John Burgess on events in France

The rioting and civil insurrection now sweeping across France has led certain sectors of the American media–including blogs–to see it somehow as a “French intifada,” or worse. Even normally neutral observers are drawing a false conclusion from an assortment of fact; they’re “connecting the dots,” but coming up with the wrong picture.

What is going on in France is a revolt of immigrants who have been kept–intentionally or not–at substandard levels of society. Among those immigrants are many Muslims. That, however, does not make this a “Muslim revolt.” Also among those rioting immigrants are Africans from the Sub-Sahara, many of whom are Christian. There are also reports of Eastern Europeans taking part. The issues are social and economic: they are not religious.

Attempting to solve a social/economic issue as though it were a religious issue is not going to work. The wrong diagnosis never leads to the correct prescription.

While this is not a religious revolt, it could become one. Everyone with a political stake will be seeking to frame these riots to further their own agendas. That could include Islamists and already includes the far-right and far-left of the French political spectrum. But that’s what it could become, not what it is.

While most of the media -- both Left and Right -- start to hyperventilate, John Burgess takes a more measured approach to events in France. He links to several places that he says have a more nuanced diagnosis of the issues than most.

If you are not among the hyperventilating crowd, you might want to take a look.
If your mind is already made up, don't bother. Just move on to another post.

Meantime, I am coming to the conclusion that Islamophobia is becoming the New Antisemitism. No matter which way a Muslim turns it will be the wrong way. If he protests he is being unreasonable, if he remains quiet he is just waiting until the right moment to protest. If a week of Molotov cocktails has no casualties, it is evidence that an organized effort is underway that will soon lead to the next stage of a violent Jihad. If the violence stops they are only biding their time until the next opportunity. What is happening is a mindset no different from the only good Indian is a dead Indian.