You don't even have to for that far back. During the Second World War there was a massive resistance movement by the french population against the german occupation.

The "French surrender" memes says way more about their elites than their people.

The whole "French surrenders" thing is missing context.

My understanding is that the term originated in WW2 when Nazi Germany invaded and France didn't put up a fight. Conservatives in the USA called them cowards etc but what they didn't know (like they cared) was that the French have been very effective in war for centuries even before the USA was a thing.

The French knew they were going to lose any war with Germany at this point in the war and relied on their allies to help them out. Surrender was the best possible option for them to save lives.

Anyone who says that the French are weak don't know shit about their history and don't know how their alliance has helped the US.

French politicians during WWII were quitters. The population on the other hand were not. There's always been a strong disconnect between the Rulers and the Ruled, which is fairly normal. What sets France apart is the Ruled's willingness to set things on fire.

Of course the coward thing is just american media.

The French army, still to this day, has the best battle record of any army in history. They didn't get a record like that by being cowards.

It 100% is a psyop at this point.

Like, the entire original basis of it was 'the French got their Maginot Line flanked/routed around during WW2 and failed to hold the line in Belgium, therefore they are all idiot cowards."

That and maybe possibly that they largely pulled out of Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia) after Dien Ben Phu, leading to rhe partition of Vietnam into North and South, and generally greater US involvement in South East Asia.

Then, they wouldn't join us for Iraq 2, therefore: FREEDOM FRIES!

... So pretty much the first one is reductionist as fuck from a history/military standpoint, and the other two are... broadly now recognized to have just been total horrific mistakes and tragedies and basically just big warcrimes and wastes of lives and money on the part of all Western powers involved... and supposedly even most anti-war/anti-interventionist conservatives now also believe this.

So, yeah, the entire thing is basically, at this point, 99% a bunch of stupid nonsense that is largely admitted to be based on mistakes and jingoism.

I agree with everything you've said except the bit about snails. People were already eating snails back in ancient Rome, probably even earlier than that. The French did however have the brilliant idea of drenching their snails in garlic+butter+parsley.

The Marquis de Lafeyette has entered the chat.

Unfortunately, france-backed mercenaries have historically contributed in essentially the opposite way

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Denard

The most legendary thing the French have done in recent memory is when energy workers did not charge customers as a protest.

mwa chef's kiss!

Here in 'Murica firefighters side with the police too often.

I remember seeing a bunch of fire trucks in my area in 2020 flying the thin.blue line flag while out and about.

AFAF

All firefighters are Fire

Yeah bro and their new track is fire!

I don’t know were you’re from, but were I’m from they’re the most humble people you’ll ever meet and are required to keep their skills at the highest level.

They have the complex but don't have the ability to shoot someone and their dog and get off with paid vacation

Oooh, did someone get told to move his car blocking the fire hydrant in front of the burning orphanage?

They have so much different missions that I would not be able to put any overlap between the 2 functions beside who eventually pays for them… What kind of shitty experience has led to such a take? Care to share some?

I grew up with my father being an officer in firefighting in Europe (not France though) and my perception is way different. Among other things he escaped death quite a couple of times just to extract some poor souls from certain death situations, helped the community avoid disasters and generally be super kind about risk prevention visits…

He was a totally absent father though but I chalk that to his commitment to the local community.

Fire fighting in much of the US is intertwined with religion and a weird brotherhood like the freemasons. They don't have to be douches, it seems to be a culture thing from McChristianity.

I live close to a major regional hospital and I mostly see firefighters in an emergency medical services capacity. They do not fuck around because they are literally in the middle of a fucking medical emergency. Yeah they zoom around in their ambulances all sirens blaring like "assholes", but for all we know there's someone bleeding to death inside.

No they wouldn't. Come on. They'd shoot.