Red Dawn Remake!

[waiting4something]

You too, huh I have a nostalgia for the Cold War too. Atl east you know which side you were on and you had three basic sides, us, them or neutral. I'm a big fan of the cartoon, "The Tick," and if I was a superhero, my battle cry would be "I miss the 80's!" When I see shows like "Airwolf" and "Greatest American Hero," sometimes I tear goes down my eye and I think of the good, old days.

Yes, I wish I could have served in the military when the cold war was going on. I bet it was a totally different attitude or feel to it. The 80's had the best shows no doubt. Back then it was all about being bad ass and cool even if most people who tried still weren't. Then the 90's came washed it away with sensitivity, the real world, MTV without music videos, no real foreign enemies, girls in scarecrow pants, and a down sizing of our economy.

[Webstral]

I try to explain to my students how different things were when I was their age, and I don't just mean that we were stuck with early Atari and Pacman. They just don't get the idea that in the early 1980's, we still believed that the Reds could come rolling across the German border on any given day. The idea that we might not win that fight is beyond their comprehension. I remind them that the Russians maintain a nuclear arsenal large enough to wipe out the United States several times over, and I get blank looks. What do you mean, Mr. Leary How could that be

It was good when the Soviets were the boogeyman. They were good at it, and they were willing to play the part. The Chinese just aren't there yet, although time will tell. As for the Indians, they are hobbled by that democracy thing. They might go to war with Pakistan or China, but it's hard to see them at war with us. You just can't get bad guys like you used to. I guess it's off to a nostalgia review of Red Dawn and The Beast.

Webstral

[RN7]

How about the French as a boogeyman Webstral

They think they are a superpower, their trying to dominate Europe through the European Union, and have an irrational dislike of America and the English speaking world which is more deep routed and probably far worse that the idealogically driven propaganda of the Russians in Soviet times. They also have military bases in South America and the Carribean, they own an island in the North Atlantic off New Foundland, and have a vocal fifth column north of the border in Quebec, and maybe a lot of sleeper agents in Louisanna as well.

[Webstral]

I'm just not a committed francophobe. The French are a pain because they are in it for themselves and, much more so than the Brits, have distinctly different ideas about what that means compared to us. I can't fault them for having their own ideas and their own agenda. Now if France were to conquer Western Europe, then a modern Napoleon would make a good villain.

Besides, I wish our women would learn something from French women.

Webstral

[Targan]

Besides, I wish our women would learn something from French women.

As long as it isn't learning not to shave their armpits.

[Webstral]

As long as it isn't learning not to shave their armpits.

Brr. That's not the image I wanted before going to bed.

Webstral

[pmulcahy11b]

I've never understood the French irrational dislike of Americans. We were friends once, or at least were useful to them -- the Americans wouldn't have won the Revolution without French intervention. Maybe it's because we defaulted on our debts to the French after the American Revolution, and shortly thereafter took incredible advantage of the French with the Louisiana Purchase because of the French political situation at the time A bit long to hold a grudge...

I do understand world animosity towards the US, though the French seem to carry it a bit further than necessary sometimes. The US is still an incredibly arrogant country (and as an American myself, it hurts to admit it), and we piss a lot of people off because we tend not to admit that other countries may be right about things too.

In a T2K context, a lot of the world may be pissed off at the US because about half the nukes that flew in the war were American -- particularly on the TDM. I imagine a lot of people might not be that happy to see Americans or Soviets show up anywhere.

[Webstral]

We tend to lord it over the French with the whole "We saved you twice" routine. We may have tipped the scales in WW1, but the French are the ones who took the casualties. Given that we beat the stuffing out of northern France while liberating it in WW2, it's not hard to see that they might feel that gratitude should be tempered somewhat.

Then there's that Vietnam thing. Having made a complete hash of things, the French then had to endure being ignored by us on the advisability of further involvement.

Webstral

[Gabe The Gun]

The most spoken French phrase throughout history "We surrender" ha ha...............Gosh I cant stand the Frenchies.

[kato13]

The most spoken French phrase throughout history "We surrender" ha ha...............Gosh I cant stand the Frenchies.

