What does everybody think about the soldier , shooting that?

As an American gentleman -- No.

An adroit, circumpspect, laudable, mature, and wholly appropriate response to a puerile, salacious query.

More's the pity

Finn, your experience is pretty much what I'm talking about. People have different experiences and can draw their own conclusions based on them. I can't say one way or the other what Frenchy's are like as I haven't met enough of them. I have been to France, but I was 14 at the time and so I enjoyed myself as only someone who has very little responsibility can do. Travelling is stressful and complicated. I've met some of the best people and some of the worst people on my travels. But I wouldn't take my experiences and draw broader conclusions because what I saw was through the eyes of a stranger.

But I will say that I will never again fly Air France.

PARIS Farid Quesnel-Djedid is a 26-year-old travel agent who tells a story of rags-to-respectability rarely heard in France. Abandoned by his mother as a baby, he was placed with foster parents in a tough Paris suburb. He dabbled in crime, was stabbed in the chest when he got caught in the middle of a gang fight, spent six years homeless and eventually worked his way through business school. .
He is now the manager of a prestigious branch of a large travel agency, Carlson Wagonlit, where he arranges the itineraries of wealthy French business executives..
But don't call him Farid at work. He goes by Xavier, which is part of the secret to his success: He learned long ago that having an Arab-sounding name in France can mean rejection by potential employers and clients..
"If I call and say, 'It's Farid on the line,' I won't get the account," Quesnel-Djedid said..
He cited a handful of Arab friends who have switched to French-sounding names: Mohammed became François and Bashir became Frédéric..
Another friend, Nasser, now goes by Tony, because "you can tell by the way he looks that he's not French - so he tries to pass for Italian," Quesnel-Djedid said..
Stories of discrimination against Arabs or Muslims in Europe are nothing new and by no means limited to France..
Global problems like terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict appear to be worsening relations between Muslims and other Europeans across the Continent..
If and how these tensions will affect the workplace is a story still unfolding. But a groundbreaking study in May by the Adia employment agency revealed how discrimination is already startlingly widespread in France, which has Western Europe's largest Muslim population..
With the help of a French sociologist, Jean-François Amadieu, the employment agency answered 258 help-wanted ads for senior salespeople and managers by sending a total of 1,806 fictitious résumés..
Almost 30 percent of white French men and 26 percent of white French women received positive responses. But when the résumés were changed to have Arab-sounding names, the positive response rate dropped to 5 percent..
Also facing strong discrimination were the handicapped, with 2 percent positive responses, and people over 50 years old, with 8 percent. The résumés had photos attached, as is French tradition, and white candidates with an ugly face also had a lower response rate, with 13 percent..
Frédéric Girard, the head of marketing and development for Adia, said the problem of discrimination in France was "enormous" and only now being addressed..
"We have progressed from a state of denial to the undeniable," he said..
There appears to be more awareness of the problem: Last month, 40 companies with operations in France, including Airbus, IBM and Total, signed a "Charter of Diversity" in which they vowed to hire more minorities..
But Girard says many companies regularly flout France's antidiscrimination law by placing help-wanted ads in newspapers requesting candidates from a specified age group. The law says employers cannot discriminate on the basis of age, gender, race or religion..
Quesnel-Djedid says he learned very early that his name and his religion in France carry a stigma..
He applied to a prestigious French business school in Paris under the name Farid. They rejected his application, saying his grades were not good enough. The next year he applied again under the name Xavier and was accepted..
He has used Xavier ever since. He says he announces that he is Muslim and of Algerian origin only once he is well-established at a job..
Co-workers usually accept this graciously, he said, except for the time he was working as a salesman at a sports equipment store..
He asked his manager whether he could skip lunch break during the fasting month of Ramadan and leave work earlier. The manager, Quesnel-Djedid said, was "furious.".
"I'm sick and tired of Algerians who want to be treated differently in this country," Quesnel-Djedid remembers the manager saying..
After being named employee of the month three months running, Farid was reassigned to the stock room..

I guess we are over the soldier shooting that.