"Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys"
The running game I have going is to try and guess the obscure pop-culture reference of the above title which I will reveal in the next entry. The title of the last entry ("But I am a girlie!") actually shouldn't count in this little game as only a small number people were actually there at the time to hear it. In the last couple entries I attempted to summarize my beta test experiences with this online RPG called Neocron and my rag-tag (whatever that means) group of players I played with. Only one of the 5 to 25 members depending on when you're talking about and who you're talking to was actually a girl (the running the joke being she was the only real girl in the whole game at the time). Perminator, as she is known in the game, was heard to have said this in reference to some various suggestions about a naming convention for our clan, KIR. Someone responded to a suggestion, calling it "too girlie" to which "Permicans" as the popular vernacular goes responded with this famous line. And with this way-to-verbose explanation out of the way...
I'd like to take a moment to talk about the French
Let me first say this entry will not be pretty, so prepare to excuse my French (that's your subtle clue to not read further if you're not into vulgarity or harbor any sympathy towards the French).
I just don't get the French. Or a larger part of the world for that matter. But especially the French. Wasn't the French president one of the first ones to say "today we are all Americans" right after September 11th? What was that just bullshit? Apparently. So here we are 18 months later and they want to not only not let the Americans take down Suddam who was apparently a threat to us but they actually go out of their way to block the efforts? What the fuck, may I say? So let me get this straight. The French in a matter of speaking and/or in a round-about-way say "Americans: eat shit and die" and then wonder why we seem so suddenly hostile. Is that about the gist of the situation here?
Now lemme just say I realize the weren't always so bad. The French have been helping America for many centuries now. I mean not to get off on a tangent here or anything but social studies was one of my strongest subject in school and I seem to retain history rather well for some reason. The French helped in both revolutionary war and the American civil war. Not to mention the Statue of Liberty. Alright, I get that. And besides all that there was at least one really great famous economist that came of France before it became today's socialist utopia (I'm also somewhat interested in economics but that will have to be saved for another blog entry). And I realize probably not all French people are bad. But right now the French would be rather low on a list labeled "friends" in between the proctologist with cold hands and the English teacher that talks like Ozzy Osborn (don't ask).
But what I still can't figure out is why they're surprised us Americans are responding the way we are to them after the indirect "eat shit and die" line. Would not a hostile reaction be expected from the recipient of such a line? Would the French respond positively to "eat shit and die"? It's not like I would expect them to whole-heartedly endorse the war in Iraq but could they at least step aside and shut-the-fuck-up a month or two? I guess that would be too much to ask.
Of course I may be going to easy on these French. Everybody's favorite Dennis Miller told them (paraphrasing to my memory as best I can) "fire up the dingy, because you are dead to me". I gathered he was feeling rather hostile towards them also.
Of course I'm not feeling too fond of Germany, Russia or the rest of Europe either right now. What was all that stuff about being behind us and offering support after September the 11th? Was all that bullshit?! Did any of them actually mean a word of it? Will I never be able to trust a word out of any of their mouths ever again? And now after the war these countries want a piece of it all? Does the phrase "got to hell" mean anything to these people I wonder...
I would also like to mention Canada. Aren't they supposed to be friends of ours? What's with the hostility? If you're only going to pretend to sympathetic towards a friend and long time ally after a traumatic terrorist attack then don't bother acting friendly at all. I am of course referring to a wide range of action or inaction on the part of the Canadian government and populace including an extremely loose policy concerning immigration from hostile countries, not kicking out diplomats from Iraq despite obvious evidence these diplomats could be operatives only there to stir-up decent and gather intelligence, and of course the audience of a sports event booing during the American national anthem. I mean talk about a kick to the groin. Holey crap. So apparently this is how it will go for the ultimate irony. I mean come on folks. If you didn't mean any of that nice shit to begin with don't bother with it at all.
At this point I would like to say some nice things about a few other countries. I would like to express my gratitude towards the UK who, albeit seemingly kicking and screaming, did join the US in liberating Iraq. The populace seemed none-to-pleased about it at the time but now seems a little more warmed up to the idea now that it's over.
I would also like to thank Australia. Now this is in my opinion is a very classy country. Without much coaxing the Australians were whole-heartedly behind us Americans the whole way through. It is so nice to have at least one friend in the world who seems to genuinely have our backs even when doing so seems so lacking in popularity. If I were in charge there would be some sort of Day of Australian Recognition as an observed holiday. This is truly one of our friends.
Some times I start to think about things perhaps no sane 24 year old should be thinking about. For example this animosity towards French people. I was just thinking about some World War II veterans who still hold hostility towards Japanese or German people more than 50 or 60 years after the fact. And so I wonder will my generation remember things like this well into our senior years and long after the respective countries relationships have shifted one way or another? And what September 11th? Anyone having a child today will go quite far out of their way to explain this event to the child, but at what point will the message start to be lost on the next generation? Will a child born today really comprehend this event as a 20 year old? Of course a lot of today's 20 year olds don't seem to comprehend it so I would guess not. The same sort of thing happened after World War II and Vietnam as far as passing the lessons learned on to the next generation. My father was that age of the Vietnam vets but didn't go. And he lived through how the populace treated the vets upon returning home from the war. So consequently he has instilled very well in his children how much respect should be exhibited towards Vietnam vets. And yet not everyone my age has learned such a lesson. What will happen to the next generation. Will they learn any of the lessons of September 11th?
I guess that's all for this edition. Right now I'm just hoping I am actually getting better at this. Maybe someday someone will read this (wuhoo!). Of course it's not like it would be easy to leave comments on it anyway.
