Having spent a fair amount of time in France and nearby French
Switzerland, a couple of decades ago, I always considered it axiomatic
that not even the French like the French. I, on the other hand, tended
to like them very much, once they were properly insulted about some
key element of their inflated national pride. They were kind of like
New Yorkers that way - a good insult is considered almost an art form.

I would have to observe, however, that there has never been a more
ripe time than the present to insult the French.

Mike E.

>
> Is this what I cannot afford? Keeping up on current events is a PIA.
A
> nasty confluence of religion, politics and heritage preservation.
Does
> Bobby Collin's dog ever vomit?
>
>
>
http://argument.independent.co.uk/regular_columnists/bruce_anderson/sto
ry.jsp?story=294436
>
>
>
>
> "I tried to persuade my friends that mainland Europeans are not all
> anti-Semites, even in France. I pointed out that though Jean-Marie Le
> Pen was a nasty piece of work, he had felt it necessary to suppress
his
> anti-Semitism in order to increase his vote. I said that many
Frenchmen
> had voted for him solely in order to stick a pin in the backside of
the
> French political elite, and that if I had been French, I might have
been
> tempted to do the same in the second round. I also assured the
Americans
> that far more Le Pen voters were anti-Muslim than anti-Jewish, and
that
> the desecrations of French Jewish property were almost all work of
> Muslim immigrants, not of aboriginal Frenchmen. In some parts of
France,
> mini-intifadas were taking place.
>
> But it was hard to elicit a good word for the French. When someone
said
> that France was the fourth member of the axis of evil, the hall was
> convulsed with laughter by a rapid heckle: "Why as low as fourth?" My
> friends, who are neither untypical or uninfluential, are convinced
that
> all over Western Europe and especially in France, the dogs are
returning
> to their vomit.
>
> This view is having an effect on American foreign policy. The
accusation
> that the French are sympathetic to anti-Israeli terrorists because
they
> are anti-Semitic is receiving a surprising amount of credence, and is
> reinforcing anti-EU instincts." Bruce Anderson
>
>
>

Edison Coatings, Inc.
M. P. Edison
President
3 Northwest Drive
Plainville, CT 06062  USA
Phone: (860)747-2220
Fax: (860)747-2280
email: [log in to unmask]
Internet: www.edisoncoatings.com

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>