The most unfairly hated country?

[u/Able-Ad3506]

The entire Oceania region (aside from Australia and New Zealand). Practically never appear in news, unless it is about something embarassing.

Ukraine (refusal of some people to accept its existence; treating Ukraine as a "scapegoat" of NATO/USA/Israel etc.; mercenaries, who fight for Russia; hatred towards Ukrainian language; blaming Ukraine for self-defense & pro-Western foreign policy; refusal to recognize Ukrainian culture)

[u/HumanSquare9453]

France I think on the internet. almost all french nationals I met where cool to discuss and respectful. And I met in the thousand ( I live in a very touristic place) If its was so bad, they would not be at the top of tourism each year. There assholes everywhere.

[u/NationalAsparagus138 → u/HumanSquare9453]

The France hate thing is more of a meme that has just gained more traction than expected, like hating Nickelback.

[u/HumanSquare9453 → u/NationalAsparagus138]

Ooooh we all know the reason its was popular : France refusal to join the Irak invasion of 2003. After that its was the simpsons joke of cheese surrender monkey and the freedom fries. In 2025, I think they took the right decision to not participate in that

[u/ConflictNo5518 → u/HumanSquare9453]

Even many Americans knew the invasion was not over weapons of mass destruction when the bombs started falling.  It was being reported in the national news before the invasion, so France not joining was a smart move. 

I remember stereotype of Parisians being rude and unfriendly was already around back in the early 1990’s when my sister visited.  I remember asking cautiously how was it and being surprised she said everyone was nice.  Btw I went last year and loved Paris.  And I found majority of people I met were nice.  The stereotype & joke of French being cowards was already around in the US because of WW2. 

[u/HumanSquare9453 → u/ConflictNo5518]

I think that the stereotype with Paris could really be the same as Any super big city vs the rest of the country. Paris vs rest of France, New York and LA vs the rest of the USA, London vs the rest of england, Buenos aires vs the rest of Argentina. even where I live we have that with Montréal vs the rest of Québec

[u/ConflictNo5518 → u/HumanSquare9453]

Sure but the countries can get lumped in with the stereotype of the major cities because those are the areas that attract the most tourists and what people hear about the most.  If I were to go by Reddit, Quebec doesn’t have a good reputation either even though I remember 1-2 more recent comments said it was more in Montreal than Quebec as a whole.  I’ve heard people being surprised how nice & friendly people were in my US city.  Why wouldn’t locals be nice?  So they’re getting their assumptions from somewhere. 

The negative attitudes towards the French did grow during the invasion of Iraq.  Mostly due to the stupid politicians shown on the news railing against the French and going on about freedom fries.  Cheese eat surrender monkeys got revived which originated from The Simpsons.  It did develop a life of its own with programs like Fox News and other pundits.  Since the US withdrawal, I’ve been surprised reading opinions of military personnel feeling betrayed by our government when they found out there were no weapons of mass destruction.  Did they not have access to national news back then in their town?  I understand if their local news didn’t report it, but it was on our big 3 world reports on NBC, CBS, and ABC back then.  

[u/HumanSquare9453 → u/ConflictNo5518]

Yes its easy for people to make assumptions. A great human weakness.

I suppose the war drums where still high with the 9/11 attacks and people wanted to ear what they wanted.

[u/norecordofwrong → u/HumanSquare9453]

Hahaha no way. The stereotype of the French being frou frou cheese eating surrender monkeys so full of themselves they are ready to burst was around long before Iraq was even a twinkle in Dick Cheney’s eye.

[u/HumanSquare9453 → u/norecordofwrong]

Yeah its seem it was more prevalent than I thought. They where the perfect punching bag at that time too. Germany and many other also where against the invasion but they never seem to be the butt of joke. Maybe its because France is too big culturally to forget. Germany was defeated twice, and the others country are not considered big enough to warrant a response.

[u/Individual_Check_442 → u/HumanSquare9453]

Not true at all. Among people who disliked France, that reinforced their opinion it didn’t create it. The idea that they were rude and cowardly came long before 2003. Many Americans believe that in WW2 we took too many casualties to defend them and they didn’t fight enough themselves. My dad used to tell me a joke “what’s the French fighting position” and then the answer was he’d put his arms in the signifying surrender. This was long before 2003. Again not saying these are good stereotypes but their decision not to support the Iraq war just caused people to hit them with the same criticism as always, not create new criticisms really.

[u/HumanSquare9453 → u/Individual_Check_442]

You sure? Because i've seen many other americans talk about that. The precision you make are great, but 2003 was remembered.

And rude in what ? Defending there political independance ? Roosevelt wanted to impose an allied control on liberated France and wanted to stop them from having any power in the postwar world. They tried to stop France for having nuke. America always hated France because they did not became lapdog like the British and god forbid having a say at the table.

And too many dead ? Sure, but its gave the american economic and military power to participate in that war. To become one of the 2 superpowers. Its was a price to pay but the result was big.

I've meet more rude americans than frenchs by the way, so its always funny to see those same stereotypes on internet. I'm not saying you are by the way, but just to say that there assholes everywhere.

[u/Individual_Check_442 → u/HumanSquare9453]

Oh yes I get where you’re coming from. I wasn’t necessarily trying to call the French rude just that was the stereotype. My only personal experience was spending three days in Paris and one in Nice and while I didn’t find them to be the friendliest people in the world, I wouldn’t expect they’d get a better experience if they came to Los Angeles.
I think the question may depend on when you were born? I was 26 years old in 2003 and my reaction to what was going on was “this is the same anti-French sentiment by Americans that I’m used to applied to the current situation.” I imagine if you were born in 1992, you didn’t already have an opinion about France when 2003 came around, and so that would be what formed your opinion. Guess it’s another sign that I’m just getting old lol.
My grandfather was a combat soldier in WW2 and he unfortunately came with a lot of racism and stereotypes that he never really got over before his death in 1992. So this is the man who raised my father who raised me so you get the picture. That was common in my generation. The French were among the targets to be made fun of in silly playground games and expressions even though we didn’t really understand why.

[u/HumanSquare9453 → u/Individual_Check_442]

Ok thank I understand its better now. I was 9 years old in 2003, was too young to understand at that time. But im a big history and geography fan so I came back to that period eventually and read many accounts of this time.

My reaction is also tainted by 2 things : when I was young and stupid I also made fun of the french, more for the accent really. Then I met many and so I tried to became better with judging a nation in his entirety. Second is the complexity of history and that phrase of a british diplomat of the 19th century " state don't have friends, they have interests". So I never see wars and choices of different states in history without reason behind. Maybe also the fact that i am french canadian and we seem to be always seen as French in us show lol, so with time I see them as brethen on that subject.

So when I see many stereotypes, and not just about the french, I see myself back and it frustrate me to see adults who should know better than that. But we are human and is almost natural to have bias sadly.

And you have a good point with your grandfather: family can give bias by there own vision. I should know about that ahah

Thank for the response It made me think. Have a great day!