03-15-03 @ 2:46 am EST

Warning: This entry has a pro-France bent (horrors!) that the majority of Americans might not like. If you are one of those people I suggest you just move on without reading. Okies? If on the other hand you have some kind of proof that this anti-France attitude is NOT the one held by the majority of Americans, please send it my way, because I need SOMETHING to have hope in right now. I am that disgusted.


Isn't it nice? Now it's perfectly A-OK and American to be hostile and even insulting toward the French just because they do not agree with America's preference to go to war. I have not felt free to share my own opinions on whether I'm pro-war or pro-peace in so long that I no longer even HAVE an opinion on it, just because every time I said I was pro-peace, people jumped down my throat about it and tore my guts to shreds. Now I can see this being reflected on society at large as the French are being called every name in the book. I am too ignorant to know all the details but some people are suggesting that Bush just ignore the UN's decision if France vetoes us going to war. Well, why don't we just get rid of the whole UN then since it'll be pointless?

And while we're at it, boot out the French because--*GASP!*--OMG!--they HAVE A DIFFERENT OPINION AND FEEL FREE TO STATE IT. I am so appalled! This is America and so I really honestly thought that we were all supposed to have the SAME opinion! And as you know, it's the American way to revile those with different viewpoints. [sarcasm]

I must be way behind everyone else because I just heard of the movement to change the name of French fries (which are in fact a Belgian creation, I believe) to "Freedom fries." Because everybody knows the French are cowards who are behind every problem in American society, and to change the name of a popular salty food product would be a REAL slap to the face for them. [more sarcasm] I PRAY to God that this movement doesn't eventually extend to McDonald's and Burger King and such because this is the STUPIDEST thing I have ever heard. Honestly and not sarcastically--I thought this was America, and even if people did not like your opinion, you were free to have it without being reviled and spat upon. I feel ashamed of America for once, and that has never really happened before. I'm ashamed that we are behaving like a spoiled little brat because the world at large does not agree with us, so we're stamping our feet and yelling, "Don't wanna play with you no more!" "Freedom fries"? How JUVENILE can we get? What will be next on the list of insults toward other nations? Because we're doing a really good job of alienating ourselves so far. I keep feeling like I should APOLOGIZE to other nationalities, and I haven't even DONE anything wrong. Just because I'm American and this is the impression other nations get of us. I feel like hiding my head!

(Psst! Hey! If you really want to slap the French in the face, GET RID OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY! I seem to remember it was a FRENCH guy who designed that! No, don't see them hurrying to knock THAT over anytime soon, do you?...)

How far has the anxiety spread for me, at least? Witness this:

Some of the characters in my current story are French or French Canadian. I feel embarrassed merely stating this now--and it's just a work of FICTION which most people won't even notice.

and

One of my dearest online friends is French Canadian and I actually feel embarrassed about this now. Will he think that I hold this same juvenile attitude toward the French? For God's sake...my own family on my mother's side came from French Canada...are WE next? I have never been so humiliated just to be American. Every time my dad calls the French cowards, I feel like punching him. It's not like it's anything new, he thinks Asians are called "gooks." But I still cringe in embarrassment. Because apparently many MORE people in even more powerful positions think the same thing. It was a Congressional hearing or some such that changed the name of French fries! If our own governmental leaders have shown their childish attitude in this manner, what does that say about our country's openness to other countries? "Give us your tired, your poor, just as long as they agree with everything our government does." Say you are a teenager who shows up at school one day and your principal is there bashing some country and calling everybody from it "cowards" because they don't agree with something he said. If I were that teenager, yes I would be beyond embarrassed. I would expect a lot MORE of my leaders, but when you can't even look to your own leaders to be mature about something, where can you look to?

It's gotten to the point where I've grown AFRAID of disagreeing with majority opinion lest I be penalized somehow. I've seen it happen. I feel it will only get worse. There goes our freedom to disagree respectfully. Will insults soon be replaced with threats?

And I feel now like snarling at these Francophobes, "At least the French have the GUTS to state their opinion, unlike me! Because people like YOU knocked that will out of me! It's really nice to know that in the future I may be subjected to even more ridicule based on not just my opinion, but on my nationality--it's very comforting to be American and to know that instead of heading forward into an era of equal rights and less prejudice, we're just sliding backwards again! WAY TO GO!"

You know what? Maybe France SHOULD veto that thing. I have always spoken in terms of Americans as people, not as America the nation, as one should never overgeneralize to say that all of us are for war and are behaving like spoiled babies. But the rage against the French has gotten so prevalent that maybe it IS about time somebody gave us a hard smack across the face. The last one doesn't seem to have worked; if anything we are even more full of ourselves now than ever. I WANTED to think it was just a noisy few of us, but I'm starting to wonder otherwise. Take a look, our own leaders are now participating.

Even though I would never EVER agree with slaughtering Americans (a la the WTC) just to make a point, I think now I'm beginning to understand how some of those other nations feel about us. And I'm very ashamed.

Sorry if I've offended anyone with this, but truly, how far will it go? Today it is the bad thing just to be French. Tomorrow will they start sniping at people who are part French or French Canadian? Then what? I used to think that the people who bashed me over the head online for me being pro-peace were the minority, but now it appears otherwise. That's a disheartening thought. :(


Anybody wanna rate me poorly or call me a traitor/bleeding heart/whatever and prove my point that it's no longer allowed to disagree? I have been called every name in the book back when I used to believe in standing up for my opinions. It would be nothing new to me now. Just another reason to be ashamed of my country as a whole, and to proclaim the death of freedom of expression.