French Attack?

[Annie]

I thought it had something to do with France not being sucked in to invade Iraq. Wasn't that when the Freedom Fries bullshit childishness started?

But small point Morpheus, France didn't invade Britain. Napeoleon wanted to, with his grand armee (can't do the accent, forget how the keyboard wants to be tickled) but there he was stuck near Boulogne-sur-mer because of the weather. Perfidious Albion indeed!

If you mean Guillaume of Normandy, yes, but he stayed

Nope started at the latest with WWII, while the underground was respected the regular forces and government were derided, with good cause.

 

[Andrew2382]

my Question Is, Why Are Some Americans Hell-bent On Constantly Ripping France, And Hijacking An Otherwise Intelligent Discussion On The Piracy Problems Off The Coast Of Somalia? I'm Curious Where This Francophobia And Hatred Is Rooted. Can Someone Provide Some Insight? And Isn't This Hypocrisy, Given How Much We Complain About Anti-americanism Abroad (which Is far More Widespread Around The World Than Anti-frenchism)? Maybe We Need To Rip On Past Superpowers In Order To Cope With Our Own Declining Empire? Why Do Americans Have Such A Fixation With Wwii, But A Complete Loss Of Memory For Everything That's Occurred Since Then? Last I Checked, Vietnam Wasn't A Success (of Course, This Is The "fault Of Liberals"), But Even The Initially Popular 2003 Iraq Invasion Was An Ill-conceived Disaster Until [arguably] The 2007 Military Surge After Which afghanistan Took A Severely Sour Turn. And Even The Effectiveness Of The Surge Is Not Considered Sustainable By Middle East Experts. Fuck, Even The korean War -which Has Been Spun Into A Victory By The Military-industrial Propaganda Complex- In Reality Ended In A Truce. But Again, Let's Wave Wwii In Everyone's Face, Demanding That The World Owes Us Big, And Completely Disregard The Help Of The Brits, Canadians, And Russians Without Whom It's Uncertain If We'd Win (let Alone Underground Resistance Movements In Europe And Asia). And Our Righteous Actions In Wwii Then Somehow Justify Our Meddling In Domestic Affairs Of Foreign Nations since Then, Removing Heads Of State And Installing Dictators Wherever We Saw Fit, While Lecturing The World On Democracy. And Then -somehow- American Foreign Policy's Biggest Cheerleaders -the Mass Media- Have A "liberal And Anti-american Bias".

Are We Bitter That Our Own Empire Has Shown Its First Signs Of Decline? Are We Bitter That France Opposed Our Invasion Of Iraq, Even Though Most Of Us Now Admit That Was A Mistake? So, We Want The World To Blindly Follow Us Even When We're Wrong, Rather Than Point It Out To Us When We're Making A Grave Mistake? Isn't That What Allies Are For, Anyways? Even After We Refused To Share Our Intelligence (on Islamic Terrorism) With The France After The Bombing Of The Paris Metro And Hijacking Of An Air France Flight In The 1990s, They still Backed Us 100% On Afghanistan And Now Back Us 100% On Iran. But They Had The Dignity To diplomatically Oppose What They Thought Was A Mistake On Our Part, And We Didn't Like That. We Preach Democracy, But We Don't Like It When The Majority Of Un And Security Council Members Don't Vote Along The Same Lines As Us. That's When We Start To Rip On The World, And Discredit The Un, even Though, Since The Late 1980s, The United States Has Been Using Its Security Council Veto More Often Than Any Other Security Council Member. And Then We Dug Deep And Found Some Vague Economic Ties Between France And Iraq -completely Ignoring Our Own Role With Arming Saddam Hussein In The 1980s, Turning A Blind Eye To His Genocide Against The Kurds, And encouraging His Intentions To Annex Kuwait- Only To Quietly Hush Down When Light Was Shed On Underground Economic Dealings Between prominent Americans And American Companies And Post-gulf War Iraq.

Ironically, French Public Opinion -while Certainly In Opposition To The Iraq Invasion- Did Not Oppose It As Much As other European Countries Did. 65% Of French Citizens Opposed The War, According To Gallup (about The Same Amount Of Britons), While Levels In Other Countries Were Significantly Higher (around 75% In Germany, 88% In Italy, 90% In Spain And Switzerland, To The Best Of My Memory). But, Of Course, You Can Always Count On americans To Dutifully Believe And Do As They're Told, And Give The War A 65% Approval Rating, With A One-sided Media Manipulated By The Pentagon And Corporate Interests, Broadcasting Pro-war Propaganda To The American Public Until It Was Too Late (2006-ish).

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh My Eyes

 

[Annie]

Andrew, why write a post in format no one will read?

 

[Bootneck]

The last time Britain and France were at war, British officers wore scarlet tunics.

During one battle, the French captured an English colonel. They took him to their headquarters and the French general began to question him.

Finally, as an afterthought, the French general asked,

"Why do you English officers all wear red coats? Don't you know the red material makes you easier targets for us to shoot at ?"

In his bland English way, the officer informed the general that the reason English officers wear red coats is so that if they are shot, the blood won't show, and the men they are leading won't panic.

.......And that is why, from that day to this, all French Army officers wear brown trousers.

 

[morpheus]

I
But small point Morpheus, France didn't invade Britain. Napeoleon wanted to, with his grand armee (can't do the accent, forget how the keyboard wants to be tickled) but there he was stuck near Boulogne-sur-mer because of the weather. Perfidious Albion indeed!

If you mean Guillaume of Normandy, yes, but he stayed

I'm talking about the Norman invasion and ocupation of England in the Middle Ages, during which many French and Latin-rooted words were absorbed by the English language, a legacy that lasts to this day.

