We hear about anti-Americanism all the time. Democrats think everybody loved us before George W. Bush got elected. I beg to differ--as a son of European immigrants fluent in German and French and have lived and worked in Europe, I think it would be fair to say that Europeans have a love/hate relationship with the U.S.

They hate McDonalds, but can't stop taking their kids there. Same with American movies, Disney, the U.S.A. itself. Every year Utah's national parks are filled with Europeans--who hate us.

But how do we feel about the French?

Up until WWII, the U.S. could have been described as a francophilic country. We emulated French fashion and cuisine and dropped French linquistic affectations. We were grateful for the blood and treasure the French spent to secure our Republic. The French collapse under Nazi assault and the subsequent collaboration didn't exactlu create anti-French feeling, but rather a serious decline in respect for the French national character. France's post-war economic decline has seen its cultural influence all but disappear from the American scene. While Julia Child renewed the popularity of French cuisine, Asian, Italian and American southwest cuisine has taken center stage. In many ways, the whole country has turned eastward for its cultural influences and while European influences haven't totally vacated the premises, they have been and continue to be in steep decline.

Its not so much that we are anti-French as we are bored of the French. French culture has been a museum piece, and its not a very well run museum at that. When nude sunbathing on the banks of the Seine (a rather quaint French custom for as long as I can recall...) is banned because it affects Muslim sensibilities, you know that the culture's best days are behind them.

The only time France arouses real feeling is when the French pull one of their predictable perfidies in the realm of foreign policy.

To find the last plain-speaking French leader, it is necessary to go back to Napoleon Bonaparte. He said he was going to take over Europe, and proceeded to do so. No, scratch that. He said he was going to bring French liberty and equality to Europe, then crowned himself emperor. Subsequent French history offers us a sordid string of third world colonizations followed by bloody wars to hang on long after the time to relinquish colonies had passed, setting the stage for corrupt government and prolonged conflict in places like Vietnam.

More recently, we’ve seen the naked hypocrisy of Dominic de Villepin in the United Nations, braying about his humanitarian concerns for the Iraqi people, while trying to ensure mass murderer Saddam Hussein remained in power to honor his French contracts.

The shamelessness of France knows no bounds. They have a domestic Arabic population and business interests in the Mideast to satisfy. They desperately want to be taken seriously as a major power. So they sat down with the United States and hammered out a peace plan. Then, before the ink was dry, they shrugged a Gallic shrug.

Its annoying, but you can't gin up a good hatred on the basis of such predictable posturing. In fact, I would hope that American foreign policy is constructed on the basis of, "the French will screw us, so lets build it into our strategies..." Unfortunately, I am not sure that occured this time around--an easy mistake to make I think because one would expect a chance for France to exercise "leadership" would be irresistable.

The lead up to the Iraq war saw perhaps this country's best shot at developing some real anti-Francism, but the boycott, as well intentioned as it might have been, was somewhat pointless after the realization that you'd be limited to boycotting Boursin and Motel 6.

So in the end, there isn't any meaningful anti-Francism in the U.S. because frankly, the French just aren't important enough to hate.

P.S. It struck me that I used the word "frankly" in connection with the French, which is somewhat ironic in this case. To be frank, refers to candid or outspoken speech. The etymology is directly connected to the Franks (French) who were as conquerers, free men, and given to speaking their minds without fear of retribution. Thus the Franks were associated with honest and sincere speech and to speak frankly, was to speak as a free man.

Perhaps we can invent a new adjective--frenchly: To mean not a word being spoken.