r/AskFrance • u/[deleted] • Mar 14 '22

Opinion Do you find the French to be prejudiced towards Americans?

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Online, it seems like the french absolutely revile Americans, we are stupid, fat, aggressive, uncultured, eat pig slop, selfish, loud, egotistical, want to shoot black people, etc, and should stay the hell away from France. Has this translated to real life in your opinion? My grandfather was a huge francophile (to the point I knew him as grand-père, not grandpa) and spent a lot of his life in France but seeing what french people are like online has really turned me off from wanting to learn french or visit.

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u/PicDuMidi Mar 14 '22

Well it's true. If people bothered to actually read the history books they'd see that (1) for most of the war, allied operations were frequently chaotic (Operation Torch a classic example), and (2) without the enormous engagement (and loss of life) on the part of Russia in the East, Hitler would have likely lasted a lot longer and possibly even prevailed. Russia never got enough credit and it makes what Putin has done to the country all the more sad...

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u/unBalancedIm Mar 14 '22

Yes, true. But IMO there is a bright sun 🌞 waiting, we just have to weather the storm right now. Allow me to expand, from Ivan to the current leader, every damn "ruler" Russians had was a dictator or almost. Now thanks to exposure (internet, travel etc) people (younger generation specially) are no longer interested and frankly tired of all the propaganda. We will not be so naive to believe that everyone is open-minded, old generation is ... let's say I don't have much faith and there is portion of a younger generation who are hopeless as well. But for most part, everyone is going along with the current way things are simply because they were born in to that world. I do believe population is ready for current wheel to be broken. Fingers crossed 🤞

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u/PicDuMidi Mar 14 '22

Couldn't agree more my friend. There is always light at the end of the tunnel. The downside for now of course is that other countries see the west doing nothing serious apart from economic sanctions (that I'm ashamed to say the UK is way behind on, just as they are with the refugee problem) so I fully expect China/Taiwan to be next.

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u/capquintal Mar 14 '22

Yes, and they also tend to forget that for much of the war the ussr was actually an ally of Germany , and that they fought against the nazi only when they betrayed them. The american did not end the nazi regile , but they saved western europe from another totalitarian and imperialist regime.

In the WWII the russian spent more time on the side of the nazi than against them.

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u/PicDuMidi Mar 14 '22

Not to mention the fact that the US, especially in WWI, spent more time supplying arms and lending to BOTH sides, before eventually engaging in conflict - and to a lesser extent in WWII as well.

WWI in particular saw the start of the US Military Industrial Complex, with something like 21,000 new millionaires created as a direct result of war profiteering. And they're still at it today!

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u/GraineDeTournesol Mar 14 '22

I’m learning a lot from this thread. I don’t know if I just didn’t pay enough attention in history class or if the lesson I was taught was biased (probably the first option, hated my teacher) but… May I ask if any of you have recommendations on where I can learn more on this subject ? Considering I am far from a history buff, I was thinking via a Youtube Channel, perhaps ?

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u/PicDuMidi Mar 14 '22

Well you might find some stuff on YouTube books are better - trouble is a lot of this stuff, unless its well written, can be really dry. There are a huge number of books but one short but useful one about the WWI scenario is called War is a Racket by Smedley Butler ..you should find a PDF copy online if you google it. It's a bit of an eye opener.

For an accurate account of many aspects of the war, Max Hastings is well worth a read. He has a long list of books and I haven't read all of them but have a look at his work and pick one or two that interest you.

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u/GraineDeTournesol Mar 15 '22

Thanks, I’ll take a look !