Miquelon.org – The Fighting French

Update for Miquelon.org readers: we’re looking into ways to broadcast the event tomorrow night via a private page. I’ll update you in the next 24 hours.

**SNEAK PREVIEW** Educating Jay
Special Invite Closed Screening
Co-written and directed by Shannonn Kelly.
Music by Paul Stirling Taylor

Marc Cormier, the “Michael Moore” of French expatriates in North America would like to invite you to a sneak preview of “Educating Jay”. One French-bashing late night TV talk show host vs. One French columnist dedicated to exposing French-Bashing and Anti-French activity in  America. To paraphrase Howard Beale, he’s as mad as hell, and he’s not  going to take this anymore! Marc Cormier, media  watchdog ‘rottweiler at large’ travels on a 44 day road trip in one of  the hottest summers on record to confront Tonight Show host, Jay Leno  about his incessant French Bashing on late-night TV.  One  province, 13 states and 27 cities later he arrives on the doorstep of  NBC Studios to teach Jay Leno a history lesson. Will Jay get an “A” or  totally flunk out…?

• When : 9:15 PM – TUESDAY June 21
• Where : Theater 222, Innis College 2 Sussex Avenue, Toronto, U of T campus.
• Why : Because French People are Awesome!
• ReelHeART 2.011: www.reelheart.org

Miquelon.org is a watchdog group dedicated to documenting French-Bashing and Anti-French activity and monitoring the news and entertainment media. Miquelon.org has been featured or mentioned in many media outlets : Financial Times, AFP (Agence France Presse), Libération, TF1, KTTM Radio, Fox News Radio with Alan Colmes, Der Spiegel, and the Utne Web Watch.

Marc Albert Cormier

According to French politician Jack Lang, and some journalists, the fact judge Melissa Jackson refused to grant bail to Dominique Strauss Kahn is proof anti-French sentiment was part of her decision. From a purely legal standpoint, her decision is understandable: the accused is a flight risk, he was taken off a plane.

What’s really interesting to us, at Miquelon.org, is that after 8 years of no support from the French political establishment, French Bashing is now a convenient card to play when it suits someone’s political agenda. How convenient …

So far, we have seen little or no French Bashing save a few lousy headlines in faux-French over the DSK Affaire. Most attacks have been aimed squarely on DSK’s personality, his status and his lifestyle. Just like in France.

If anti-French sentiment is expressed in this case, we’ll be the first to denounce it. In the meanwhile, Jack Lang might want to keep his opinions on the matter of French Bashing to himself.

• Source : LePost.fr

It’s been close to eight years now since Miquelon.org first appeared on the web with a clear mission: to be a Watchdog dedicated to documenting anti-French attitudes and commentary in the world of politics, media and entertainment.

I enjoyed this endeavor, I was proud to do the work so many others recoiled from and appreciated the support from the many thousands who donated, wrote in with leads or confided their personal stories stemming from the stupidity of base French-Bashing.

But something lately has not been quite right.

Last year, many French citizens discovered they had become second class citizens. Having a foreign born parent, like myself, meant they could not renew passports or identity documents without proving their foreign born parents had indeed become full fledged French Citizens. At the time, like many others, I alerted my elected officials. The issue seemed to be resolved despite the decree, written by then Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkzoy, still being on the books.

This week, state affairs have taken on a new twist.

French member of parliament, Claude Goasguen, put forth a proposition that would curb the number of dual citizens by stripping them of political rights and keeping a special register of said dual nationals. Being a Citizen of France through my father and a Citizen of Canada by maternal lineage, here I am today, lumped into a new class of sub-citizens of the French Republic.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yes. It’s back. Nothing like during the Iraq war of course, but proof none the less that anti-French prejudice is alive and well in American Pop Culture. A few minutes on twitter suffice…

Here are a few articles and comments worthy of note.

• Du «french bashing» en Amérique – Petite poussée anti-française avec l’intervention «alliée» en Libye, mais bien moindre que lors de la guerre d’Irak. By Antoine Bourguilleau – The article’s approach is interesting but misses a lot of what we’ve uncovered over the near decade of existence. See my response below to Bourguilleau.
• “‘[...] Only Obama could make France look good” – David Letterman
• The French: ‘Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys’ No More?

“More troubling, the French and Germans were, intentionally or not, giving Saddam’s regime the impression that they could stop a military confrontation (…) By giving Saddam a false sense of security, and thereby reducing the incentive for him to comply with the UN’s demands, the French and Germans undoubtedly made a war more likely, not less. (…) In any event, the phrase ‘old Europe’ entered the vernacular. The segments of Americans that preferred calling french fries ‘freedom fries’ loved it (…) The elites in Paris and Bonn who thought themselves the guardians of a sophisticated, new world order did not. All in all I was amused by the ruckus.” – Donald Rumsfeld, Known and Unknown,

It’s now January 2011. What has happened to the most notorious of French Bashers since the heyday of 2003-2007?

Glenn Beck is known for having openly stated his hatred for the French. This was before his more notorious bat shit crazy stunts and his subsequent demise. Where is Beck today: fewer markets, almost no advertisers and the focus of endless petitions and protests.

Jay Leno is hardly even worth mentioning anymore. His name has become synonymous with backstabbing, low ratings and just bad comedy. Howard Stern, the granddaddy of French Bashing, has also turned on Leno: “He’s not fit to scrub David Letterman’s feet”

Dennis Miller still appears on Bill O’Reilly’s broadcast. The two notorious French Bashers rarely if ever mention France or the French anymore.

George W Bush is still considered politically radioactive by members of his own party and virtually irrelevant by most. Although his image has gradually improved since he left office, his presidency is still regarded as one of the worst in modern history. Bush is now reduced to taking swings at his former press secretary, Scott McClellan…

Condoleezza Rice still doesn’t regret the Iraq war but admits “the mistake…was to put a spotlight simply on the weapons of mass destruction”. Still no apology for her comments about “punishing France”.

Donald Rumsfeld wrote his memoirs and will be touring in early February. He probably won’t be touring outside of the United States…

• Still active in politics are:
  • Former representative Roy Blunt is now a Senator.
  • Jack Kingston is still a very active member of congress.
  • Peter T. King is currently serving in the House, reprensenting New York’s 3^rd district.
  • Walter Jones has since expressed regret for the “freedom fries” incident, and has become a vocal anti-war Republican.
• No longer in office:
  • Virginia “Ginny” Brown-Waite, retired from politics for health reasons.
  • Tom DeLay was sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted on money laundering and conspiracy charges.
  • Dennis Hastert left politics and resigned his seat in November 2007.
  • Bob Ney resigned after he pled guilty to charges of conspiracy and making false statements in relation to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal.
  • Jim Saxton left politics in 2009.