In the U.S. Nowadays, Little Love for France

The US and France have a long history of harboring snide cultural stereotypes, one that scholars trace back as far as 1797. And neither country is averse to verbally bashing the other whenever the two disagree politically. Thus, the spate of anti-Semitic incidents and a rise of anti-Americanism in France as a result of the war in Afghanistan have conspired to re-ignite francophobia in the United States. In the political arena, on late-night TV, and particularly in the Jewish community, Americans are bringing back traditional stereotypes of the French. A skit on the popular late-night satire, "Saturday Night Live," said "The French: cowardly yet opinionated, arrogant yet foul-smelling. Anti-Israel, anti-American and, of course, as always, Jew-hating. With all that's going on in the world, isn't it time we got back to hating the French?" Ultimately, however, one scholar speculates that the explanation for France and America's love-hate relationship lies not in how different the two countries are, but in how similar. "Arrogance?" he said. "They are competing for the gold medal." – YaleGlobal