The legendary hatred between Americans and the French may be more of a cultural misunderstanding than an actual disagreement.

Dr. Eugene Chang, assistant professor of French/German, lived in France off and on from 1989-1992. He accompanied the group of Missouri Southern communications and history students to Paris in March.

Chang thinks Franco-American relations were much more balanced when he first visited France 15 years ago.

“American attitudes were different then, less confident,” Chang said. “We felt culturally inferior to the French.

“I think in some way that they [the French] liked it. They were the best at what they did: cooking, fashion, etc.”

Chang said the problem has come with the proliferation of American culture.

“The prestige of French culture has declined a bit,” he said. “They are more wary of American culture invading theirs. In a sense, they are afraid of being overwhelmed by American culture.”

This can be seen in the law requiring French radio stations to play at least four hours of French language music every day. American music is so popular in France the stations circumvent the intention of this law by playing the required music between the hours of two and six in the morning.

Chang said this explains the bad attitude displayed by the French when an American does not even attempt to speak French but assumes everyone can and will speak English. He said foreigners visiting any American city could expect the same if not worse treatment if they refused to speak English while staying in the United States.

Dr. Paul Teverow, professor of history, also accompanied a group of Southern students to Paris in March.

Teverow said all of his students were treated well during their stay, and any complaints of rude service or misunderstandings were about the same as could be expected when visiting any U.S. city.

“Don’t people in the U.S. think people in New York City are rude?” he said.

Teverow visited Paris for the first time 30 years ago and accompanied a journalism group to Paris in the spring of 2002, but said because of the war, he wasn’t sure what kind of treatment to expect during this last trip.

“I had heard that, particularly in Paris, the French were very rude and not sympathetic to tourists,” he said.

Lynn Kritikos, junior sociology major, was a member of Teverow’s history group. She said she had heard many rumors of Americans being spit on and treated badly, but found the French treatment to be almost exactly the opposite.

“Most of the French people I spoke with said they loved Americans,” she said. “Their complaint is with the American government, not the American people.”

Kritikos thinks the American media is responsible for perpetuating the image of the hateful French. She said the American news broadcasts she saw while in Paris were different from the Parisian stations.

“The American news overstated the French reactions and said there were lots of peace protests of which we only saw two,” she said.

Harriet Welty Rochefort, an American author living in France, writes about food as a metaphor for culture. She tried to explain the French position to the Southern students’ during their stay in Paris.

“The Americans expect the French to automatically support anything we suggest, because we supported them in previous wars,” Rochefort said. “The French consider themselves true ‘French friends’ of the Americans. A true ‘French friend’ is the kind who tells you if your lipstick doesn’t match your jacket. The French really love America, and therefore won’t just go along with whatever we say, because they want to point out where they think we are going wrong so, in their eyes, we might see the error of our ways.”

Vince Himmelsbach, junior history major, agrees that a good friend is not a “yes man.”

“A good friend will tell you when you’re wrong, but we just want to bash around anyone who doesn’t agree with us,” he said. “The French should be entitled to their opinion. They are a different culture and don’t understand democracy in exactly the same way we do.”

Chang said the French love Americans and feel that they understand American culture enough to offer constructive criticism. Unfortunately, he said, something was lost in the translation, and cultural differences prevented the goodwill from being communicated.

“The Americans don’t see this criticism coming out of friendship,” Chang said.

He doesn’t think the French expected the American backlash of anti-French sentiment.

“The French are evolving their position and have begun to ask themselves, ‘Have we gone too far?'” Chang said.

Many French are now coming out in support of America, much like the response after the Sept. 11 attacks. On the day of the tragedy, the front page headline of the French newspaper, Le Monde, the cynical voice of the French media, read: “Today we are all Americans.”

Chang thinks the French-American relationship is complex because of the shared history, and it cannot be summed up in a few words.

“The French’s ill feelings toward America are linked with their admiration for us, and their admiration for us is linked with their sense of inferiority to us,” he said. “The good feelings and bad feelings are so tightly intertwined that they are hard to separate.”

Chang does believe, in the end, the French do admire America more than most Americans think.

Teverow hopes these disagreements will not permanently damage French-American relations.

“In our relations with France, you have to take a long view,” he said. “Yes, there are serious disagreements, but look over two centuries of French-American relations and see we share many of the same diplomatic interests like global stability and human rights. We need to recognize these common interests.”

Kritikos urged Americans to move beyond their pettiness to see the French in a true light.

“I have absolutely no animosity toward the French or any other people group on earth,” Kritikos said. “Our hopes and dreams for our families and futures are the same. We have to start thinking of ourselves as a global society and stop drawing lines. We forget we are all just human beings.”