Sunday, November 05, 2006

A Stale Question: What Will It Take for the French to Rebel?

The Augean Stables has a good summary of the latest lawlessness in France. This one doesn’t involve arson, though it is another attack on public transportation.

The deprived youths seem to have a thing for modes of transportation — and with good reason. What better way to make large numbers of people feel unsafe?

anarchy on the subwayFirst it was the cars… actually, they’re still burning those in astonishing numbers; they’ve merely added to their repertoire by attacking busses with gasoline — remember the hideous burning of the young woman in Marseille? And now, a third theatre of the battle: they have expanded their strategic vision of Hell for France, and have begun hitting the subways in Paris.

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This last incursion doesn’t entail burning or blowing them up, however. This is about robbery and humiliation: purses, cell phones, money, MP3s, laptops — all the accoutrements of the average Parisienne traveling to or from work.

Needless to say, the French MSM has nothing to report. Augean Stables notes one paper, the Parisien, which has an article on it (and from which the image here was taken). Evidently this paper is often willing to report on news which the larger gatekeepers pretend doesn’t exist — at least until the situation is too big to ignore any longer. AS put up the link to a scan of the report here, as well as some analysis about the effects of these random acts of violence on the average citizen:

This incident, which had people fleeing the subway in panic, and the police closed off the station to arrest the youth is not unprecedented. Last spring, just before the riots — in the daytime — passengers were jumped and relieved of their goods. Said one:

“They took my laptop and I didn’t move. I just tried to hide my bag,” said Thierry. “We went through ten minutes when we felt as insignificant as a straw in the wind.”

And that’s just what you were supposed to feel. You’ve been humiliated. And you took it lying down. Double victory for them.

And that double victory is then turned into a triple victory when the French MSM avoid any mention of the incident. Thus the French slowly but surely let some of the Metro stops and lines become “lost territories,” taken over by gangs whose information network is excellent, and the losers don’t even know it’s happening.

Why no report? Because it’s too embarrassing? Because if the tourists knew they wouldn’t come? Because if the French knew, they’d vote “right wing”? All apparently compelling reasons for the French MSM; all very bad reasons for the future of the French Republic.

All good questions. Perhaps it’s the third possibility: because if the citizenry at large knew what was going on, Chirac would be history. And the compulsion to hold on to power appears to be stronger than the desire to protect one’s country.

Countries, like people, have characters, or at least characteristics. Someone described France as “a nation of solidarity”. I don’t think it is any more. France has become deaf, dumb and blind to its own demise. In a way, this is fitting retribution, for it is the French elites — all the way back to dear de Gaulle — who deliberately, with malice aforethought, planned the Muslimification of Europe.

And why would any sane nation do such a thing? Sheer envy. France thought it could quell the rising power of America, whom it deeply resented for... for being so atrociously American — that is, powerful, rich and so carelessly its bumpkin self. Now the urban French are forced to pay for this hubris on the part of their leaders. They wallow in daily fear and humiliation as the hatred of the depraved youths rampages through the cities of France, destroying public order for the simple pleasure of creating anarchy and experiencing briefly, the illusion of power.

Europeans have a different mindset than Americans when it comes to who is responsible for public order. The former hamstring their officers of the peace, giving them rubber bullets to face off crowds of murderous bullies. Such bureaucratic thinking is foreign in the extreme to the average American.

We sometimes go the other extreme, giving our SWAT teams too much leeway, and on occasion innocent people are hurt by these proto-military keepers of the peace. On the other hand, the French police are not known for their gentle ways, and are less answerable for their actions than our police officers. So it’s not a simple equation.

One thing is sure, however. The limits to which the MSM will go to hide these atrocities makes them part of the Islamification of their countries. The elites are not French, they are transnationals. As long as they are in charge of the larger picture, the youths are free to continue their rampages. After all, who rides in subways and busses? Not Chirac or his minions, that’s for certain.

But wait until they start coming for the chauffeur-driven limousines. Then it will be another story. An indignant, outraged story that will indeed be above the fold in the French newspapers.

Meanwhile, the youthful barbarians continue their softening up of the average citizen. There’s nothing like random violence and humiliation to leave you with a sense of permanent helplessness and make you more likely to accept further victimization.

What will be the breaking point? What could make the French people rise up and stand together?

Or is it already too late?


Hat tip: François

Update: Even before Mystery Meat pointed it out (via email), the Baron corrected my mischaracterization of the French. Whoops. It is now more appropriate!

4 comments:

eatyourbeans said...

Their own national anthemn mentions hordes of foreign invaders ravaging and assaulting throughout the country. Perhaps the French just hum that part.

Dymphna said...

egads! eatyourbeans! I just looked up the translation of La Marseillaise and you're right. What a bloody, sneering song. I'm going to post it.

eatyourbeans said...

Naw, Dympha, give the devil his due. It's absolutely stirring. I only wish the French thought so too.

anti-uffe said...

la.bueche, funnt that you mention Band of Brothers, I have also started watching it again just for the emotional release of watching somebody take some friggin' action against evil, when you're sick of this pervasive passivity (mind you, I'm not claiming I would be brave in the face of mortal danger like the Easy Company, but even a squealy coward needs some gung-ho 'affirmative action' to retain belief in mankind).

In addition, the United 93 DVD is also on heavy rotation chez moi for the same reason. That highly annoying German passenger whining his "we should not provoke them" really sums up what we're up against, doesn't he?