(circa 2003) I've been hearing from a number of people about how ungrateful the French have been toward King George's War; they argue the French should be backing King George in the leadup to the Irag invasion because we saved their butts in WWII.I can't help but get the feeling that many of those I've been hearing from have been listening to radio and tv talk show hosts, because the argument against France is always the same. So, for those who have been getting their history from talk show hosts, I'd like to pass on a couple of points to ponder.
First, we did not save France. In fact, much of the fighting needed to get the Allied forces to Germany (reminder: Normandy is in France) devastated vast stretches of French soil and killed many people. In all the books I've read or the movies I've seen about D-Day, I've never heard of an American soldier scrambling up the beach yelling "Viva la France!"
Second, we didn't get into WWII to save France. We stayed out of the European War for more than two years before an "incident" halfway around the world forced us to decide to get involved. For those who are still listening to talk show hosts instead of studying history, that incident was at a place called Pearl Harbor.
Last but not least, when the talk shows hosts talk about the ungrateful French I can't help but remember a time when the French left their shores: the generals and soldiers, along with their weapons, crowding onto small sailing ships and traveling thousands of miles to make a major contribution to a skirmish called, let me try to remember now, oh yeah, the AMERICAN REVOLUTION!
Might I suggest that people stop listening to talk show hosts who want to generate heat, not light, and instead sit down and read a book, maybe even a history book.
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In case you've had any doubts about the value of conservative talk show hosts educating the American public, here is a response I received to the article you just read. Judge for yourself the thinking behind this response and the educational level of the writer(?). The note appears as I received it, only the author's name has been withheld. I doubt the writer would recognize his need for an education beyond what he can get from talk shows.
"look man I read your statement about the french and ww2. Id just like to tell you something, if we hadnt got in to ww2 the french and brits and russians would be speakin german so you need to do more reading. we did save there ass and they should back us but they dont because they have a liberal leader who is a little asshole and a crook. they were accepting illegal oil from irag and didnt want anyone to find out so before you go flappin your chops you need to find out what realy happened. do you remember 9/11, probly not it didnt happen to them it happened to us. if it were your family that died or if it were there family you would expect them to help and they would to."