Hi -- it seemed that a lot of people (both French and American) associated Bush with the USA. While he does come to mind while thinking of the USA, there is still a lot of division in the USA over him and his political decisions. Is this severe disagreement among Americans regarding Bush's politics also something French people think about? Does the news show how many Americans are very upset with Bush? I was just wondering...

coucou!!

"Does the news show how many Americans are very upset with Bush? I was just wondering... " je dirais que ca arrive ( mais pas assez par rapport à ce que pense les gens à mon avis)... dailleurs il n'y a pas longtemps on en a entendu parler... quand Bush à décidé d'augmenter les effectifs en Irak.. on en à parlé a la télé, dans les journaux..

k-ro

Je trouve que la télé et les informations montrent très bien le mécontentement grandissant vis-à-vis de la politique de Bush : le meilleur example restant la victoire écrasante des démocrates aux récentes éléctions. Et puis on entends tout de même beaucoup parler de toutes ces familles de soldats qui manifestent leur mécontentement de la guerre et le ras le bol général.... et puis les manifestations anti-guerres et anti-bush se font plus nombreuses.

Je trouve donc que l'on se rend plus compte que "many Americans are very upset with Bush"...

Clémence

En même temps, je ne comprends pas tellement comment il a pu être réelu, alors que la population était déjà mécontente de lui à cette époque ?!

Pas tant que ca à croire...

Hey there! I noticed that lots of the French responses to America were "liberal" or "liberalism." I could not decide if this had a positive or negative connotation. For those who listed that word: is it referring to America's capitalism? Or perhaps our fierce protection of individual rights? I know many people that consider America too conservative, and would find the word "liberal" an odd choice. Thanks, and I look forward to being enlightened!

Liberalisme au sens économique : l'état intervient peu dans l'economie le marché se régule seul, contrairement à la France où le gouvernement est très présent.

I thought that might be it. Thanks for clearing it up. I thought perhaps yinz meant politically liberal, or personnally liberal. That would have been somewhat odd, considering how many Americans think of French as very liberal, even too much so.

Hey! I noticed on the associations of the United States that many people listed things such as "obesity," "hamburger," and "McDonalds." I am aware of the high rates of obesity in our country, and also loved the movie "Supersize me." One thing I was not sure of is the connotation of fast food in France. As I know there is Mcdonalds in France, I was wondering if the attitude is negative toward Americans for eating so much cheap "fast food" (How popular is it in France?) or simply American obesity in general. Also, I was wondering what other American fast food chains are popular in France (My favorite are "Kentucky Fried Chicken" and "Taco Bell").

Thanks,

Zach

quick c'est pas francais ? =P enfin... je pense que les francais refusent d'adopter le mode de vie des americains niveau nourriture , l'arrivée des fast food en masse ( car nous avons nous aussi le fast food de poulet , les King burger etc etc ^^" je pense qu'on a la totale... ) peut signifier l'arrivée des problemes d'obesité aussi ( d'ailleurs la france cherche a lutter contre ca , heureusement !! ). En fait, comme tous ce qui arrive chez nous est americains , on vous observe , on critique pour voir comment agir face a tous cela =PP mais c'est pas mechant ^^" c'est juste que la france fait une focalisation sur : Vivez comme les americains et vous deviendrez gros.... c'est ridicule je sais mais bon... on y peut rien ^^" et de plus , on ne vous en veut pas !! loin de là meme... d'ailleurs... je me ferais bien un Big mac apres... =PPPP

Amaury

Hey,

I just wanted to clarify that in fact, the U.S. has a lot more to offer than fast food. We have the advantage of having had immigrants from countries from all over the world so there are a lot of different choices, most of them a lot healthier than Mc Donalds. For example, in the town center nearest to Brandeis, there are Mexican, Indian, Italian, Thai, Chinese, Greek, Japanese, Korean, French Cambodian, Venezuelan, Spanish, Irish, and Peruvian restaurants.

Sean

je sais que pour vous ça doit être vraiment enervant de sans arrêt être associé à MACDO et je vous comprend.en france beaucoup de gens y mangent vous savez...

salut,

Nous avons quelques fast-food ici mais pas autant que chez vous. C'est vrai que notre regard est plutot negatif lorsque l'on parle de Mc Do ect... mais cela ne nous empêcha pas cependant d'y aller. Cela dit le nombre d'enseignes differentes est faibles. Le plus présent en france c'est Mc Donalds, puis c'est Quick. On trouve également quelques KCF mais c'est surtout dans les grandes villes.

Je ne trouve pas qu'il y ait seulement "quelques fast-food ici mais pas autant que chez vous", en France nous avons beaucoup de fast foods et dans les grandes villes il est même possible de trouver plusieurs fast foods dans la même rue...

