Oh, I love France! I just don't like the French.The longer I'm here the more puzzling I find that view. On the surface, it's illogical - France is the French. Everything about this culture is just a manifestation of the French people. France isn't Epcot Center - if you love France you love the French!
But I think underneath that view you find the stereotypical biases against the French - rudeness, aloofness, etc. But I'm here to tell you, based on my 11 weeks of living here, that the stereotypical anglo view of the French is just a strawman. There is definitely a unique culture and deep pride and a strong value on independence. But the negative stereotypical traits are no more prevalent here than in any developed country.
6 comments:
Aa, I like to kid around, but generalizations in general are a foolish and sometimes dangerous thing.
Saying the French are like XXXX is like saying all Americans are like YYYY -- our current election cycle proves that wrong.
There are great people and there are buttfaces in all societies -- they key is to seek out the former and avoid the latter.
Is it kind-of like, "I love Christ but I don't like Christians"? (Or is that the exception that proves the rule?)
Or to quote Linus from the comic strip Peanuts: I love mankind -- it's people I can't stand.
SB (Scott? right?)... my thoughts exactly.
Christianity IS Christians? Regardless of whether Christ SHOULD be Christianity, each of our experiences of Christ is often through Christ in eachother (that is, just who we get in our own various communities). So it's one or the other. Like it or not? And yet, the gray area is so pervasive...
And C-Bob, I totally agree... from the Loire Valley to Versailles to Bastille Day to Metro stink, when you enjoy France, you enjoy the French.
And (in the case of the Metro), when you smell France, you smell the French.
as someone else who lives in france, and has smelled the metro, i now have a whole new appreciation for that! omg, have you been on those trains in summer? so we've been here, what 11 weeks now? well, the first 9 1/2 to 10 i spent SWEATING! first there's the walking, the walking in the heat, then the waiting for the train in the airless underground stations, then the trains themselves!--do you know how hot those things are? no wonder france smells!
I didn't have any problem with the French when I was there. Well, except for the really strange hairy, gold chained gentleman in the Metro who kept posing at us and giving us the eye. I think it's a stereotype by people who have never left the country.
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