The Fire in France

Real Clear Politics.com ^ | November 6, 2005 | David Warren

[paudio]

Readers of my previous columns, especially those written since 9/11/01, have sometimes assumed that I don't like France. This would be an over-simplification. Like many Frenchmen, I should think, I am aware of more than one France, and tend to prefer one to another. To my Western, Christian, Catholic mind, a Europe without France is like a bicycle without a chain -- France has contributed so much to the velocity of our civilization. (Now, a Europe without Italy, on this analogy, would be like a chain without the bicycle.) There have been, for lo these last dozen or so generations, however, at least two Frances. One is the France of the Enlightenment and the Revolution, which seems to have triumphed to every outward effect, in its rebellion against God and his clerics. The other is the France of Charles Martel, and the greatest Gothic cathedrals, still pulsing in some leonine rural hearts, or even in the remembered wheeze of the odd sick, symbolist poet. I despise Revolutionary France, which reinvents itself in every generation, most recently as the final paradise of sophisticated consumerism. I despised the cheap romanticism that subverted the poet's symbols. But the old Catholic France is the apple of my eye.

[paudio]

I wonder if many people like him still live in France.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

Not for long, once the IslamoNazis take rule.

[adamsjas]

a Europe without France is like a bicycle without a chain

And a Europe with France is still, at best, a bicycle, when the rest of the world has moved on to autos, aircraft, and spacecraft.

France is a perpetual thorn in the side, an nation of never ending nit pickers, who take the other side of any argument just to be French.

[Armigerous]

John Paul II once referred to France as,,,,"eldest daughter of the Church"....now France is just 'Islam's bitch"

[Billthedrill]

France has had gangs before - nasty ones. The Apaches, for example, and no, I'm not talking about American Indians. They have had crime before. They have had violence before.

They have had the determination before to deal with it. Do they now? I wonder, in an off-hand sort of way, but I don't really care much if they don't. I don't disdain the common Frenchman at all, but his government and his universities have been taken over by pretentious fops who persist in the illusion that the greatest threat to France is McDonald's and Disneyland. Would that it were.

[Tzimisce]

This might very well end up being good news for Cartographers.

And he's right. Leftists around the world are trying to put this into the frame of a Marxian uprising (cause they're too narrow to see any other perspective) when what they have is a religious uprising.

On the French side it might be secular, but the rioters have other ideas.

[msf92497]

I'm personally sick of the French snotty-a$$ed attitude, but an islamo-fascist european nation would be bad for all of us.

I imagine the French historical record of xenophobic brutality will repeat itself...then again, France is now a secular nation...hmmmmmmmmm.

[injin]

France needs to bring back the guillotine for these islamo scum . Start with Mr. Chirac .

[AZLiberty]

... an islamo-fascist european nation would be bad for all of us

A nuclear islamo-fascist european nation, especially.

[pepsionice]

French bureaucrats and politicians tend to make a mess of anything they do. I'm guessing that private French citizens will start taking to the streets shortly to avenge what is going on. In any case...this will get alot worse before it gets better.

[George W. Bush]

An interesting bit from The Corner at NR on how all the French are now dhimmi:

WHY AN INTIFADA IN FRANCE? [John Derbyshire]
An acquaintance of mine -- French, currently resident in North Africa -- sent a long post about the French riots to an email group I belong to. It is a fascinating post, but much too long to paste here. I did think, though, that the following passage would interest NRO readers, so with his permission, I pass it on.

It is from a passage headed: "Why an Intifada in France?" It is among a long list of reasons given as answers to the question.

"The Iraq war: as I had noticed very strongly in Tunisia a little more than 2 years ago, the opposition of France to intervention in Iraq has been perceived as a sign of weakness, and French are since considered as Dhimmis. The change of attitude from Arabs against French has been dramatic: now I know problems of security in Tunisia, and even in the French planes to go and come from there, and in Nice (French Riviera) Airport! This opposition, probably motivated by the money earned in Oil For Terror program and by threats from Saudi Arabia and Iran, has marked the end of France as a Western country (whatever one thinks about the Iraq war per se!)."

[DB]

Wow, didn't really consider that.

Chirac really screwed the pooch...

[DB]

You know it just occurred to me... France is even more screwed than we think. They can't fight back hard against these rioters. If Muslims die at the hands of the French police/troops on national TV other Muslims around the world will start attacking French assets. The Muslims in these areas have already turned on them and don't fear them anymore.

[DB]

Check out posts 12 & 14.

[backhoe]

Is Paris Burning? ( Religion of Peace® Alert )
Click the picture:

Islam, The Alleged Religion of Peace® ( TARP™ )? Click this picture:

No, I am not exaggerating. Click the pic, go to "last," and read backwards.
If you are not informed about this stuff, you will be made sick. If you are informed, you will be made mad, all over again.

---

Kindly note tagline...

Is Paris Burning? ( Religion of Peace® Alert )
Click the picture:

Islam, The Alleged Religion of Peace® ( TARP™ )? Click this picture:

No, I am not exaggerating. Click the pic, go to "last," and read backwards.
If you are not informed about this stuff, you will be made sick. If you are informed, you will be made mad, all over again.

---

Kindly note tagline...

[ARepublicanForAllReasons]

If Muslims die at the hands of the French police/troops on national TV other Muslims around the world will start attacking French assets.

I saw some French minister on Fox tonite (I forget - PM or Interior, I think). And my POINT IS the inCREDIBLE nonchalance of this French gov't official to the ongoing violence. He spoke bravely of once having a bomb planted near or at his house, how the French have faced down terrorists before, this is nothing new... blah blah blah. But not a peep from him about any planned tough crackdown planned. He bragged that they had arrested over 200 rioters, but undercut his own optimism by saying he wasn't sure if this will lead to LESS or MORE violence. The word 'masochism' comes to mind. Nonchalace and masochism are both French words, I believe.

[Wonder Warthog]

"France has contributed so much to the velocity of our civilization. (Now, a Europe without Italy, on this analogy, would be like a chain without the bicycle.)"

My---how ridiculous. Italy was contributing to European civilization when the French were still wearing bear-skins.

There was this little organization called the ROMAN EMPIRE, and later the CATHOLIC CHURCH that made just "slight" contributions thereto.

And no, I'm not "of Italian heritage".

[samtheman]

The solution of the old Catholic France was, over the centuries, that of Charles Martel: victor at Tours in 732 A.D., where the advance of Islam on Western Europe was stopped. It consisted in a frank realization that two civilizations were clashing, where only one could prevail. The choice was relatively simple: victory over the invaders, or death and servitude.

What is the percentage of the French population who probably believes that the current choice is victory or death? Can the question be answered by looking at various election results?

[Wonder Warthog]

"What is the percentage of the French population who probably believes that the current choice is victory or death?"

Probably a lot larger today than before the "troubles" started.

Here's a suggested policy for France. Announce that ANYONE out in the open during a riot who has their face obscured with a balaclava or headscarf WILL be targeted by snipers and shot, and that the snipers will be accompanied by photographers with telephoto lenses who will identify anyone whose face is NOT so obscured, and those WILL be hunted out and prosecuted.

AND THEN DO IT!!!!

But I'm sure that the pusillanimous French can't muster the intestinal fortitude to take the necessary action.