Remember When?

Considering most peoples' attention span consists of about 30 seconds into the future and about 10 seconds in the past, I thought it might be interesting to revisit a little brew-ha-ha from days gone by.

A while back, a whole gaggle of folks figured in true democratic fashion, the French were a bunch of yellow-bellied bastards for not supporting the efforts of the U.S., Britain, et al in effecting some sort of change in the Middle East. For the record, I will refrain from offering my opinion either way on the matter. Ragardless, a great 'boycott' of all things French was 'launched' so as to teach those 'beret-wearin'-fools' a thing or two about how 'we do things'.

Well, the numbers are in. And before you go and break your arm patting yourself on the back, give it a read.

"The unofficial boycott of French wine in the US has cost the country an estimated US$112m (£64m), according to an official study."

That's right... a whopping $112 million American clams. Granted this sounds like a pretty big number, especially if you only have 5 bucks in your pocket but let us put things in perspective. According to the CIA, the estimated GDP of the country of France for the year 2005 is 1.816 trillion dollars. Suffice it to say, that $112m is little more than a bug on the windshield of the Citroën that is France's economy.

Good try, but better luck next time.

Something else to remember from back then:

"Anti-French feeling at the time was running high and many media outlets, including the New York Times, reported on the rejection of French products – most famously with the cafeteria in the US House of Representatives renaming their French Fries as Freedom Fries."

Yep. With myriad things happening the world over and the proverbial 'Shit' about to hit the fan, our elected Representatives felt it absolutely necessary to change the already mis-named fried foodstuff in an effort to show their solidarity.

Unreal.

And lastly the quote of the article:

'I would like to pinpoint a drop in French wine sales to something as specific as opposition to the Iraq invasion, but unfortunately it is more complicated than that,' Barton told decanter.com. 'Statistics are like a bikini – they give you the idea, but hide the details.'

Right on, Barton.