A bit of an over simplification on the surrender side. For the most part I don't think the French care what we think of them and therefore I pretty much don't care what they think of us.

[Marc]

About myths and clichs.

I"ve always thought that one of the added values of this site is the number of nationalities represented by the posters. And I"m very sure that the myths and clichs in use in one country about another are not a very good point of reference. We have our own myths and clichs about North-Americans, too. This forum is chance, for me, to talk with people from the other side of the Atlantic and learn some of their point of views beyond my preconceived ideas. At any time, my own lack of knowledge about another country could create unrest after an unfortunate affirmation or an unsuitable question. Then I will accept a fair correction and I will expect that the others understand that my intention was not to offend.

About the Frenchs, Catalans have run away in front of them the same times that they have run away in front of us. I cannot count the times that both parts have been in war against each other since the Middle Age, with and without the implication of Spain. We"ve fought against them in Sicily, Greece, the Italian peninsula, Occitania, and inside our own frontiers. You must then add all the Spain-French conflicts. And we have been allies, too! Some of them volunteered in Spain to fight in our civil war, without proper preparation or equipment and against all the odds. And, talking about surrenders, most of the (current or past) European nations, once consolidated, have had their own Red, Blue or Whatever Color Dawn. I suppose that war inside your own borders change everything.

Sometimes, we, in Europe, tend to think that we have more information about North-America that North-Americans have about us. And if the first thought of somebody about Spain is bulls, he/she need more information .

Anyway clichs and simplifications are not good advisers. Hmmmmm... I hope to have passed my English language skill roll. Nothing more far away of my intentions to have sounded disrespectful.

[kato13]

Anyway clichs and simplifications are not good advisers.

Very true and this forum is a good way to see different perspectives.

[Webstral]

This is a good forum for hearing different points of view.

Webstral

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I've never understood the French irrational dislike of Americans. We were friends once, or at least were useful to them -- the Americans wouldn't have won the Revolution without French intervention. Maybe it's because we defaulted on our debts to the French after the American Revolution, and shortly thereafter took incredible advantage of the French with the Louisiana Purchase because of the French political situation at the time A bit long to hold a grudge...

I think the reason is more modern, it directly involves DeGaulle and his beliefs at the time. Most of this I am writing from memory but it's worth doing some reading on the subject because it shows a side of European politics that doesn't get much attention and shows how modern France developed the way it did.

Two things in particular occured to make him think the way he did. The first was the US refusal to help the French, Israelis and British during the Suez Crisis, more specificially, refusal to help after those nations had committed themselves to the fight.
The second was when Kennedy toned down the US response to a Soviet invasion of Europe (it used to be that the US response to any invasion of Western Europe would be retaliation with nuclear weapons)
DeGaulle saw these as a weakening of US resolve and he believed that the US would not support its allies if the situation was not going to be advantageous to the US.

DeGaulle also lived during the time of the Marshall Plan and saw it as a way for the US to screw more money out of a war ravaged Europe and he believed that in light of all those things mentioned above plus the lack of Western support to help the French "re-colonize" Indochina, that France could only survive the future if she became independent of other nations.
He is responsible for French foreign policy and French nuclear energy and weapons.
He strongly believed that Europe (all of Europe, West & East but not including the Soviet Union) should be free of US and British influence and should be a third power standing between the US/UK and the Soviet Union and lobbied to make this so.
He had such an influence on French politicians that they maintained the same "DeGaullist" thinking for decades and this included a snobbish attitude towards the UK and outright distrust of the US.

[Targan]

Gosh I cant stand the Frenchies.

Wow. The internet is a place of sweeping statements but man, thats a goody. Are you saying that you can't stand an entire nation of people How many French people have you ever got to know well

Not that I'm the voice of wisdom by any means but that sort of sweeping generalisation is likely to offend at least one long time poster on this forum. There are a number of American public figures that I can't stand and American politics really p*sses me off sometimes but never would I say that "Gosh I can't stand Americans". I very much enjoy talking to Americans on this forum pretty much every day.

Perhaps you might like to have a look back through the posts of our regular French member here. From what I have read he seems like a great guy.