the real reason!!

[john]

A long time ago,Britain and France were at war.During one battle,the French captured an English Major.Taking the Major to their headquarters,the French began to question him.The French General asked,"Why do you English officers all wear red coats?Don't you know the red material makes you easier targets for us to shoot at?"In his bland English way,the Major informed the General that the reason English officers wear red coats is so that if they are shot,the blood won't show and the men they are leading won't panic." And that is why from that day to now all French officers wear brown pants.

[Talthyr Malkaviel]

I see what appears to be a joke, yet I'm not laughing. Blame my eternally dour disposition. Of course.

[Stormymystic]

well i laughed...blame it on being sick of kind

[pcgiant]

No, I thought that was terrible. I hate jokes which mock other countries, especially because of the French stance on the Iraq War. The French should be able to make up their own minds, and not have stupid and unfunny jokes made about these decisions.

[Iron_Ranger]

French military jokes have been going around before the Iraq War, buddy.

[ 05-21-2003, 11:53 PM: Message edited by: Iron_Ranger ]

[Kakero]

oh, I always wonder why in the movies british soldiers in the olden days wear red uniform. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Grojlach]

Originally posted by Iron_Ranger: French military jokes have been going around before the Iraq War, buddy.

*shrugs*
So? That still doesn't mean you *have* to post them.

(focusing on the topic starter and those who thought it was "funny" now)
Most of these aren't "ha ha" jokes making fun of well-known and good-natured stereotypes, these are actually deliberately mean-spirited; and sure, if it's posted by someone who's making fun of his own nationality or profession or whatever, or making fun of someone of whom you know would actually have a good chuckle out of reading the joke, I have no objections; and I don't care if you tell jokes like these to your buddies at school or in the pub.
But knowing that this an International forum, and knowing the history of France-bashing even though people mostly ended up on picking on the only two French members of IW, and knowing that most of these jokes were nothing more than never-backed-up and unargumented low blows at the address of France instead of something light-heartened to release the tension a bit, and knowing there are hardly even any French posters left just because of this spiteful sense of "humour"; I think it's not only extremely rude and distasteful but also much like kicking a dead horse to continue targetting the French here on Ironworks.
You've already succeeded in chasing the few French members away, people have been suspended before for posting similar jokes, now give it a frellin' rest.

[ 05-22-2003, 04:55 AM: Message edited by: Grojlach ]

[johnny]

Guys... this was only a joke, don't turn this into a country bashing debate, sheesh. There are plenty of jokes about the French that i know of, but i know also quite a few jokes about the Dutch, mostly created by German and Belgian people. When someone jokes about the Dutch i don't get upset about it. If the joke is funny, i'll laugh.

Besides, i already knew this joke, except a different version of.

[Paladin2000]

True enough, Johnny. (BTW, are you related to John by any chance? [img]tongue.gif[/img] ). Anyway, I think we should lay off any jokes regarding French or any other countries (for that matter) for the time being.

So, let get back to the old blonde jokes, shall we? [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

[ 05-22-2003, 05:16 AM: Message edited by: Paladin2000 ]

[Grojlach]

Originally posted by johnny: Guys... this was only a joke, don't turn this into a country bashing debate, sheesh. There are plenty of jokes about the French that i know of, but i know also quite a few jokes about the Dutch, mostly created by German and Belgian people. When someone jokes about the Dutch i don't get upset about it. If the joke is funny, i'll laugh.

Oh, it's not that I mind jokes targetting one particular nation, it's the nature of the joke I object. I don't care if someone posts jokes about light-heartened stereotypical characteristics (e.g. the Dutch being avaricious), especially if there's a fair number of people from that particular country around to laugh along. But these are mostly made from a maliciously-political rather than from a friendly-stereotypical perspective; and taking the heated history of these "jokes" on IW and the current absence of our French members in response to all the recent France-bashing into account, I still stand by the opinions I voiced in my previous post.