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September 17, 2005

And they didn't even ask us...

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The U.K. Telegraph has a too—short article today about a report just piblished by two academics in France, regarding attitudes toward the French by their EU neighbors. In the Telegraph's summary:

"one glue binds the continent together: hatred of the French."

It seems that nobody has a favorable opinion of them, although the grounds of disapproval vary, with the Swdes finding them "disobedient, immoral, disorganised, neo—colonialist and dirty," while the Italians find them "snobs, arrogant, flesh—loving, righteous and self—obsessed," for instance.

It is impossible to evaluate the full report based on the sketchy information provided by the Telegraph. But we learn this about its methodology.

"Interviewees were simply asked an open question — what five adjectives sum up the French," said Olivier Clodong, one of the study's two authors and a professor of social and political communication at the Ecole Superieur de Commerce, in Paris. "The answers were overwhelmingly negative."

I just love reading material like this. I hope the full report will become available on the web. If anyone finds a copy, please let us know.

Hat tip: James Lewis

Thomas Lifson   5 17 05