Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Anti-French Sentiments

One of the best examples I can think of about how media guides thinking on a grand scale is the anti-French sentiment felt in the mid 2000s. After France announced their decision to not back America in its crusade into Iraq, the backlash was incredible. Starting with the House cafeterias french fries and french toast were renamed to "freedom" fries and "freedom" toast and the trend quickly spread across the country. French wine was dumped into bodies of water and perhaps one of the strangest attempts was a petition to send the Statue of Liberty back.

The media caught wind this story and almost seemed to drive it into the ground. Many different stereotypes about the French people running away from fights and not standing their ground started to circulate. The media framed this as America taking a stand for what it believes in and accused France of wavering. While there was a firestorm in America of anti-French sentiment, there is evidence from media in other countries that they still supported France's stance. Even today after the war in Iraq has been raging for so long and the French look like they had the right idea, there is still an underlying cowardly Frenchman stereotype that surfaces every now and then.

Some example articles:

CNN about the House's name changes
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/11/sprj.irq.fries/index.html

Article about protesters
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/08/1046826560311.html

Petition to send Lady Liberty back
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/iraq/2045074/detail.html

BBC New's report on the situation
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2848979.stm

-Brittany Thomas

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