"Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys." That's a mean way of referring to the French. Look it up.
The article notes it comes from a Simpsons episode, but was used by neocons to express unhappiness with France declining to join in the invasion of Iraq, but says, "With declining support for the Iraq War, the term fell out of use."
I had this weird moment a while back when I discovered that my wife had never seen the television show All In The Family, which is widely considered one of the best television shows ever, & certainly I loved watching it as a kid. But the main character, Archie Bunker, is so obviously racist that someone born after the show, as my wife is, can't really get past that to the show's motives. She did not want to watch it.
He used a particular hateful term - one I haven't heard in years - & I don't want to print it here, so don't worry which one it is - but the thing is, the word - which just isn't used any more - seems kinda cute to me. Like, if no one knew its racist connections, they might think it was adorable.
One time, I was with a friend who (like me) doesn't eat animals & who in particular (also like me) loves pigs, & finds them very lovely & intelligent. One time, in a car, we were listening to the song "Hurricane" by Bob Dylan. (If you're not familiar with it, you can read about it if you want.) It's about an injustice &, to describe how the protagonist of the song is getting railroaded by the authorities, Dylan sings, "The trial was a pig circus, he didn't have a chance."
My friend, when she heard the phrase "pig circus," said, "Yay!" She wasn't listening to the song, she was just thinking of how cute a circus composed entirely of pigs would be. & she was right! It would be amazing.
Which is my long way of saying, I think "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" sound like animals I'd love to hang around with. Who wants to hang out with flesh-eating aggressive monkeys? The cheese-eating surrender monkeys have the right idea: drop out of the war & enjoy some snacks.
I have noticed that the word "surrender" in the songs I'll play on tomorrow's show don't have negative connotations. Perhaps I'll talk about that.
No comments:
Post a Comment