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What's the French Word for 'Thug'?
It may have been a mistake to have said so, but French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy was surely closer to the mark than some in the way he characterized the young men burning cars and business around France and now shooting at police in Paris.They were, he said, "scum" I think that was a misquote and "thugs," which is a better estimate than offered by those who are so understanding, saying that, well, the young men are living miserable lives and are striving to get some attention, to change things for the better. "Through this burning, they are saying, 'I exist, I am here,' " says a man who has worked with some of these youths, as quoted in a Washington Post story. They couldn't find a better way to say that than by throwing gas on a handicapped woman - setting her ablaze? They couldn't adequately express themselves with means other than fatally beating a man trying to put out one of their fires? Their way of getting noticed is to terrorize children with their ferocity, to destroy the businesses that offer some of them employment, to wound more than 30 police officers? No, don't anyone excuse this rioting for a minute. What you need is law enforcement that recognizes that crime is crime and is committed by criminals and that rewarding it is a means of encouraging it. Nor does it seem the case that these young people - mostly Muslim youth in the poor, northeast suburbs of Paris - have been ignored, at least not wholly so. Der Spiegel, 'The Mirror' a German publication, reports in an online article about the socialist mayor of one of those suburbs and how he has joined with others in establishing soccer training for young people there. The suburb, Clichy-sous-Bois, "is an amalgam of schools, daycare centers, welfare offices, parts and a college that looks like something out of an architecture competition," the article says. But there are problems - widespread joblessness is a chief one. And there is, in my view, an obvious culprit: the welfare state. France has an unemployment rate of about 10 percent - roughly twice the American unemployment rate - which is two and three times as high in some Muslim neighborhoods, according to various reports. Why? Because to sustain the welfare state, France attaches extraordinary taxes and obligations to businesses, such as saying no work week can be longer than 35 hours. Businesses hardly thrive in that environment and there are major disincentives to hiring. Also, the welfare state, in trying to do so much for so many, cannot always do what's needed for those in desperate circumstances. Another issue is that France and the rest of Europe have not succeeded particularly well in integrating Muslim immigrants into the Western way of life, in large part, it would seem, because many Muslims have no desire to be thus integrated. That is hardly the same as saying most are violently inclined - a number of Muslims have tried to quell the rioting in France. But consequences can include a withering of social cohesion and a long list of disadvantages for those who refuse to adapt to certain requirements for success - none of them religious - in their adopted country. Americans hardly have a right to be smug about all of this - we have poor neighborhoods and we have had our own riots. But neither do we need to hide our heads in shame when Europeans berate us about an economic system insufficiently socialist. Even on a relatively short, first-time visit to Paris, I saw both the beauty and prosperity of the central city and the contrasting poverty - even ugliness - of certain suburbs. The welfare state does not solve all problems. It has in fact helped create many problems, even though it should not be blamed for the violence of thugs. Examiner columnist Jay Ambrose is a former Washington opinion writer and editor of two dailies. Posted by: Bobby 2005-11-08 |
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