Hooligans
On NPR this morning I heard that rioting in France has intensified for the eleventh straight night. It bothers me that three or four times they spoke of the rioters as ‘disaffected youths’ or ‘angry youths,’ as though their age somehow maintains their innocence despite their violence. I am not old. If I burn cars and fire guns at police, I become a hooligan and a criminal. Similarly, if French people burn cars and fire guns at police, their age has nothing to do with it. They also become hooligans and criminals, and the world media ought to have the spine to so label them.
Furthermore, there is no defense in claiming oppression. If social change is needed, suitable, successful methods can be found in Indian satyagraha in the 1940s and the American civil rights movement in the 1960s. They may require more intelligence and organization, and they may not feel so immediately cathartic, but they result in a livable future. Sustained violence and anger will only create another Ireland or Palestine.
