Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
I guess even France can do the right thing every once in a while! !

I don't stick up for France very often (even though I have family living there), but you gotta give credit where credit's due!
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top

I don't stick up for France very often (even though I have family living there), but you gotta give credit where credit's due!

I have family there as well (not immediate, my great grands came over), but they disgust me so much that at times you got to wonder.  However, they do get it right every now and then, as I said.  It was just kind of a shock to me!

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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
I have family there as well (not immediate, my great grands came over), but they disgust me so much that at times you got to wonder.

My family is a little more immediate. My sister married a Parisian. They had one child here in Canada, and one over there in Lyon, France. I see them every 12 to 24 months or so. We're pretty close, but I can definitely relate to the disgust part. I don't blame my sister and her husband too much when I hear them say some stupid things about America. After all, it is hard to keep an open mind when you live in a society where a lot of people hold a similar viewpoint and you don't hear a lot of good debate on the issues. I guess that I should be used to it myself, seeing that I live in Canada.

I do make sure that my viewpoints are pretty clear to them, and that not everyone thinks the same way as the French seem to.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
keeping an open mind is key. once youre certain your mind is open, then it's okay to open the mouth. i was in barcelona in '98. beautiful city, by the way. i was writing, and traveling by myself for the most part--except when i met fellow travelers at hostels heading my way. i wanted to visit lucerne, switzerland and i was traveling at the time with a young german woman and a man from the netherlands (his name was jasper, by the way. . .it may have been a cultural thing, but i gave him grief anyway). we were all headed in different directions but we all had to train through france. i suggested that it would be nice if we could somehow tunnel below france. these travelers had become my friends, and when you travel together in new places you have to develop trust. nevertheless, they instantly reverted to some pre-me view of americans and made a huge effort to defend the french.

of course i was joking. i have no love for french politics, but that sentiment goes for a lot of countries. through traveling, i have met and enjoyed the company of many people who have allegiances to places ive poked fun at. . .namely chicago. the open mind is key: i am not prejudiced against anyone--beyond the typical white-male subsconscious crap that i try to kill off bits at a time--and try to avoid labeling when i can. . .even chicago bear fans.

it's tough, though, when groups of people from one country seem to strive against groups from other countries. it''s easy to break out the labels.

good article.

tbt