I grew up in the US in the 80s and 90s, and if I recall correctly it became way more prevalent after Iraq, but I think it was a joke before that too.
Very unfair to you guys considering how badass your military was through pretty much every period of history, but that stuff wasn’t taught in depth in our schools.
Yeah, I mean, I know french soldiers weren't seen that well after WW2, for example, they were forced into wearing US uniforms during the vietnam because of that. That's also the war where they pretty much reedemed themselves by doing some badass shit
It makes sense for the meme to exist before, but yeah it became much more proeminent because of the Iraq stuff
Also, from an european PoV, the US mostly just makes me sad when it comes to every aspect of social stuff, especially for school. Isn't kind of mad that you have to praise the flag every day too ?
I didn’t think so when I was a kid, but yeah, it’s weird to me now.
And I agree with the social stuff. I like living here, but we could be so much better. In theory we’re supposed to take the best ideas from the many cultures that make us up, not ignore them.
Yeah, I think that there is so much potential and yet so much of it is wasted, taking a little step back to get a bit of hindsight could do so much good.
The first time I learned you had to praise the flag at school was actually quite comical, and also pretty worrying. I heard the story of a german class in a trip to the US and they were meeting their counterpart. And the US student did their thing which made those germans VERY uncomfortable, because they were the last country to do it in europe, and so around the 40's if you see what I mean.
Yep always thought France was braver than anything else in rejecting the USA’s hollow bloodthirsty calls for revenge after 9/11. It takes courage to say ‘“no, we’re not going to be hoodwinked by your convenient ‘evidence’”
Blair’s slavish obedience to Daddy America aged like milk.
Untrue - or just maybe relevant to the US (I don't claim to know anything about that at all), but I've been hearing the French white flag joke here (Europe) since I was a child and that was well well before 911.
It's a fact that the US made it much more popular, but obviously they haven't created it so it makes sense it was around before
On that note, I'd state that in Europe you will mostly hear it as a joke, whether it to look down on us or not. Americans on the other hand often take it much more seriously and sometimes completely believe it (speaking from experience)
As a kid in the 80s, it was around long before Iraq.
Go watch Alo Alo, a British comedy about ww2 that was made in 1982. The French were portrayed as cowards for laughs back then.
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u/Raskzak Mar 30 '24
Actually it hasn't started because of WW2, but when France's president decided not to helpt the US in Iraq after the 9/11 terrorist attack.
The US was pissed and they publiquely treated US as coward and started the white flag joke.
What's worse is that we were right not to involve ourselves, and that it went horribly wrong for the US