeable,
Man, where's the love?...

None of you have the education to have the first fucking idea what your talking about.

Perhaps not. I do however have the education to have the first fucking idea that your sentence structure is attrocious, and that you meant "you're" and not "your".

Pwned, Froggy!

Posted by: Son Of The Godfather at July 06, 2006 04:18 AM (maXzk)

9 If I recall correctly the US was a huge suplier to Saddam Hussein during the Iran - Iraq war. Not only France have sold weapons to people that aren't very nice.

But I'll give it to you Americans. You really have pride in your own country. I just hope you also see that it has flaws, and you probably have. It's just that much of that does not show through on european television. Here we see just the two opposite poles: At one side we see a bunch of people screaming USA, USA at sports events and on the other side we see Michael Moore.

Posted by: Frankster at July 06, 2006 05:02 AM (KeSyl)

10 Bernard Henri Levy isn't your typical frenchman, and it's very likely that his essay was actualaly a tongue-in-cheek satire on the appeasement mindset of his fellow Frenchmen. He's a rather outspoken exception to the French opposition to America and Israel.

BTW, I think that if there's such a thing as crossing the line My Agreeable, has crossed it. Someone ought to delete his post, etc.

Posted by: Demosophist at July 06, 2006 08:32 AM (Zcruy)

11 I'm in IM's court. The Frogs only helped this country's indepenance (1) to hurt the Brits (2) after the war was won. A few years later we had to war on their shipping in the Med. Sinking 95 of there ships before teaching them not to mess with us.

Posted by: greyrooster at July 06, 2006 09:44 AM (NMQrK)

12 "Every act the French have ever committed has been out of nothing but greedy self-interest... France is our oldest enemy, and contiues to be the most odious to this day."

Hey, they gave you that bad-ass statue...

And cheese. They've given the world some wonderful cheese.

Posted by: Bob Holness at July 06, 2006 03:51 PM (+42OI)

13 Two fine points Bob, but sculpture and cuisine don't make up for two centuries of enmity and backstabbing, especially after we saved their butts twice.

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at July 06, 2006 03:55 PM (v3I+x)

14 **please ignore the following post if you were fortunate enough not to read my previous one**

Well, this is awkward.

I don't like to apologise, generally, but I was badly out of order.

I don't dislike America. I formally rescind my suggestion that people use the flag for, er, cleaning duties.

The ill-advised tirade above was a product of too little sleep, too much booze, and generic irritation. I was being, not to put too fine a point on it, a cunt.

Not that I agree with this round of Frog-bashing, either. It's getting too easy to paint entire countries with one broad brush-stroke. The French (joe public, not the government) are not bad, horrible, or worthless - if you actually go there, and talk to them, you will find them to be warm, friendly, wonderful people. It annoyed me to see them denigrated in such a shabby manner, and I responded appaulingly.

...and in doing so, I did the same damn thing. I railed at a whole country on the basis of one or two comments.

I am repentent. I don't hate America. All the Americans I've met have showed such generosity of spirit that I'm embarrassed to think that they might ever see what I wrote earlier.

Sorry, people. I was wrong.

Posted by: My Argreeable at July 06, 2006 06:51 PM (+42OI)

15 (oh, and my inner-pedant demands that I point out to 'son of the godfather' that, although you were quite right to label my drunken mangling of the language 'attrocious', you'd have been better-off spelling it 'atrocious'.)

Posted by: My Argreeable at July 06, 2006 07:12 PM (+42OI)

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