I am so sick of the right wingers using France as an all-purpose “enemy.” France was perhaps the most important single reason that this country was successfully founded and defended, but to the Republicans, it’s an easy target. And by connecting France to anything else, they tag the connection as unpatriotic.
In that Republican way, they’ve successfully gotten all their followers to go along with their new vocabulary, they’ve trained their fellow travelers in the art of slipping in subtle attacks, keywords that communicate… well, something. Take, for example, this letter to the editor in today’s Washington Post:
The Aug. 26 Style article “Changing Our Tune,” about Peter Breiner’s “genteel, romanticized orchestration” of “The Star-Spangled Banner” for the 2004 Olympics, was a new low from the supercilious snobs of your newspaper. I hope that most Americans still consider the national anthem to be heroic. Thankfully New York Times writer Maureen Dowd didn’t compose the anthem, with her love for “peaceful, soothing strings.” I’m sure this article was a real keeper for the French.
— Anthony Neglia
Frederick
You know, I think with the increasing xenophobic attitudes, snobbery, and claims to genetic, cultural, and moral superiority, the right is getting far more “French” than the Democrats ever were. 😀