Why do so many people hate France?

Everywhere I go people are complaining about France, saying it is hypocritical, dishonest, untrustworthy, arrogant, selfish. Why?

But the food is good, the wine is divine, and the fashion ain’t half bad…and French people are no more rude than say… well, um…

Ok, the food is good :laughing:

Can only speak for New Zealand.
Reasons many Kiwis don’t like France and French;

  1. They are dirty rugby players.
  2. Moronic agricultural policies that hurt N.Z. exports to the E.U.
  3. Bombing of Greenpeace ship in Auckland
  4. Nuclear bomb tests in the Pacific.
  5. Arrogance.
  6. Lack of gratitude for commonwealth soldiers in WW1 and WW2.

They don’t shower? Perfume sells well in France so I heard.

ax

France is beautiful, breathtaking, exciting, exotic, romantic and rustic.
Too bad it’s populated by the French.

And here come the sterotypes.

I’ve known a handful of French people well, met many more in my travels. All of them were very cool from the outset, with the exception of a big burly guy whom I confronted at a bar because he had pulled the old “move aside, I’m big and I’m foreign” routine on some of my smaller friends. I told him that an asshole like him must be either French or American, then told him I was an American. For a moment, I wasn’t sure if he’d laugh or throw down. He got the joke (both Americans and French people are labelled “arrogant” by people who’ve never lived in either France or America), and we shared a beer and a laugh.

arrogant - aloof… Except for my brother in law!

Great cars :wink: , beautiful language, beautiful landscapes, great architecture, very romantic holidays

I can’t say too much about the people, those that I met were very nice for the most part.

I used to go to France quite often (it only took me about half an hour to cross the border). I get very nostalgic when I see pictures :frowning:

My 2 NT

Iris

Q: What did the Mayor of Paris say to the German Army as they entered during WWII?
A: “Table for One Hundred Thousand?”.

Q: Why don’t they have fireworks at Euro Disney?
A: Because every time they shoot them off, the French try to surrender.

Q: How can you tell if a Frenchmen has been in your backyard?
A: Your garbage is gone and your dog is pregnant!

Three guys, an Englishman, a Frenchman and an American are out walking along the beach together one day. They come across a lantern and a genie pops out of it. "I will give you each one wish, " says the genie. The American says, “I am a farmer, my dad was a farmer, and my son will also farm. I want the land to be forever fertile in America.” With a blink of the genie’s eye, ‘FOOM’ - the land in America was forever made fertile for farming. The Frenchman was amazed, so he said, “I want a wall around France, so that no one can come into our precious country.” Again, with a blink of the Genie’s eye, ‘POOF’ - there was a huge wall around France. The Englishman asks, "I’m very curious. Please tell me more about this wall. The Genie explains, “Well, it’s about 150 feet high, 50 feet thick and nothing can get in or out.” The Englishman says, “Fill it up with water.”

This is old, but funny, regarding the little-known French contribution to the recent war in Afghanistan:

French Intellectuals were Deployed in Afghanistan to Convince the Taliban of the Non-Existence of God

The Allies recently revealed that during the recent war in Afghanistan, a platoon of crack French existentialist philosophers was airdropped into the country to destroy the morale of Taliban zealots by proving the non-existence of God.

Elements from the feared Jean-Paul Sartre Brigade, or ‘Black Berets’, were parachuted into the combat zones where they spread doubt, despondency and existential anomie among the enemy. Hardened by
numerous intellectual battles fought during their long occupation of
Paris’ Left Bank, their first action was to establish a number of pavement Cafes at strategic points near the front lines.

There they drank coffee and talk animatedly about the absurd nature of life and man’s lonely isolation in the universe. They were accompanied by a number of heartbreakingly beautiful girlfriends who further spread dismay by sticking their tongues in the philosophers’ ears every five minutes and looking remote and unattainable to the Taliban fighters.

Their leader, Colonel Marc-Ange Belmondo, spoke of his
role in the success of their mission. Sorbonne graduate Belmondo, a very intense and unshaven young man in a black pullover, gesticulated wildly and said, “The Taliban were caught in a logical fallacy of the most ridiculous nature. There is no God and I proved it. Take your tongue out of my ear, Juliet, I am talking.”

Humanitarian agencies were quick to condemn the operation as inhumane, pointing out that the effects of the passive smoke from the Frenchmens’ endless Gitanes wreaked a terrible toll on civilians in the area.

There is speculation that Britain may also have contributed to the effort by dropping Professor Stephen Hawking into Afghanistan to propagate his non-deistic theory of the creation of the universe. Other tactics utilized during the secret war in Afghanistan to demonstrate the non-existence of God reportedly included the dropping of leaflets pointing out the fact that Michael Jackson has a new album out and Jesse Helms has not died yet.

