Tenten
Jedi
FYI
How many times have you heard that one in the U.S.: the French are anti-Semitic!
Bill O’Reilly for example, says it on national TV! ( http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,119187,00.html" )
Well, as it turns out, he’s wrong! (who would have thought?) In fact, the percentage of Frenchies who have a favorable opinion of Jews is the highest in the Western world: 86%. That is much higher than the Spaniards (45%), the Germans (69%), the British (74%) and even 9% higher than Americans (77%).
Even the French Muslims have a fairly high opinion of Jews: 71%. ( http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?PageID=831 )
Source: http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?PageID=831
And what about our opinion of Muslims? After last fall riots, many American media outlets; (Reilly again, anyone?) depicted France as being at war with its Muslim population. ( http://billoreilly.com/show?action=viewTVShow&showID=532 )
Well, while favorable opinions are not as high as they are for Jews, they are still higher than in any other Western country: 65%.
France is also the only Western nation in which favorable ratings for Muslims are going up.
In the United States, those ratings went from 57% in 2005 to 54% this year.
Finally, let’s tear down another stereotype: the French are not interested in democracy for the Muslims, and that’s one reason they opposed the valiant American efforts in the Middle East.
Well, wrong again!
In fact, 59% of the French think that democracy can work well in Muslim countries while only 49% of Americans are as optimistic!
A sobering note to end that post: only 15% of the Turks, 6% of the Pakistanis, and a shameful 1% of Jordanians have a favorable opinion of Jews. And those are countries at peace with Israel!
For information, there are more than 600,000 Jews living in France, more than in any other European country.
They represent about 1% of the French population. For comparison, 1.4% of Americans are Jewish. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_France#Recent_History )
Note: Of course, none of that is to say that antisemitic incidents in France do not exist, or are somehow acceptable.
Source:
SuperFrenchie's blog
http://superfrenchie.com/?p=807
How many times have you heard that one in the U.S.: the French are anti-Semitic!
Bill O’Reilly for example, says it on national TV! ( http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,119187,00.html" )
Well, as it turns out, he’s wrong! (who would have thought?) In fact, the percentage of Frenchies who have a favorable opinion of Jews is the highest in the Western world: 86%. That is much higher than the Spaniards (45%), the Germans (69%), the British (74%) and even 9% higher than Americans (77%).
Even the French Muslims have a fairly high opinion of Jews: 71%. ( http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?PageID=831 )
Source: http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?PageID=831
And what about our opinion of Muslims? After last fall riots, many American media outlets; (Reilly again, anyone?) depicted France as being at war with its Muslim population. ( http://billoreilly.com/show?action=viewTVShow&showID=532 )
Well, while favorable opinions are not as high as they are for Jews, they are still higher than in any other Western country: 65%.
France is also the only Western nation in which favorable ratings for Muslims are going up.
In the United States, those ratings went from 57% in 2005 to 54% this year.
Finally, let’s tear down another stereotype: the French are not interested in democracy for the Muslims, and that’s one reason they opposed the valiant American efforts in the Middle East.
Well, wrong again!
In fact, 59% of the French think that democracy can work well in Muslim countries while only 49% of Americans are as optimistic!
A sobering note to end that post: only 15% of the Turks, 6% of the Pakistanis, and a shameful 1% of Jordanians have a favorable opinion of Jews. And those are countries at peace with Israel!
For information, there are more than 600,000 Jews living in France, more than in any other European country.
They represent about 1% of the French population. For comparison, 1.4% of Americans are Jewish. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_France#Recent_History )
Note: Of course, none of that is to say that antisemitic incidents in France do not exist, or are somehow acceptable.
Source:
SuperFrenchie's blog
http://superfrenchie.com/?p=807
