Robert Chung wrote:
>
> Even if you said it right, I think it not exactly to the point since it doesn't address Abt's
> claim that you thought so unlikely. My own experience and observation is that I hear a lot of
> anti-American policy sentiment but I've never had any personal anti-American sentiment directed my
> way, and I live in what is supposedly anti-America ground zero. Well, I did get screamed at by my
> neighborhood drunk, but he yells at everyone. French anti-Americanism appears to focus on the
> government, not on individuals (as long as your name isn't Bush or Rumsfeld or a handful of
> others). I have no doubt that Bart was right when he said he saw some event where the American
> flag (or the American anthem??) was booed, but when Serena was getting booed last month at the
> French Open I don't think it had to do with her being American.
The subtext here that I find troubling (please tell me if you think I'm off-base) is that
anti-American feeling in France is exclusively political, while anti-French feeling in the U.S.
is largely not political, but ethnic, nationalist, and xenophobic. Of course, if you read my
first post, you will see that against expectations I was treated quite well in France; even my
vestigial French was tolerated, if with a bit of mutual frustration. I believe the majority of
people in the U.S. and France are very similar, with the virtues and flaws you might find in
any people. Certainly each country has its own history, its own skeletons in the closet.
Observing the migration of black artists and musicians in the first half of the 20th century to
Europe says much about the relative acceptance they found there as compared to at home. Just
last Wednesday the NY Times ran an article about an infantry company from Harlem that fought in
WWI in French uniforms and were fully accepted by the French. At the same time one could point
out the sorry history of French collaborationalism during the second world war. I might also
point out as you likely know that the TdF started to support and anti-Dreyfusard newspaper,
"L'Auto Velo" :
http://www.dailypeloton.com/spokesone.asp
While the U.S. has produced David Duke, France has produced Jean-Marie Le Pen and the National
Front. My point is that we can never acquiesce to bigotry whenever and wherever we find it. As a
Jew in Brooklyn, I have rarely (not never, but rarely) encountered overt anti-semitism here. I
certainly don't kid myself that it does not exist because I rarely experience it. I doubt that
either you, Robert, nor Mr. Abt should draw sweeping conclusions based upon your lack of
personal experience with bigotry.
Steve
--
Mark & Steven Bornfeld DDS Brooklyn, NY 718-258-5001
http://www.dentaltwins.com
