Delirium wrote:
Ray Saintonge wrote:
Viajero wrote:
Is any one else bothered by the current state of [[Anti-French sentiment in the United States]]?
The article now presents a set of "accusations" which include some of the worst, most tasteless clichés, all presented in psuedo-objective style. Would anyone with a strong stomach care to tackle this stuff? I think Wikipedia should do better than this but I am not quite sure how.
Maybe just changing the title to [[Anti-French ignorance in the United States]] might be enough. :-)
Of course, then we might have to rename [[Anti-American sentiment]] similarly. =]
FWIW, I think both the articles could use a bit of work, as they're both essentially listings of accusations, along the lines of "why some people think country [x] sucks", rather than actually having any sort of coherent narrative structure.
The direct parallel article should be [[Anti-American sentiment in France]]. A bit of work is an understatement, and even if someone gave you the time to do it it wouldn't last long. I just looked at it again and I see such things as "Anti-American sentiments have in the past been strongly supported by Soviet propaganda ...and are promoted by dictators who see the United States as a threat to their position." That defensive attitude misses the entire point. The article is not about Soviet propaganda or sundry petty dictators. (For some of the latter United States support may be the only thing that keeps them in their position.)
I thought of making the change, but then I just thought "What's the point? If I do it won't be long before somebody adds something stupid again. I feel much better when I work on something to which the response is in the form of constructive criticism." I don't like being in that position, because I know too that, tedious as it is to do so, these bonehead POVs need to be confronted. There are rational elements in the American right, but the irrational and uninformed ones seem to be the loudest.
If it were possible I would suggest banning Americans from any editing at all on the Anti-American sentiment article. It is after all primarily about how others view Americans. Americans could read it of course; they should read it. Maybe then they might start to understand the extent of that sentiment, since the coming to power of the current administration its depth. And don't worry about such an article becoming completely silly or trivial; that would be a positve sign that foreign sentiments are improving.
Ec