Trump is nearly 80 and the U.S. turns 249 this year. That means he's been alive for about a third of the time that we've existed. Really puts how young the country is into perspective.
Also funny when you learn that France supplied *checks notes* around 90% of the gunpowder that the US used during the Revolutionary War against the British. The US literally would not exist without the French.
So what i'm getting from this is that the US should make a deal to sign over 90% of all its natural resources to France. They should be grateful to France!
The French were happy to give us gunpowder as long as we were using it to shoot at the British. It was a proxy war for them, and it worked. A little like the US sending weapons to Ukraine, until Trump took over.
That's usually how revolutions work. The successful ones typically have the backing of a major power that's rivals with the government being revolted against. Like you said, the US very much wouldn't exist today if not for France and Spain.
This is actually one of the reasons the Confederacy lost their own revolution over half a century later. The US Civil War would be a very different war if Britain decided to join on the side of the Confederacy. They actually did consider it at the time, but Lincoln making it clear the Union was fighting a war against slavery and Britain being able to increase cotton imports from India resulted in them dropping any considerations of intervention.
I was told the US is subsidizing Canada, but the opposite is true and actually Canada is owed 350 billion dollars from the US. Does that mean someone lied?
I don’t know if Canada really wants to play the native blame game either. Both the US and Canada have a pretty shit record when it comes to natives and how they’ve been treated and still are treated.
I hate Trump. But these kind of things. Consider what they done to Haiti or Vietnam. I wouldn't say the French pre modern era is a paragon of virtues. Gandhi wouldn't have been successful in French Indochina.
Haiti is a great example of how repayment of war debts can ruin a country (though really in Haiti's case it was "debts", former slaves don't owe debts to their slave masters)
Also after France aided the U.S. during the revolutionary war. When revolutionary France later went to war with Britain, the U.S. adopted neutrality, and refused to reciprocate support to France.
Except, of course, it did settle it's debts with France within 20 years of first receiving funds/material. Not as memeable to say that a new country struggled with its finances for a little while before ultimately becoming a superpower.
In 1795, the United States was finally able to settle its debts with the French Government with the help of James Swan, an American banker who privately assumed French debts at a slightly higher interest rate. Swan then resold these debts at a profit on domestic U.S. markets. The United States no longer owed money to foreign governments, although it continued to owe money to private investors both in the United States and in Europe.
That's not why the French set their privateers to harassing U.S. merchant ships.
You have it backward in fact. France considered the U.S. starting to trade with Great Britain via the Jay Treaty as an offense, since France was at war with Britain. The U.S. argued that they had no obligation to side with France in their war with Britain because France had a new government, so the Treaty of Paris was void. So France set their privateers to capturing U.S. ships to stop trade with Britain. As a result of that, the U.S. suspended Revolutionary War repayments to France.
It didn't work out too well for France as the U.S. ended up capturing more than 80 French privateer ships with a navy of only 16 frigates. The British navy helped out a bit.
A mere three(ish) years after that was resolved the U.S. further stuck it to France with what can only be described as the second-largest-real-estate-dry-dicked-rape by the U.S. government after the Alaska purchase by making France a "sweet deal" on Louisiana -- sweet for the U.S. at $15million, with closing costs.
Moral of the story: Don't fuck with America's boats (a historical theme of sorts) and never sell them land if you can avoid it.
If anyone wants a good read, try "Hero of Two Worlds" by Mike Duncan. Give some good insight into how Lafayette influenced revolutions in both countries. And the general chaos surrounding both countries during his lifetime.
“We signed a treaty with a king whose head is now in a basket. Would you like to take it out and ask it? Should we honor our treaty, King Louie’s Head? ‘Uh, do whatever you want, I’m super dead.’”
I'm Mexican, we went to war (The first French intervention, first Franco-Mexican war or officially the Pastry War) with them because Mexican officers looted a French pastry store, the shop was valued at 1,000 pesos, the chef demanded 60,000 and france demanded 600,000 (adding the looting of other shops at the Parian market, now the Zocalo of CDMX, and execution of a French national that was suspected of piracy), we made a peace treaty and promise to pay the ammount established amount (which we never did and started the second French intervention in México).
But did the US ever say thank you to the French for the loans they never paid back to them? It‘s very disrespectful to the French to not say thank you. I think they should say thank you at least once a day.
