Odd, our common bond is our hatred for one another.. happy holidays.

"Hatred is taught or at the very least, an acquired taste. What makes it so frightening is that people come to believe it without anything to prove it.

I am a francophile! Smooch! And my favorite historical personages are the Comtesse de Boigne and Engeurrand D'Coucy. I also appreciate Brunhilde and Fredegunda, though I probably woulnd't really have "liked" them (or survived them...) Have a cookie O. I'll make tea.

Paris - they do have some bad food. I may be a catamitebastard, but I do not wanted any spotted dick.

Amazing, isn't it?

Stellaa's got it right. We do what is within our grasp to do--one on one, person to person.

How can anybody hate the country that gave us brie, escargot, the baguette, and the phrase "joie de vivre"!?

And champagne! And the existentialism to enjoy the champagne!

Paris - it's the suet to which I'm opposed...

(Actually, I'll hold that a-hole Derrida against you for a few minutes, but after that I'll get over it.)

Champagne, indeed!

And Victor Hugo, and Gustave Flaubert! Marcel Marceau, and Julia Child! Oh, wait a moment...

Yes, I will never eat my friend, Flicka.

don't hate the haters; hate the hate. i think. probably.

Vive le Difference!

Calvados, Ricard, Dubonnet ( a Christmas tradition in my family), Croissant, Éclair, Madeleine, Coq au vin, Pot au feu, Bouillabaisse, Mousse au chocolat, Crème Brûlée, Profiteroles, etc., etc.

Not to mention my ancestors , originally from the parish of Saint Pierre in the town of Montidier, bishop's residence of Beauvais, in France.

(I told you NOT TO MENTION my ancestors!)

I don't think people hate Australians - just condescend to us. We're like the silly clueless younger brother to the rest of the world from what I've read.

Ah, stereotypes everywhere. Once I was traveling in Greece and was in a little mountain village up in the north. It was around 6:00pm and the entire little twon was suddenly deserted. We walked along the main street and passed a bar and inside was practically the whole town. They were watching the only TV set in town, and it was showing a rerun of "Dallas." That's America to them. Go figure.
Rated

M. Chariot makes a point of hating the Haters - with a life-consuming passion!

Nothing wrong with the French. I like 'em. Now the Dutch...there's a bunch I can really hate. Goddam Dutch Elm disease is playing havoc with our American Elms.

Oughta attack and wipe those bastards out.

My opinion of Parisians, based on ten days in some arrondissement or the other, in 1995, is that they are polite, friendly, humorous, tolerant of people who don't speak French; and adoring and approving of couples who walk hand in hand or make out in the shadow of their Eiffel Tower.

The food was expensive, which we thought might be the reason that the French were also good-looking and elegantly thin -- maybe they could only just about afford their own food.

I guess I liked them, huh?

Mmm...brown sauces that take roasted bones and three days to make.

Don't be too depressed...mammals are hardwired to be xenophobic. Brotherly love is the product of consciousness and enlightenment.

In the case of the English, apart from the element of basic Bulldog stupidity, they're still terrified of Napoleon, Mme Defarge and the Hunchback of Notre Dame, all of whom signify the lower classes getting out of hand. During and after the Revolutionary Wars the British shivered in their shoes; after all, they had themselves and for their own purposes already cut off the head of the husband of the sister of Louis XIV. It was a shame, perhaps, that Napoleon hadn't managed his planned invasion, it might have taught them something .....

No culture has a monopoly on xenophobia. One of the things I like about the French in general is their perceived haughtiness... the fact that they're secure enough in their identity that if you have a problem with them it's YOUR problem, not theirs. Of course it's a fine line between self-esteem and hubris, and I believe every culture has much to be ashamed - or at least embarrassed about.
It seems to be another thing we all have in common... we'd prefer to dump scorn on others rather than acknowledge and try to address our own shortcomings.
...something tells me that this is behind most of the annals of human history :P

stellaa - do the brits still have that lousy food, are the dutch still dull (but nice), have the fins decided to smile yet, are the americans still using plastic shopping bags, the isrealis still impolite?

we hate each other because we got to know each other. damn. being unfathomable had its charms.

Honestly most Brits don't have real hate for anyone. At least it does not show in the recent figures. We are a lot more civilized in our soccer. We don't even have fences anymore since people were crushed. And we all sit to watch it. I have been in Crete where the Greek fans are half way up the 12 foot fence at every decision against them.
The first time I was in France in the sixties as a soldier on ans assignment to SHAPE headquarters I rmember not finding a single person who would admit to speaking English. I had a great time on the Moulin Rouge though. As my signals failed on my Mercedes Staff Car I was astonished when a gendarme told me with baton and whistle that I could not got to my right where I wished to but needed to go straight as 'directed'. He tapped my right headlamp to let me know what the result of not 'complying' would be. Us Brits do not 'comply'. Terriers by nature. thats why we stood up for Poland. No one else in Europe was going to. That same 'terrier' nature dealt with the 'Argies'. But we don't hate them either. And that despite the fact that their ace soccer player cheated us out of a second world cup with his 'hand of God'. Incredible how a whole stadium of people don't notice a hand above the head touched the ball into the net?

BritPatJax (A Brit in Jacksonville Fl.)

Honestly most Brits don't have real hate for anyone. At least it does not show in the recent figures. We are a lot more civilized in our soccer. We don't even have fences anymore since people were crushed. And we all sit to watch it. I have been in Crete where the Greek fans are half way up the 12-foot fence at every decision against them. We face banishment of our beloved sport so are reasonably controlled these days.

