Attack France AND Islam? Awesome!

There hasn't been much in the liberal blogosphere about the rioting in France among young Muslims. I can't say why that is except in my case. First, I pretty much stick to American politics. Second, it isn't something I could write about with any particular knowledge (whereas I've been a US political junkie for years). And although it sounds unpleasant and destructive, they don't seem particularly violent or destabilizing.

But there's been a ton of writing about it on the right. And why not? It makes France look bad and it makes Muslims look bad, enabling any rightie with a blog to pound two boogeymen at the same time. It's pretty simple: it's France's fault because the country is some sort of leftist utopia. It's Islam's fault because it's a violent religion. What's creepy is the glee with which they write these things.

Any knucklehead who's followed international affairs knows that immigration has been a hotbutton issue in Western Europe-- with right-wing xenophobes gaining a lot of ground in the last decade, and public animosity toward immigrants growing. Especially when economies start to falter. The most resented immigrants are those from North Africa and the Middle East.

But I'll leave it at that. The link above is to a post where someone's done the homework for me. And I always like that.