Have the French gotten a bum rap as America haters and appeasers? A new poll offers some evidence they may have. Ha'aretz reports a poll by five French newspapers asked Frenchmen which country is the biggest threat to world peace. America placed only fourth, while Iraq was the top choice. So far, so good, though Israel was No. 2. (No. 3 was Afghanistan.)
The International Herald Tribune http://www.iht.com/articles/73170.html reports on two new best-selling books that "are confronting the French with the proposition that their anti-Americanism is a self-inflicted national illness":
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For one of the authors, the anti-Americanism of the French is a willful delusion, an attempt by a dominant political and intellectual caste to mask its own failures and insignificance.
For the other, French anti-Americanism is a centuries-old tradition--a layered accumulation of condescension and fear, vastly more significant than the French gift of a Statue of Liberty to the United States or the assistance of a Marquis de Lafayette--and a rare terrain in French national life where conflicting political and intellectual forces can find common ground.
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"We keep creating a mythological America in order to avoid asking ourselves questions about our real problems," the IHT quotes one of the authors, Philippe Rogers, as saying. "And they're problems that the Americans don't have much to do with."
(Wed Oct 9, 2002 - 4:31:13 pm)
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"In the days of slavery, there were those slaves who lived on the plantation and were those slaves that lived in the house. You got the privilege of living in the house if you served the master . . . exactly the way the master intended to have you serve him. Colin Powell's committed to come into the house of the master. When Colin Powell dares to suggest something other than what the master wants to hear, he will be turned back out to pasture."
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Now, what does Colin Powell have in common with a slave? Let's see, slaves were the property of their masters, while Powell is a free man. Slaves were not compensated for their labor, while Powell is paid $166,700 a year. Slaves were utterly powerless, while Powell is one of the most influential men in America. True, Powell serves at the pleasure of President Bush and is obliged to follow the president's agenda, but that's been true of every cabinet member in America.
(Wed Oct 9, 2002 - 4:36:40 pm)
