Yes, we Australians are not without guilt in some of those areas.
Of course in hindsight, many things can be seen as unenlightened rather than barbaric wherever.
The French were so supportive of the aspirations of the US for freedom from British control, and showed it in actual military assistance let alone symbolic gifts like the statue of liberty, and the obvious influence of their democratic ideas from their own revolution in forming the US constitution.
For the French to then find themselves derided for their capitulation to the vast forces of Germany last century and more recently its lack of support for the US invasion of Iraq is disgraceful IMO and no I am not French (a little bit, Vibert, a few generations ago) despite the Voltaire nic.
