When John Kerry was running for president, his campaign took great pains not to publicize the fact that he spoke French because it was believed it would give many American voters a negative perception of him. That election was only one year after the cafeteria in the U.S. House of Representatives changed the name of “French fries” to “Freedom fries,” adopting the switch first started by a North Carolina restaurant as reaction to France’s opposition to the Iraq War. (The Freedom fries movement is just one of America’s loves for naming things with the word Freedom; trademarks applied for since 1980 have included Freedom Socks, Freedom Chicken, and Freedom Beer, according to Harper’s magazine April 2005 Readings section.)

Why do so many Americans loathe France so passionately? (But then again, why do so many think Rush Limbaugh is intelligent and witty?) I can’t understand it. I’ve been to Paris twice and found it to be as nice a city as I’ve ever seen—I even found the alleged Parisian rudeness and aloofness that many warn about to be greatly exaggerated.

To the credit of American tennis fans, there has been absolutely no anti-French sentiment at the Davis Cup matches in Winston-Salem thus far. The crowd on Friday warmly received the French players and the contingent of fans, visitors who must be enjoying the painfully weak dollar and the very inexpensive costs of this mid-size Southern town.

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