 

[tigerbob]

I'm talking about the Norman invasion and ocupation of England in the Middle Ages, during which many French and Latin-rooted words were absorbed by the English language, a legacy that lasts to this day.

Thank God because, let's face it, old English was fucking gibberish.

Modern English to Old English Vocabulary

I'm surprised the Normans were interested in an island that made so little sense (and arguably still does).

 

[toomuchtime_]

Thank God because, let's face it, old English was fucking gibberish.

Modern English to Old English Vocabulary

I'm surprised the Normans were interested in an island that made so little sense (and arguably still does).

And why were all these French guys named Norman?

 

[tigerbob]

And why were all these French guys named Norman?

Excellent point.

Ahhh, so many worthy questions, so little time...

 

[Diuretic]

I'm talking about the Norman invasion and ocupation of England in the Middle Ages, during which many French and Latin-rooted words were absorbed by the English language, a legacy that lasts to this day.

Yes, so was I. Just as well they did too, I wouldn't be here otherwise

 

[Diuretic]

Excellent point.

Ahhh, so many worthy questions, so little time...

That one's easy - no bloody imagination!

 

[Munin]

The last time Britain and France were at war, British officers wore scarlet tunics.

During one battle, the French captured an English colonel. They took him to their headquarters and the French general began to question him.

Finally, as an afterthought, the French general asked,

"Why do you English officers all wear red coats? Don't you know the red material makes you easier targets for us to shoot at ?"

In his bland English way, the officer informed the general that the reason English officers wear red coats is so that if they are shot, the blood won't show, and the men they are leading won't panic.

.......And that is why, from that day to this, all French Army officers wear brown trousers.

I don't want to spoil your joke but brown doesn't show blood either, it is very hard to see the blood on brown colored clothing.

 

[tigerbob]

The last time Britain and France were at war, British officers wore scarlet tunics.

During one battle, the French captured an English colonel. They took him to their headquarters and the French general began to question him.

Finally, as an afterthought, the French general asked,

"Why do you English officers all wear red coats? Don't you know the red material makes you easier targets for us to shoot at ?"

In his bland English way, the officer informed the general that the reason English officers wear red coats is so that if they are shot, the blood won't show, and the men they are leading won't panic.

.......And that is why, from that day to this, all French Army officers wear brown trousers.

I don't want to spoil your joke but brown doesn't show blood either, it is very hard to see the blood on brown colored clothing.

Bah humbug.

 

[editec]

People forget that the British were also defeated when the Nazis conquered France. They retreated across the English Channel after for some unknown miracle, Hitler didn't massacre them all at Dunquerque. Likewise, it's a miracle the Japanese didn't conduct their "Third Wave" at Pearl Harbor.

I won't forget the BEF being defeated nor the efforts which went to getting the BEF back to Britain.

The Evacuation of Dunkirk, 1940

Nor will I forget the fact that Britain stood virtually alone against Germany during 1940 and then endured the Blitz yet still kept fighting against Germany.

Nor should we.

Truly England's finest hour.

 

[Munin]

People forget that the British were also defeated when the Nazis conquered France. They retreated across the English Channel after for some unknown miracle, Hitler didn't massacre them all at Dunquerque. Likewise, it's a miracle the Japanese didn't conduct their "Third Wave" at Pearl Harbor.

I won't forget the BEF being defeated nor the efforts which went to getting the BEF back to Britain.

The Evacuation of Dunkirk, 1940

Nor will I forget the fact that Britain stood virtually alone against Germany during 1940 and then endured the Blitz yet still kept fighting against Germany.

Nor should we.

Truly England's finest hour.

Poor britain, all alone

 

[tigerbob]

I won't forget the BEF being defeated nor the efforts which went to getting the BEF back to Britain.

The Evacuation of Dunkirk, 1940

Nor will I forget the fact that Britain stood virtually alone against Germany during 1940 and then endured the Blitz yet still kept fighting against Germany.

Nor should we.

Truly England's finest hour.

Poor britain, all alone

Yes indeed. Germany was completely surrounded.

 

[editec]

It was STILL Englands finest hour.

They'd gotten their asses handed to them.

The NAZI subs were isolating the nation, their RAF fighters were out numbered, yet they fought (thanks to radar) the German AF off long enough for the rest of the world to mobilize.

As to the Anglophilia and francophobia, inherent in the American people?

This nation was basically taken over by Anglophiles after Andrew Jackson left office.

Since the leadership of the nation is (or at least was) mostly of Anglo origins, and particularly since the bnaking communities exists today thanks in large part to the Bank of England (at one time the largest stateholder in our own Fed) Anglophilia is just part of the American mindset.

Do bear in mind, also that the ruling class of American (especially for the first 125 years) is mostly Protestant, as was the population, while the French are mostly Roman Catholics.

But without the financial aide of the French court at the time of our revolution, the USA would probably not have formed.

We simply did not have the material to fight a stand up war against England, nor did we have the dough to buy it.

To really understand why I say NO French no USA, one must understand the diplomatic machinations of the American Revolution.

Militarily, France's contributions (while important especially in the southern battles) weren't as important as the fact that thanks to Beaumarchie (sp?) and Franklin finding the USA money and materials and EUROPEAN ALLIES to help us defeat the Brits.

 

[Diuretic]

Poor britain, all alone

Stop, I'm getting misty-eyed. Ah, the Empire *sob*.

 

[DavidS]

I can't believe there's actually a debate to be had about the French military. Hilarious.

 

[tigerbob]

Poor britain, all alone

Stop, I'm getting misty-eyed. Ah, the Empire *sob*.

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