Clémence

C'est vrai mais on en a quand même beaucoup moins. On est presque certain de trouver un mc do dans chaques quartiers à PARIS mais à part vraiment les grandes villes, leur présence n'est pas evidente. Je repense notamment à un voyage à barcelone ou tout les 500 métres on trouvais un fast-food. Heureusement que nous n'en sommes pas encore là !!

Je pense que si Mac Do est tellement emblématique des Etats-Unis c'est certainement parceque c'était la première grande chaîne à s'imposer partout mais vraiment partout (sauf en corse ils ont essayés mais ça a vite fait BOUM!) Et le fait que cette chaîne soit américaine a provoqué cette image. De plus mac do est aussi symbolique de l'ultra-libéralisme (économique) encensé par les Etats-Unis de par l'exploitation des employés d'un bout à l'autre de la chaîne de production.

Personnellement, j'y suis allé deux fois dans ma vie ( j'avais six ans...) et en plus je trouve ça chèr par rapport aux barraques à frites.

It's true that Mc Donalds is cheaper in the US than it is in France. Here, it's about the cheapest food you can get...it's also about the worst food you can get.

I second what Sean said!

Geoffrey

(Attention remarque très pertinente...) Moi je dis : vive les restaurants chinois !!!

Do you like Thai? I love Thai food. Indian too!

Je n'ai jamais testé....... mais je suis sur que ca doit être super bon !!! J'aime beaucoup la nourriture "étrangère"... Peut être parceque j'ai été habitué à la nourrture française et que maintenant j'ai envie de changement...!

Clémence

Chez nous, manger au mac do nous revient plus cher que de manger dans une sandwicherie.

Mais la mode est surtout aux Kebab, notamment pour les étudiants, on en trouve de plus en plus autour des universités et des lycées..!

C'est vrai : j'ai découvert les kebabs en arrivant à Lille (enfin je savais que ca existait, mais je n'y étais jamais allé avant...) et c'est beaucoup moins cher qu'au macdo et je trouve que c'est souvent meilleur !!!!

Est ce que vous connaissez les kebabs aux Etats Unis ? (ben quoi ! on sait jamais...)

Clémence

Here a kebab is a combination of vegetables and somtimes meat and sometimes fruit that you put on a skewer and grill. Is that what Kebab is in France? Sounds cool.

Oui voilà, à peu de choses près. Le kebab est un pain rond tranché au milieu, dans lequel on fourre ( pardon mais il n'y a pas d'autres mots lol ) de la viande qu'on hâche, de la sauce, de la salade, des concombres, de la tomate... Celà dépend de notre choix lol. Personnellement, j'adooore les kébabs, et aussi les restos chinois ! Comme Clémence ! Ca fait des années que j'y vais régulièrement, ce sont mes restaurants préférés. Par contre, le thaï... :/

Hi, I noticed that a word that more than one French student wrote about the U.S. was "weapons". I was wondering what the situation is with weapons in France as compared to the U.S.; I know that you have a much smaller problem with guns; is it illegal for any private citizen to possess weapons? Also, how exactly is the situation of weapons in the U.S. represented in France? Is it as though everyone in America owns a gun (we don't; I don't even know any gun owners!) or is it more a notion that our weapons laws are very lax (they are!)?

En france, meme en periode de chasse , on a pas de morts aux infos causées par des balles perdues etc , et encore moin dans les villes !! Je n'ai jamais rencontré de personne possedant une arme , en france , c'est vraiment vu comme etre fou ou chasseur d'en posseder une =P en plus je ne sais vraiment pas comment s'en procurer une . On a toujours la vision de bowling for columbine ;) je doute que ce genre de choses puissent arriver en france grace à nos lois assez stricte sur ce point de vue. Je crois meme que tous les possedeurs d'armes en france recoivent regulierement la visite de personnes qui vérifient l'etat et prennent le code ,verifie les permis etc...meme les anciennes armes ramassées lors de la 2nd guerre mondiale , elles sont toutes recensées ... enfin il me semble ^^"

Amaury

I have a unique case because I live in Alaska and everyone owns a gun. I mean everyone! My family has 4 or 5 guns! However, they are not handguns, they are rifles for hunting. This is because so many people in Alaska hunt and fish for a living or for subsistance. For example, between August and February, my brothers go hunting for deer, which my family eats, and shares with other families. Alaskans are very close to the wilderness and it is a unique lifestyle to hunt, trap, fish, and gather your own food, but most people do it in some way. Of course, we have grocery stores and all, and not everyone hunts for food, but it is a lifestyle from the native Alaskans that many people have picked up. It is pretty much a different culture than in the rest of the US, but that is the way we live! :) It sometimes seems like we are about 50 years behind the rest of the world, but it makes life much simpler, and I think everyone is much happier that way! :)

ici on aà la vision des AMERICAINS avec un flingue sous l'oreiller...J'ai vu il y a peu de temps un reportage sur les armes aux usa qui montrait des enfants de 9 10 ans avec des armes...c'est assez inconcevable ici...