These were some of several lesser-known Psy-Ops operations mounted by the Allies.

Why are French roads lined with trees?

So the Germans can march in the shade.

Went to France on business and hated it. Rude pigs.

In my experience, the arrogance/rudeness is confined to the areas most popular with tourists – Paris and the Riviera. Elsewhere, they didn’t strike me as any worse than anyone else, and I certainly wouldn’t characterise the people of Breton and Normandie as rude or arrogant.

The locals in the tourist-infested area where my folks now live in Scotland are pretty damned rude to and about the tourists themselves – unless of course they’re gouging them for their money.

I agree with almas john’s post about their rugby, though – dirty bastards.

Just to clarify. No one has criticized the INDIVIDUALS they have met. They have endlessly criticized the government for being selfish, disingenuous, untrustworthy, etc. etc. To wit, the Common Agriculture Policy, nuclear testing in the South Pacific, relations in Africa, the Middle East, etc. etc. My question is why is all this coming up now? Is this a deliberate effort to denigrate the French or is this a natural reaction to that country’s policies. If so, is someone going to bomb them for this?

I lived in France for a few months when I was working on my BA in French. It was a great country and I miss it to the point that I want to move back there after my stint in Taiwan is finished. The worst time of the whole time I was there, aside from some miscommunication with my host family was this crepe/gallette restaurant across the street from La Cimitiére de Père Lachaisse (sp?) where Jim Morrison is buried. They served me raw fish and I tried to ask them if they could cook it a little since I wasn’t aware that it would be raw and they gave me such a hard time about it, despite the fact that I spoke fluent French with a tourangelle accent at that point. I swore to them that I would give their restaurant a bad name at every chance I was given. This is would happen to be one of those chances.
Anyway, I had people carry my suitcases up three flights of stairs when the elevator was broken at the Les Pigalles Metro stop, people giving me directions and walking me part of the way to make sure I knew how to get where I wanted to go, conversations with random people on the subway and I got to watch a puppet show. Plus I found a great, clean hostel for only 100F a night. And that was just from my five days in Paris. I had incredible professors, wonderful host parents, and great times at night hanging out in the local cafes and pubs…my favorite drink being a pint of Stella Artois with grenadine and sugar, especially right after classes before going back to the suburbs for dinner. I love the food there, but when you need a French dictionary to translate what something means at a restaurant because they just can’t say what it is and give you no clues…such as raw salmon being “saumon à la Normandie”. How in the hell was I supposed to know that they eat their salmon raw in Normandy?

The French do bathe…probably more than some of the American students that I went with from my university. I have found more foul-smelling, unwashed Americans than I have French people. Even the shabbiest places are beautiful because of the architecture…if only the same thing could be said about…

Yeah.

I had a French girlfriend in London. Her rudeness was, well, appealing. Very sexy!

[quote=“ax”]They don’t shower? Perfume sells well in France so I heard.

ax[/quote]
Don’t be fooled by “French” perfume. Usually “Made in France” perfume means made in a “French territory” in a sweatshop, not in France proper.

Oh, ImaniOU, how can we ever take you seriously after this admission! :shock:

That’s maybe even worse than Taiwan’s beer and tomato juice and definitely worse than Rascal’s Diesel! :wink:

Who says that everyone hates the French?

The Brits do, on principle, because they’re not Brits - but those of us who have made the effort to venture across the water have generally been agreeably received. (And very well fed!)

The Kiwi’s tend to have strong opinions, with fair reason, but otherwise??

I see a lot of criticism of the French in the US press because the selfish bastards have this stupid policy of putting their own interests before everyone else’s, without taking the trouble to see their point of view. Obviously, from the point of view of a world power with a commitment to freedom and equality, this sort of behaviour is unacceptable. The right course of action is perfectly obvious and they can’t understand why it is not being followed. They know who is best qualified to lead the NATO armies, and who is best equipped to dictate policy, and if people are going to disagree then it’s only to result in a loss of respect and affection.

Ouch! Stella Artois… the Anheuser-Busch of Belgium :x

While you were in France, did you happen to try any of:

CH’TI (Brune or Blonde)
Jenlain (a biere de garde)
Trois Monts
Belzebuth (15% abv… an imitation of Duvel)

???

An opinion from an unbiased English guy.

  1. They are very big headed.
  2. They are too proud to accept help and believe their way is the best and only way.
  3. I agree with John, lack of gratitude and respect for saving their sorry asses in WW2.
  4. Other nations are under them, they look down to others as though their country outshines everyone elses on this planet.
  5. They do not shower often and use public footpaths as lavatories (And I don’t mean to shit).

I could go on but i need some food now, starving