The French are all right

I'm about to say something shocking. Ready? OK, here goes:\nThe French are all right.\nNo -- really! \nI bring this up because Reuters reported Friday that polls show American-French relations to be at their lowest ebb in 17 years. According to a survey of 1,000 respondents in each country, only 31 percent of the French said they felt any sympathy for Americans, while only 35 percent of Americans claimed to like the French. Regarding French sympathy toward Americans, this was an eight-point drop since 2002, while American affection for the French saw a whopping 15-point drop (Reuters, June 17). I'd write "sacre bleu!" if it weren't such an awful cliché. \nOh wait, just did. Sorry.\nNow, there are people on this campus far more qualified than myself to tell you about the wonders of French society. We have whole departments dedicated to such things. Still, I believe it's critical that I speak up because I'm -- well -- critical of said wonders. \nFor example, I think France's cradle-to-grave welfare state is an unmitigated disaster hurting the country's economy while threatening its democracy. Much of France's political elite, in corruption and arrogance, is like a nightmare following an Oliver Stone movie marathon. French President Jacques Chirac seems the living answer to an alternative-history question: What if LBJ or Nixon never left office? And the French government's position on Iraq was dead wrong -- influenced by dangerously myopic views regarding international politics (that dictators can be appeased without threat of force, that anti-Americanism would enhance France's influence) combined with the Saddam regime's possible bribery of officials such as former Interior Minister Charles Pasqua (Washington Post, May 12). In short, when I suggest the French are all right, it's not out of political sympathies. Although I concede that they have better bread and cheese.\nNevertheless, the French are getting an undeserved bad rap in this country -- and not merely from the right. We still sneer at them for surrendering to the Germans 65 years ago (!) -- unlike the Germans and Japanese, who we, you know, fought. \nHowever, here's the real kicker: I know it's anecdotal, but the fact is that the times I've been in la Republique, people have been, honest-to-God, nice to me. And I had a good time. And no one spit in my coffee (as far as I know). And I've talked to other Americans who were very surprised to have the same experience. \nI suspect the problem is that modern technology has improved communication greatly, but not enough to promote understanding. Snippy op-eds or interviews travel across the Atlantic with great speed but no context. The language barrier stands in the way. Result: translation serves as a filter -- one exploited for political gain by weasely opportunists like Chirac or Congressman Walter "freedom fries" Jones (BBC.com, June 13). Scapegoating is a very old trick.\nSo take the first step -- have some French wine tonight. You can say it's for the sake of diplomatic goodwill.