“The point was that clearly, had you noticed, I had moved away from the belligerant anti-French stance I had previously taken. Had you read one of the other and more recent threads you’d have known that. I also think that maybe you are taking issue with one particular statement, and have ignored the intelligent debate that resulted over the coruse of the thread.”

You might have moved away from the “belligerant tone” but as far as I was aware, you had not qualified your first post. I found it hard to believe my eyes when I read it. I had not seen that you had since altered that post but for all it is worth, it is appreciated.

“SOC, the thread might have been inactive for a while, but that doesn’t mean that the contents of your post didn’t register.”

“I’ll concede you that point. If you want to go back into the archives even and respond to all of the posts there, that’s your right, and enjoy the reading.”

No need for that. I can remember other threads where other issues brought about similarly heated exchanges, with posters who carry a lot more kudos than I do. And it’s not like the present thread was 2 years old, is it?

“When it seemed clear you were continuing in the same vein in other topics”

“Explain that.”

The topic containing a “humourous” summary of the wars France fought. In view of your earlier posts, it did not come across as that funny. I might be guilty of a major sense of humour bypass here, but as people say, a joke coming from a friend does not have the same effect as one coming from somebody who seemed (and I stress the word “seemed”) to have an axe to grind with the French.

“I thought it was more than a one-off and with the greatest respect, I think what you wrote was outrageous.”

“Actually it was a one-off. And apparently I should have made the sarcasm more clear. It was merely an overly violent expression designed to demonstrate my clear and precise disdain for the French position on the issue. I do not necessarily want to obliterate France, in a response in this thread I even go so far as to state that I have no issue with the French people. I do think their position has never been adequately explained, and when French weapons are currently threatening my fellow servicemembers, I reserve the right to develop a degree of animosity towards the adminsitration which allows said weapons to be illegally exported.”

OK, I take your point. You raise very interesting and important issues. I apologise if I overreacted but once again, what would you have said if you had come across a post expressing similar thoughts anout the USA and in a similar way?

“…and enjoy the trouble you stir (which would be pretty childish)”

What trouble have I stirred? Differing opinions is not a definition of trouble.”

People reacting to what you wrote for a start.

“…or whether you genuinely hold these beliefs (which would be a very sad reflection on you).”

Well, I do genuinely hold the belief that the French government is despicable. No, I do not actually advocate a thermonuclear exchange with France. As to how it reflects on me, your opinion is obvious. If I am making this such a bad experience for you with obviously inflammatory remarks, so be it. Consider this my last post.”

OK, that is something different. It’s the gratuitous attack on France as a whole and its citizens which rankled so much. I see it every day in the papers… “The French this, The French that”. Some might argue that it is obvious that some of these acerbic pieces of criticism are only addressed to the French government, but after a while the rehtoric takes a more general tone. The least said about some of the British tabloids the better, but I find it worrying that the whole of France is tarred with the same brush and that at every hint of disagreement between France and the USA or the UK, the same insulting cliches and the same old tired grossly inaccurate statements about France reappear. It’s saddening to see that year after year the same lies and caricatures are spread by some parts of the media and that they are actually taken on board by some people. If a lie is repeated enough times some people start to believe it. During a short stint I did “teaching” at university I actually had a student of mine ask me “so do you think there was really a resistance in France?” in the same way as if he was asking me whether I thought there was life on another planet.
This probably explains why some people are a tad oversensitive about what is said in the media on on discussion boards such as this one.

I get as irratated when French people have a go at the UK for gratuitous reasons and start churning out ill-informed rubish about it. And if truth be told, I do not care much for blind and rabid anti-americanism either. There are clearly quite a few negatives things to be said about those three countries but it is senseless to do it outside a rational framework…

As for this being your last post, obviously it’s up to you… But why would you stop posting because someone took exception to one of your remarks, which you say yourself was a one-off, particularly somebody who does not get involved so often? Your messages are clearly interesting to the majority of the regulars here.
You have said and shown you were willing to engage in more productive exchanges. What would be the reason for not doing that?

I hope this post has clarified things and I look forward to enlightening discussions on various topics.