TMZ, French Bashing & Censorship
News, Pop Culture - Twitter this! November 29th, 2008
Another Google Alert cropped up in our services, but this time it wasn’t another article about “Freedom Fries”, but – alas – “French Surrender”. As soon as we investigated the link, we discovered that the TMZ Staff from Glendale California thought it would be quite humorous to write some fluffy entertainment story about Britney Spears in France and bash the French at the same time.
The headline was vulgar and blunt: Brit Performs, French Surrender.
We immediately posted a note in their comment section which read as follows: “Very disappointed by TMZ’s French Bashing. By referring to the 1940 surrender to describe some pop culture news, TMZ is showing utter contempt and disdain for a people and their history. To the French, the 1940 surrender is as funny as 9/11 is to Americans. Please show some cultural understanding the next time you wish to write something about France or the French.” We added for good measure a quote by Edward C.Knox.
Within hours, our comment was removed. Was it the mention of 9/11? TMZ can dish it out certainly, but can they take it? It seems not. These cowardly writers believe they can vilify and trash the French anytime they want, but when faced with the ugliness of their words, they censor.
Source : TMZ.com
Act Now : Contact TMZ and let them know how you feel about French Bashing and the trivialization of our painful history and request an immediate retraction
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December 16th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
“France invaded Germany when?”
We invaded them back in Louis XIV’s time, the Germans surrendered in four weeks when Napoleon invaded them, and we also invaded Germany in WWI, and once during the interval between WWI and WWII when we occupied the Rhuhr region.
“we went and occupied several countries in the middle east for it. We hung Iraq’s dictator, killed his sons, permanently imprisoned those caught and tried and did so at the further expense of more than over 4,000 additional American lives.”
That’s called throwing punches in the dark.
4,000 American lives? That’s dandy. 100,000 Frenchmen DIED and another 200,000 were wounded during the six weeks of the Battle of France.
And also, what merit is there in invading such a weak and worthless country? The Iraqis didn’t even put up a fight! Hey, tell you what — if we Frenchmen were to invade Burkina Faso and kill a whole lot of people, would we be any better?!?
December 16th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
You forgot that France invaded Germany in 1945 as well. In fact, Leclerc’s troops (despite what they said in the TV series) were the first to reach Berchtesgaden. And then, we occupied the south of the country and north of Berlin for more than fifty years. I should know, my father was stationed in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden Oos, Rastatt and Berlin for a cumulative total of ten years, and myself, I did my military service in Trier.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:07 am
Re: “And also, what merit is there in invading such a weak and worthless country?”
Sadly, bullies find such ignoble actions meritorious.
As I’ve said in the other post, I don’t believe, but not at all, that It is a measure of courage or intelligence for a government and a people who have at their command an omnipotent military poke holes on every square foot of land in a third world country and cause devastation and misery to its already suffering population. However, I do believe it takes immense courage and great intelligence NOT TO DO something as odious and ignoble as that.
(And for that we are called cowards?)
December 18th, 2008 at 2:29 am
I support what has been said here: (my personal comments in italic)
[...] Just because the French military don’t go around rampaging like amoks when they are deployed like your friends are capable of doing or have done, i.e., incapable of identifying friends from foe, doesn’t mean that political will is lacking. [...]
It is extraordinary that because our government and our military (or the French in general) don’t behave like the Americans do as when they impress media with their so-called “bravoura”, they interpret our own ‘un-amok’ or non-boisterous way of behaving outside a theater of war as being surrender monkeys. Remember when Bush pompously claimed before the whole world aboard an A/C “mission accomplished?
— the French are fielded everywhere and anywhere they are needed. That’s political will. In Kosovo, who do you think provided the ground ops so your folks could come in and bomb and awe (yet Americans have been feted while the French took backstage)? The French! [...]
The French should perhaps stop remaining silently in the background when that happens and behave as pompously as their American colleagues???
[...] During the Russian Occupation of Afghanistan, while your American leader Bush was dealing with the Talebans, who was actually supporting, financing, providing training to the the Northern Alliance to battle their Russian occupiers? France! And that’s great political will. And who the frig did he turn to when he couldn’t attack both Iraqi and Afghan fronts knowing that if he did, he would fail? He begged NATO to take over and sought France’s help big time. France supported the request up to UN level (without France’s political will, it wouldn’t have been possible.) [...]
In Afghanistan today, French Air Force and US Air Force work side by side bombing and ‘aweing’ the enemy, yet it’s only the US Air Force that receives public commendation. It is unfortunate that the American public take our being discreet there as a sign of French cowardice. It shows the breadth and depth, or lack thereof, of the average American knowledge of current events.