The first time I was in France in the sixties as a soldier on an assignment to SHAPE headquarters I remember not finding a single person who would admit to speaking English.(We moved the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe to Belgium after that. Perhaps we should move the UN to a more diversely minded country?) I had a great time on the Moulin Rouge though. As my signals failed on my Mercedes Staff Car I was astonished when a gendarme told me with baton and whistle that I could not got to my right where I wished to but needed to go straight as 'directed'. He tapped my right headlamp to let me know what the result of not 'complying' would be. Us Brits do not 'comply'. Terriers by nature. That’s why we stood up for Poland. No one else in Europe was going to. That same 'terrier' nature dealt with the 'Argies'. But we don't hate them either. And that despite the fact that their ace soccer player cheated us out of a second world cup with his 'hand of God'. Incredible how a whole stadium of people don't notice a hand above the head touched the ball into the net?

We hate that the French are good at rugby. And the Aussies. We hate the brutality of the French and German police when our 'boys' use charm and grace to defuse and are brave going in with out guns or batons drawn. A soccer tournament in France or Germany invariable means broken English bones in the newspaper photographs.
I have been interested in how the Americans hate the French though and have not been in support. Both the French and the Germans have good reason to be reticent about going to war and they were proved right over Iraq. There are still bone headed ‘righties’ though that still wants to make issue. I meet them at events and they automatically expect me to side with their narrow mindedness. I see that same mindset in how they look at a black woman who might have struggled to be as proud as ‘Hannity’ is about her country and its treatment of her people. That narrow mindedness exists in many areas here in America just as it does in many narrow minds in the UK. I just don’t want to be aligned with either branch. Another thing that strikes me about the US mentality is that over time you guys have not built up a huge ‘following’ and here you are deriding the one nation that supported you and gifted you the statue of liberty. Now I don’t know about you but myself I never ever bothered to gift anyone ‘twice’ who had no sense of ‘gratitude’. The way I see this US derision of France is that it reminds me of the infantile behavior of a Jewish Londoner I knew whilst based in Bielefeld Germany in the sixties. He was going on leave (furlough?) and he took the time to brag to me as his senior rank, only just, that he would be taking part of his leave to do some ‘blackbashing’. He lived in Brixton London which used to be the ‘pits’ and that would be how he would spend his precious leave? He did not get my support then when I was young. I had had a brave moment in basic training and had talked a drunken Scot out of harming an African recruit called ‘rudolf’ just by talking and not confronting whilst about 100 fellows in the long barrack pretended to be asleep. They frequently urinated on Rudolfs bed to his financial detriment. The Scot went and fought in another barrack a like-minded drunk. Rudolf was not even aware.

I could not understand how one persecute people would take the time to persecute another people? Maybe we do it to deflect and to dissolve any ill feeling we anticipate might be directed at ‘us’? I happen to think that the schoolyard bully has the same mindset and it happens on a national scale. A nation that exhorts greed will exhort it however achieved. Watch ‘wonderful life’ again? There are too many today who would admire the property owner for what he had however he got it. They would have no time for the ‘unfortunate’. One of the comments mentioned ‘Napoleon’. Get out of here. Americans ought to mind Marie Antoinette though. Don’t go telling too many Hispanics and African American to ‘go eat cake’? I have a feeling that soon a Hannity follower will be like a Rev Sharpe follower. You wont get voted ‘dogcatcher’. Get used to it. What goes around comes around.

France is a lovely country, and the French are great, I think. I'm a little envious of (let me make a massive generalization) of the French woman's sense of style, which I perceive often has something to do with scarf placement and good shoes. I know I'll never have it. I also am absolutely sure their health system is extraordinary and wonderful. I covet it.

Paris though, yikes, too expensive these days!! eek.

Vive la France!

I need to out-snob Verbal Remedy.
I have 3lbs of Roquefort.
2 & 1/2 lbs are in my freezer while 1/2lb is in the food section of my fridge.
I have loved it since I was a little kid and see salad without Roquefort as bland rabbit food.
I will enjoy a salad with it this evening.
At least Roquefort allows us veterans to experience one positive thing about France rather than being ass savers for them.lol

In the words of the great Herman Edwards: "We can build on this!!!"

It is an easy thing to hate people in groups, much harder to hate in person. Hoepfully, we will benefit from the goodwill towards Obama now.

Ah, the reason the English hate the French is because the French owned England, once upon a time, and had to learn the language (half the English language is French in origin) but the truth is the English have an island mentality and are suspicious of everyone on the Continent. I lived in London for 6 months and came to the conclusion that Londoners who are English are the most unhappy people there are. The only friends I kept from my stay there are from other countries.

They're rioting in Africa; they're starving in Spain;
There's hurricanes in Florida, and Texas needs rain.
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls:
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles;
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch,
And I don't like anybody very much.....

And it ended:

They're rioting in Africa; there's strife in Iran.
What nature doesn't do to us, will be done by our fellow man
from the Smothers Brothers

Tom Lehrer (the parody singer/songwriter) said it best. See him here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIlJ8ZCs4jY
A gentle parody of all of our prejudices.

I googled "hate Canada". The only results I got were rants telling a group of seven wives of jihadi terrorists who had expressed a hatred of Canada to go back where they came from. So Apparently we don't all hate Canadians. Americans blame Canadians a lot (listen to Robin Williams' song - "Blame Canada!"), but they don't actually hate us. It's hard to hate hobbits because they were too busy making ale and smoking Longbottom Leaf to notice when a couple of Nazgul crept across the Shire's borders into The US Imladris.