US-French RelationsFreedom French Fries and the Chanel boycott should not be dismissed as isolated and childish attitudes on the part of the American people. Rather, the visceral reaction to the French reluctance to follow the Bush administration in Iraq should be addressed as a substantive and not simply aesthetic distrust that Americans have towards the French country. Kantian. In France, the “renegade cowboy” George W. Bush is anathema to a country. more comfortable with shades of gray than the black-and-white lenses through which the United States sees the world. The United States and France rarely get along on cultural and political issues simply because we do not share the same worldview. Americans see the “outside” a little differently than the French and this is at the root of most foreign policy differences. The Hobbesian view of man, based largely on the Judeo-Christian beliefs that led to the famous nickname "axis of evil", grates on the ears of the French. Furthermore, while most French citizens speak a foreign language, travel extensively and consider themselves global citizens (but alas, not tous américains), recent accusations that John Kerry "looks French" and even speaks the language have reminded all of us that antipathy towards the French and xenophobia persists. Alain de Chalvron of France 2 explains: “for us, speaking another language and having an open vision of the world, for a President, should be an advantage” (Kurlantzick). In France, while Michael Moore is being acclaimed at Cannes for his controversial documentary deploring gun violence in the United States, he is vilified as anti-American on American soil. Furthermore, while most Americans see McDonalds as a great symbol of economic prosperity, its exterior wall is now their favorite painting... center of paper... ldberg071602.asp Huntington, Samuel. 2004. “Who are we? Challenges to American National Identity,” New York: Simon & Schuster.Kurlantzick, Joshua. 2004. “Talking About the City.” The New Yorker. April 19, 2004. Meunier, Sophie. 2000. “The French Exception.” Foreign Affairs. July, August 2000.Nunberg, Geoffrey. 2003. “A Lexicon of Francophobia, From Emerson to Fox TV,” The New York Times, February 9, 2003, http://www-csli.standford.edu/~nunberg/francophobia.htmlSafire, William. 2003. “Chirac's Last Stratagem.” The New York Times. April 24, 2003.Tsai, Michael. 2003. “Hitting France a Popular Pastime Again.” Olympus. March 9, 2003. http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20030309/living/17204.shtmlWallis, Frank. 2004. “Laura Ingraham's Paranoid Stereotypes,” counterbias.com, May 10, 2004, http://www.counterbias.com/027.html