How lucky to be French. The world trips over itself to spare your fragile preening amour-propre, your bandy-legged strut, your swagger, your pout, your prickle. Away, damning history! Away!
Earlier we noted this.
And two years ago there was the re-issue of this American make-nice classic, made oh-so-much-nicer with its nice new French title, "Nos Amis les Français".
And today, The Royal Navy smoothes down the Battle of Trafalgar:
BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR ANNIVERSARY SUNK BY PC FORCES
LONDON, May 22 (AFP) - According to a newspaper report on Sunday, organisers of a re-enactment of the sea battle [as part of the lead-up to its bicentennial] next month have decided to bill it as between a "Red Fleet" and a "Blue Fleet", rather than Britain and its French and Spanish adversaries.This is being done to avoid the embarrassment of assembled French dignitaries at the event feeling humiliated by watching their nation routed again, The Sunday Times said. Official iterature for the planned event next month will also be toned down, describing the extravaganza as a re-enactment not of Trafalgar but of "an early 19th century sea battle".
The decision to remove all mention of nationality from the re-enactment had puzzled some of the event's commercial sponsors, The Sunday Time said.
"It seems remarkable that we are not saying this is Britain versus France in this re-enactment," one told the paper under cover of anonymity.
"Surely 200 years on, we can afford to gloat a bit. Not even the French can try and get snooty about this."
Ah, how wrong you can be, Mr. Unidentified-19th-Century-Sea-Battle-Re-enactment Sponsor.
Mike Hancock, the Lib Dem MP for Portsmouth South, said the decision to protect the feelings of French guests, by not making it explicit which nations fought the battle in which Admiral Lord Nelson was killed, was "absolute twaddle".He added: "If we are going to re-enact it we should do it properly. I am sure the French do not pull any punches when they celebrate Napoleon's victories."
Away, damning history! Away!
Of course this political correctness is ridiculous, but I don't see why our British friends must invite French guests. Aside from the Royal Navy's sheer brilliance, most of what England did was to watch their allies fall one after the other against France from their shores anyway (and that's before Bonaparte showed up), only to fight (with combined experienced Prussian forces as well as Germans and Dutch) a washed-up Napoleon something they like to remind us everytime we cross the Chanel and land at the London train Station.
"Waterloo Station... Welcome to England!"
Zoom we have that same trouble with the Canadians. They like claiming they burned the White House. It is better to accept the occasional jibe with a good humor, then to forget the reason why it stings.
But it is worth noting that America doesn't celebrate Hiroshima day or Vera Cruz day.
We celebrate Pearl Harbor day, and invite survivors from both sides.