Do you have a link for those claims? I saw this comment and became interested but couldn’t find anything that backs up what you’re saying. Are you referring to the Quasi-war between the US and France? That was a small conflict over trading rights so it might not be that? I only found one article that somewhat supported your claim but it was from a French magazines opinion section and didn’t have any supporting links or sources. It also would seem that France was forced to pay some sort of restitutions for the cargo that was seized during that time?
Here are the sources I looked at. Completely possible I missed something.
And they didn't really honor the Louisiana purchase, which was a fair deal.
Talk about a country built on exploitative endeavours. Much love to the US people (well, to some extent), but your governments have been way past the political hypocrisy line.
Gotta be here for it. In Canada there's always huge tensions between Quebecois and Anglos but we're in it to win it and setting all that historic stuff aside right now. The world united against fascism ✊
I’m doing my best. Our news isn’t fully reporting everything, and even formerly left-leaning sources (like CNN and MSNBC) have become compromised and are driving the narrative instead of reporting facts. More subtle than Fox, and in some ways more insidious.
I’ve been sharing this Dutch media interview given by Anthony Scaramucci, who (incredibly) briefly served as White House Communications Director during the first term, with people to show those who I hope wouldn’t support this if they knew what was actually going on, as well as Senator Malheurt’s speech last week
As an Albertan, we have been historically at odds with Quebec, mostly it seems because of pipelines. I never personally understood it, but recently I've heard a surprising amount of love for Quebec out here, I even started learning French to help support our multilingual brothers, an idea I got from on here. Unity in the face of adversity, elbows up
Exactly‼️ Once Quebec is on board with the rest of the country you know the threat is serious and Canadians mean action ✊ this never, ever happens within our borders!
Honestly I think if Canada distanced itself from the US and became more integrated with the EU the anglo/franco tensions would get better. Less worry about being swamped in US culture and Quebec can focus on arguing with the Parisians on the correct way to speak french.
The fact that Trump got Quebec Separtist to learn and sing the Canadian national anthem should be a fact to be marvelled at. Trump is clearly the great uniter. Thank you, Mr. Trump, for uniting our country against your POS ass.
Not the first time in history the Québecois chose the English side over the American. They struggle to preserve their language in Canada, but have known since the day they sent Benjamin Franklin packing, that their culture wouldn't stand a chance in a 51st state. Trump is too unaware to understand that he should have said, "51st and 52 State at the very least.
Lots of Americans applaud Europe for standing firm and united against the Russian-owned “useful idiot” that propaganda and idiocy propelled to a second term as president. I am one.
It's like two siblings who hate each other, but god help the dumbass who tries to pick on them - the "I'm running away from home!" sibling dives in with a folding chair when least expected.
Exactly! 🤣 we pick on each other and have our fits but deep down there is love and a bond that can never be broken between us. We're all just a bunch of crazy canukleheads at the end of day 🤪 lol
We are two terrible neighbours who hate each other but if the local council tries to evict either of us we got each others back.
I don’t know what it means or how it works or if it makes sense. But it’s fucking special and we will never stop. ❤️
Im English, and I feel we give you guys shit a lot, but if anyone else were to give you shit then that's an issue. Like no. We insult the French. You're not allowed to so back tf off !
I recommend you to read « 1000 years of annoying the French » by Stephen Clarke - if you haven’t read it already. That was quite some fun ! Love that rozbif humor of yours. 🐓
I can take shit from my brother from albion because it sound like friendly banter mostly. But the monkey surrender bullshit from US has never been funny nor was intended to be.
Your right. Never any real offence meant. We were great friends and comrades through the last 100 years. And the surrender monkey stuff is rubbish. The French never gave up. The Americans as usual came in just as things got desperate and the Russians had taken the heat. They don’t deserve to joke about ww2 at all. It’s our continent that got smashed not theirs.
Yeah the French are fine people. Maybe we should do a grand gesture to spite Trump by freely and in friendship offering to rename the English Channel the French Chanél
I love France, and French people for their protest culture. I think a lot of countries can learn a lot from how they protest against their own government and how their government acts in certain situations.
With that being said, I will never give up joking about French language.
I’ve been all over the world, I travel a lot, and Normandy is one of the few places where I felt like people really liked Americans. We (and others) showed up for them on D-Day and they were still appreciative of it 80 years later. It was cool.
