Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Stale moronic jokes about France

I often stumble upon sad and senseless Anglo-Saxon stuff in a dubious category that might be termed French jokes, which flourished recently when French president Jacques Chirac created a huge wave of anti-French sentiments by pointing out truthfully [as events prove] that US president George W Bush was acting unwisely in attacking Iraq. The nastiest specimens of this silly would-be humor revert inevitably to a couple of widespread urban legends: first, the notion that France might have opted out dishonorably (surrendered) in the face of Hitler; and second, the allegation that the French, today, might not honor fully the role of Anglo-Saxon soldiers who gave their lives in the Battle of Normandy in June 1944. These two accusations are groundless. Facts, rather than would-be jokes, are necessary in this domain.

Countless books, videos and websites recount admirably the stark facts of this epoch, which were often complex... concerning particularly the relationships between Churchill, Eisenhower and de Gaulle. In any case, there is no longer any room for deliberate ambiguity; no longer any place for moronic "French jokes".

1 comment:

  1. history is funny. i dont make french joke because i find them outdated and unfunny now canadian jokes thats funny anyway i digress i find irony in this line of your blog.

    French president Jacques Chirac created a huge wave of anti-French sentiments by pointing out truthfully [as events prove] that US president George W Bush was acting unwisely in attacking

    mainly because i thinks its to quick to judge. who knows how history will judge this event. i agree with the statement about bush but look at it as more of a public perception at this time. thirty years from now people could look back and say he was a genuis. it happens in history all the time. for example lincoln or when the us bought alaska and so on. somtimes it happens for the worst in the case of the french surrendering most people now dont get the complexity of the situatioin of the time so they joke about it.

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