[Sandwich]

Actually, I just read up on the (neutrality-disputed) Wikipedia article about the riots. I openly admit I did not know why the riots supposedly began (the 2 youth running from police and getting electrocuted in a power station).

With that in mind, I found it slightly amusing that the NTY seemed to go out of their way to emphasize that there were other participants in the riots who were not Muslim:

The head of the French intelligence agency (Renseignements généraux - RG) denied any Islamic factor in the riots, while the New York Times reported on November 5, 2005 that "while a majority of the youths committing the acts are Muslim, and of African or North African origin" local residents say that "second-generation Portuguese immigrants and even some children of native French have taken part."

So, fine. The French Muslim + Tag-alongs Riots.

[aldo_14]

so, the French riots, then.  Why are you so eager to tag on 'Muslim'?

[Sandwich]

Because they're Muslim?

Because I'm not afraid to call a stick a stick?

Because I've seen a pattern you seem to have missed?

Pick one.

[aldo_14]

Because they're Muslim.

They're also immigrants.  Also male.  Also black.  Also lower-class. Why not tag those labels on?

[Mefustae]

Because they're Muslim.

They're also immigrants.  Also male.  Also black.  Also lower-class. Why not tag those labels on?

Doesn't have the same ring.

[Sandwich]

Precisely.

[Fineus]

Could someone fill me in on what they were rioting about? It might go a long way towards explaining what the riots should have been called.

[aldo_14]

Could someone fill me in on what they were rioting about? It might go a long way towards explaining what the riots should have been called.

The spark was the death of 2 teenagers when chased by police, but the primary reasons can be put down to racism (for example from police, in job applications, etc), high unemployment, poor living conditions in slum tenements and lack of opportunities.  Etc.

[Fineus]

And those who were rioting were of Muslim persuasion? Or was it a lot more mixed than that?

[aldo_14]

And those who were rioting were of Muslim persuasion? Or was it a lot more mixed than that?

They were immigrants from the likes of Algeria.  They didn't exactly do surveys of the rioters, after all....

Put it this way; you call them the Muslim Riots.  What does that tell you about the actual cause?  Nothing whatsoever.  What I would suggest it does do, though, is imply the riots were down to Islam rather than the actual cause of them.  Makes it rather easy to demonise the religion, I'd say.

Albeit from what I can tell, this whole French riot topic came about as a result of suggesting a desire to deport all these French-Arab immigrants.

[aldo_14]

Yahoo, of course, have their own sensible advice for travellers on what to do whilst waiting.


(http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/15/world_trade_center/)

[Kosh]

When headlines and ads collide.....

[karajorma]

Not as bad as the one I saw once about the Jill Dando murder* with an advert at the top for a job website titled "Make a contract killing!"


*For the non-brits Jill Dando was a TV presenter who at the time was believed to have been killed as the result of a murder for hire.

[Fineus]

When headlines and ads collide.....

You like that?

It's tasteless but I'll never forget the time I saw a CNN newspage about an infant that died in a house fire. The advert on the page? For zip drives. It said... "Burn Baby Burn!"

[Sandwich]

You like that?

It's tasteless but I'll never forget the time I saw a CNN newspage about an infant that died in a house fire. The advert on the page? For zip drives. It said... "Burn Baby Burn!"

I saw that one too, but the "Burn, baby, burn!" ad was for a CD burner drive, not a ZIP drive.

[aldo_14]

Excellent article in the Register; http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/17/flying_toilet_terror_labs/

[Kosh]

The al-Qaeda franchise will pour forth its bowl of pestilence and death. We know this because we've watched it countless times on TV and in the movies, just as our officials have done. Based on their behavior, it's reasonable to suspect that everything John Reid and Michael Chertoff know about counterterrorism, they learned watching the likes of Bruce Willis, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Vin Diesel, and The Rock (whose palpable homoerotic appeal it would be discourteous to emphasize).

It's a pity that our security rests in the hands of government officials who understand as little about terrorism as the Florida clowns who needed their informant to suggest attack scenarios, as the 21/7 London bombers who injured no one, as lunatic "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, as the Forest Gate nerve gas attackers who had no nerve gas, as the British nitwits who tried to acquire "red mercury," and as the recent binary liquid bomb attackers who had no binary liquid bombs.

For some real terror, picture twenty guys who understand op-sec, who are patient, realistic, clever, and willing to die, and who know what can be accomplished with a modest stash of dimethylmercury.

You won't hear about those fellows until it's too late. Our official protectors and deciders trumpet the fools they catch because they haven't got a handle on the people we should really be afraid of. They make policy based on foibles and follies, and Hollywood plots.

Meanwhile, the real thing draws ever closer. ®

So baically this was all for nothing. What a surprise.........

[Turambar]

countries and their reactions to terrorism, especially the US, are pretty much useless.  what i saw after 9/11 was the equivalent of a ****load of swelling after getting pricked.  there was a massive overreaction, and its all done so much more harm, and everybody is less safe as a result.  the 'after the fact' reactions, like the banning liquids thing, is also useless, as the people who wanted to do that were caught, and airline security (the few with brains) would be looking out for that anyways.

eh, im tired.