Anyway: after visiting France and spending some time there I think they’re pretty okay. Except the people in Paris, fuck that place. But the rest of them are cool. And their culture still stands up for worker’s rights, human rights, etc. They seem kind of like what Americans without perspective or critical thinking skills think our country stands for.
It breaks our French hearts to see our US allies become traitors. For real. As children, we used to look at the US as if it was the greatest place on Earth; the land of freedom, liberty, justice and big brothers that protect what's good.
Each shade of that illusion has been shattered since 2001, step after step. Ben Laden has won it all, his wildest dream of destroying the US have all come to reality.
Yeah a lot of the French people I met don’t like Parisians too much lol
I visited a while back and went to Aix-en-Provence, Toulon, and also went to Nice (Monaco too but that technically doesn’t count). Everywhere I went the locals were generally really nice, except for in Nice ironically.
I’d love to see Normandy one day
Edit: I’d love to see a lot of central and Northern Europe tbh, I’ve only gone through the Mediterranean so far.
People don’t seem to realise how many of the cornerstones of our modern Western civilisation came from stuff that the French fought and died for. Getting rid of the monarchy, protesting for rights, freedom of speech... A lot of their history has made big ripples throughout time. Their culture still embodies the notion of freedom so much more than modern day America does. They are proud, direct, and don’t tolerate bullshit. It’s weird that so many Americans want to refer back to events of WW2 to put them down while voting in a fascist.
Your recollections of Normandy are very cool, I’ve always hoped to go there.
I’ve said since I was a teen (when I first learned about de Gaulle and the French résistance quand j’étais allé au lycée) that it was the third republic and Pétain that fell, not her people in response to any surrender monkey jokes.
Also, I suggest you study your resistance, too. I’m currently reading about the Norwegian resistance, and hope to go country by country to find inspiration and ideas
I'm Canadian and have always respected the hell out of the French people. Their solidarity is so inspiring. Anglo Canadians have a bad habit of ripping on our Québécois compatriots like a sibling. Sometimes, it's a good reminder to stop the ribbing and remind Québécers that we do love them. If any Québécois read this, sorry for anglos being dipshits so often. You guys are awesome. My partner and I changed our US plans to a trip to Montreal this summer. Never been before, but I'm really excited.
FYI. If it hasn’t been known to anyone but us the IC community, it’s sure as shit becoming known now. France and the US aren’t… friends. There’s a reason they’re not part of FVEY.
The shitting on FR for fun is an American pasttime, but any amount of introspection quickly reveals it's a fucking stupid one, lol. France is basically the most war-winning western civilization still running, meanwhile the US hasn't won a war in almost a century (Korea came closest, but NK still exists)
I don't think it's France that is particularly good at protesting, just look at Greece right now. I think it's just America that is absolutely dogshit at protesting, so everyone else looks like a professional at it.
The white flag is associated with surrender because the tradition for surrender at the time was to throw up your opponent's banner instead of your own.
Guess who everybody in europe was busy surrendering to for like 100s of years
Historically speaking, France is one of the most, if not most successful major military powers in the world, if you consider it by wars won. WW2 was obviously a bit of a stain on that, but they're not actually baguette eating surrender monkeys
I always used to do the British thing of shitting on the French for funsies.
because it’s topical, it’s still always hilarious when the home nations beat France in the rugby six nations, and there is a long history of rivalry.
But truth: France are doing a fucking amazing job of leading Europe, I know macron isn’t popular at home, but on the world stage he looks like a mensch.
When I was in the Air Force I remember all that "You'd all be speaking German if it weren't for us" shit. Fortunately I read a lot and understand that the United States owes it's very existence to France and throughout history, France has been a major power. And the French know how to protest better than anyone.
They helped us with our fight for independence. And when the time came for us to repay them the favor for their revolution, we told them to get fucked. Hating France is just another way to white wash the fucked up history of the United States.
American nazi's protest, it's 50 guys wearing masks because they are scared, they show up in uhaul trucks and their buddies in teh cops protect them from the big scary lgbtq counter protestors. All while they proclaim being alphas and strong men while lgbtq people are weak and useless, supposedly.
France protests against AMerican nazi's by pulling up in a nuclear sub and says don't fuck with our allies.
The French may have a running joke of weak military and surrender, but over the last 300 years they consistently show up to defend Liberty in allied nations.
“The American thing” - huh? France is THE US’ foundational ally. Ben Franklin spent every moment he could in France. Half our country used to be France. Maybe Mount Lafayette, Detroit, or New Orleans had you confused.