vous pensez que les armes sont indispensable dans votre pays'

ELODIE

Hi Elodie,

It's true that there is a problem of gun control in the U.S., but I don't think the image of Americans sleeping with guns under their pillows is true. It seems to me that most people who have guns are either hunters, or they are criminals or drug dealers, or people who live in very dangerous, crime-ridden areas of cities. As far as the suburbs and rural areas go, I don't think many people have guns. Those who do are, in my opinion, being waaay too fearful and also foolish, because they likely have them for protection but - protection from what' Most suburbs are extremely safe and in some cases, having a gun in the home has led to tragedies with children finding the gun and getting hurt or killing someone. I personally am against private citizens owning guns unless they are hunters owning hunting rifles. I don't care that it's in the constitution, that was written hundreds of years ago when times were very different and I think it should be changed. But, I have liberal views and our president is unfortunately a conservative and so are many Americans, so...the problem with guns continues!

coucou abigail

'But, I have liberal views and our president is unfortunately a conservative and so are many Americans, so...the problem with guns continues! '

je trouve sa dommage que le problem des armes continue, je truve sincèrement que ça ne va faire qu'amplifier les violences et les morts par balles perdues ou non...c'est vraiment riducule.ELODIE

Hélas le problème des armes aux états unis n'est pas pret de s'arreter si l'on en croit tout les spécialistes de la constitution US:en effet la loi américaine ne prévoit aucun moyen légal d'annuler cette loi et par conséquent celui qui tentera de le faire se retrouvera avec la justice sur le dos...

forcément jusqu'aujourd'hui personne ne s'est lancé dans cette quète de l'impossible parceque ce ne serait que pure folie!!!

je voulais demander aux étudiants américains si, fidèles à leur réputation, ils sont si attachés à leur constitution(qui fut la premiere au monde,donc, forcément, la plus éloignée du monde actuel...).

merci bye

gildas

This past week hasn't been easy for anyone here ... each day, each hour it seems, some new information is revealed that just makes the situation even worse.

The Brandeis community has had a strong reaction: our President (university President, not Bush) has been sending emails to us, and almost all of my classes have taken some portion of the day to discuss things, sometimes the entire class.

You're right to mention our media--there tends to be a lot of distortion their alot. I haven't really been reading/watching to American news sources for information so maybe some of my classmates can fill this in a little bit.

I can tell you that people are very upset and sad. Some are angry. Sometimes this anger is shown in our media more than sympathy with the victims. I was listening to the radio and they were reading the gunman's essays and criticing them, saying how they were crap, and how he didn't even speak English. They made deliberate efforts to mispronounce his name. He'd lived in the US since he was 8 years old, he spoke perfect English (as his videos have unfortunately shown). But there's a lot of anger right now and people are putting it where ever they can ...

Gun control laws differ by state ... some see this event as a reason to make stricter laws saying that a person with a documented mental illness should not have been allowed to purchase a firearm. However, (and this was mainly in the early, reactionary accounts I admit,) some think that if the Virginia Tech campus wasn't a "gun-free zone" then maybe some of the students would have been able to defend themselves.

I think the second arguement is ridiculous, but it's hard to argue when 33 people are dead.

I realize that you all may see this too as a reflection of American culture. It is something that we've been dealing with often in the past years. However, I hope that it is not a part of our culture.

Loneliness is sometimes a part of our culture. The US is full of lonely people. I don't know if it's more than other places. For some people it's too much and turns into a mental illness.

Violence ... everyone says this too is part of our culture. I don't know if that's true or not ... I think there are many cultures and societies within the US and it varies between them ...

People here have been debating a lot of these things over the past couple days and no one has come up with an answer. There isn't an answer.

Please, if you guys have anymore questions, let us know. If this is confusing for us, and can't imagine how confusing it must be on your end.

~Sam

I don't know what "victory in Iraq" means. How do you measure victory when there is no black and white good guy vs. bad guy. People always ask here if it's possible for us to win in Iraq, but what is being won? "The hearts and minds" of Iraqis? If that's the case, we've failed miserably already.

So, no, I don't think victory is possible in Iraq ... no matter how you define it. There are many, many, many Americans that would disagree with me.

But, I'm extremely liberal here. Honestly, I don't think there's a clear victory in any kind of war. If you have to kill people to accomplish something, then you automatically lose.