Organizations and Markets

Who Are (Really) the Cheese-Eating Surrender-Monkeys?

11 December 2006 at 2:49 pm Nicolai Foss Leave a comment

| Nicolai Foss |

My co-blogger is very fond of France, the French, etc. (And me? Well, I have actually lived there ;-)). In a recent post, Peter cited the familiar neo-con characterization of the French as “cheese-eating surrender-monkeys.” Here is Mark Steyn reflecting on who the real CESM are:

I’ve never subscribed to that whole “cheese-eating surrender-monkeys” sneer … As a neo-con warmonger, I yield to no one in my contempt for the French, but that said, cheese-wise I feel they have the edge. … In America, unpasteurized un-aged raw cheese that would be standard in any Continental fromagerie is banned. Americans, so zealous in defense of their liberties when it comes to guns, are happy to roll over for the nanny state when it comes to the cheese board. … The French may be surrender-monkeys on the battlefield, but they don’t throw their hands up and flee in terror just because the Brie’s a bit ripe (pp. 181-182 in America Alone, Regnery Publishing, 2006).

France may be the most commie nation in the World, but CESM they ain’t!

Entry filed under: - Foss -, Ephemera, Myths and Realities.