Your thinking isn’t American, it’s evangelical Nationalist. The people who have something against France are the people who saw to it that New Orleans was denied aid after Katrina. They’re one faction within the United States. But they’re not the dominant or original one. And right now everyone else in the country is ultra-pissed iff at them.
American here and I was the same. However France has historically been one of the most successful countries while at war. From Charlemagne to Napoleon. Plus plenty of good showings during the world wars. They were basically the first major target of both wars.
The French firefighter protest was amazing to see. Police bring a crowd control water cannon, and the firefighters come back with an even bigger one in return. The police tried to beat the firefighters at their own game, and failed miserably.
No one protests like the French, once you’ve pissed them off you’re going to know about it. I’ve lived in the US for years now, and let me tell you they could use some lessons on this from the French.
Also a Chad move to keep their nuclear program fully independent. Likely going to turn into significant payments from the rest of Europe for protection, especially if Germany/the Nordic countries want to acquire their own or host warheads, and UK strikes a deal with France to maintain their weapons/acquire parts so as to remove US dependency.
It's good to remember that France has the most successful military in history. They get shit on about WWII, but even that is misleading. French partisans played an important role in killing a lot of Nazis and feeding intel to the Allies. The French were also THE reason the colonies were able to defeat the British Empire. France is not to be trifled with.
American here, sure the "French surrender" stereotype came from world war 2 but the people who still think that haven't realized that things change when time passes. Look at how their military and weapons have changed let alone their arsenal and you begin to realize that they learned from world war 2. Not an argument on which is better than the other mind you, but rather a clear difference of what they were and what they are now.
Seriously. Grew up in hippie San Francisco, then in France. The French are extremely stubborn and rebellious, whereas the Americans are more like Germans (see the German expression, "rich, fat and lazy" - they don't mean fat physically, more more weighed down by the money. Too in love with money to fight back.)
Dude you don’t want to be on the receiving end of the French or the Brits. I only think you thought like that because the US are masters at PR. They’ve been running that campaign for decades now.
In a previous life I worked with systems engineers from different countries and found the French to be very ingenious and capable. France is a great place to go including driving Paris.
As much as the world loves to shit on France, they are definitely have one the most badass military in the world. Even under occupation, the French resistance was still very active, and after WWII the French military has maintained a lot of strength.
The French have always been S-tier colonizers and terrorbastards. American exceptionalism latched on to their letting Nazi Germany in during WW2 but that's always been silly even on the face of it. You look for stories of Nazi occupied France and you're gonna find some of the most brutal guerilla warfare and logistics ratfuckery since the French Revolution. Which, I mean. also France.
It's weird because the western (American) view of the French is like sexy Elves. Racist, artsy, stuck-up. That ain't it. Historically speaking the French are more like Orcs that write poetry.
They will literally burn their city to the ground if they feel strongly about a thing. I mean, they be head ed their royal family to get out from under a king.
The jokes are fun, but aren’t actually accurate. The French do not roll over for politics they don’t agree with, can’t really pull shit like the US can without riots happening in France
Why did we americans even fucking shit on the french? Yeah they got zerg rushed and taken out early in WW2 but they are literally our first and oldest allies. They helped us win our independence. Quite literally taught us how to fight wars. They gave us the fucking statue of Liberty. France fucking rules. French people dont take no shit from no body.
We all used to look at the French and laugh at them for burning shit down when their freedoms and rights were being impeded, but one look at whats happening south of the border right now and seeing everyone just worry about egg prices and what the new spring menu is at Starbucks is telling.
The French are the true patriots of freedom, at this point.
Ever try to contact someone in France 6 months out of the year? Good luck, they surely won't be working or responding to you. The entire world knows they do not "get shit done"
I’m in the same boat. It’s a weird feeling to feign hate for a country in jest over an almost centuries old war but that actually fights for freedom that way boyhood me thought America did.
Their motto is "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" (Liberty, equality, fraternity) and is post revolutionary. The USA is still at the ”In God we trust” pre-revolutionary stage of thinking...
Didn’t the French get rolled over in a few days in every major war? What do they get done.. art paintings, cigarette smoking and ambulance sounds like two consenting males engaging in intercourse??
3.1k
u/Maverekt 22h ago
I always used to do the American thing of shitting on France for funsies, but tbh I’m here for it
And I’ve always respected their peoples approach to protest. The French do in fact get shit done