France Aflame

Malcolm X remarked after JFK's assassination that the "chickens had come home to roost." I'm fairly sure he was not relishing the murder so much as commenting on a sort of karmic justice on America as a whole for the treatment of blacks. I'm not buying into that line of thinking per se, but there may be something to this regarding France (and perhaps some other EU states) and the 13 nights of rioting that is taking place among "French" youths.

First, let me speak plainly... These youths are Muslim -- probably without exception, but there may be some criminal-types who are joining in the "fun". They are probably not "youths" exclusively, but include unemployed males into their early 20s. The infantilization of young adults is a worldwide phenomenon. France has to be on the verge of a true Gallic response to this -- meaning overkill. I do not advocate this type of violence or rioting and I fully blame the "youths" for their behavior.

That being said, there is something to be learned from France's treatment of these people as second class folk, denying them full citizenship, denying them full access to French society, and not having a mechanism for proper assimilation into the larger culture. The French have also ghettoized these folks and apparently these neighborhoods are no-go zones where even the police fear to tread.

"Deserve" is such a strong word, but these riots are a sure sign that appeasement and denial are not solutions to the problem of disaffected and cancerous Muslim fundamentalist young males and unfortuantely a more aggressive solution may be neeeded.