O'Reilly Vs. Jon Stewart

[Marla_Singer]

I read the whole French discussion between Marla and her critics and I have to say that Marla is in the main the winner of that debate

You had to post this at the same minute I was posting that we should get over it.

I don't believe anyone has won. As I've said in the post above, Masquerouge does make a point. And I think his position is the best, which is about getting over it.

The reason why only Europe is made fun of is because it's not politically correct to say make fun of China or Nigeria. If it were, there would be plenty of jokes about African and Asian nations just as there are about European ones. The reason why the UK is not made fun of is because Americans kind of identify themselves with the UK ... after all the UK was once the "mother" country. UK has been a historical ally (Thatcher and now Blair -- actually forever since the first conflict).

When you make a joke about French people think to yourself "Would this be OK if I said this about Nigerian people or Chinese people?" And if the answer is no (like it clearly would be IMHO in the case of the "scum" joke), then don't make it. If comparing Nigerians to scum or Chinese to scum is wrong, then comparing Frenchmen to scum should be just as (if not more) wrong.

Actually, I think the reason why it's so easy to make fun about the French in the United States is simply that there's not a big community from French origins in the U.S.

It's harder to make fun of Italians, Germans or Poles because you know the families of many Americans come from those countries. If you laugh about Irish people, black people or latinos, you know you'll hear people answering at you because those communities are present in the United States and are organized to reply to such attacks. This is not the case for French people, that makes of French people an easier target.

But anyway, that's really not that bad.

 

[wit>trope]

I think you are right. I'd say that if the group is non-European, you can't joke about it and if the grouop is European you can joke about it only if there is not a sizeable community of that nation in America (like the examples you mentioned)

Some French-descended Americans do btw take offense at these kinds of jokes. I've seen it happen.

I wonder if actually some Americans make fun of France due to some inferiority complex .... could be true.

 

[Masquerouge]

I admit the Subway ad is pretty much devastating I was IMing an US friend during the debate, telling him that I was defending the US on that debate, and he told me it should be easy, then I sent him the Subway ad, and he went "uh oh"

My conclusion is that French are the Belgians of the US. Because we too like to poke fun at Belgium. But do we despise them ?