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Originally Posted by Kurt
As for the Paris Riots, they weren't just in Paris. They were in 300+ cities across France and the majority of those rioting were Muslim. Yes, there were other ethnicities and faith's involved, but it was majority Muslim. But thats old news as Cartoons are now causing murder and mass rioting.
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The fact that the majority of rioters were Muslim was a simple reflection of demographics. It so happens that Muslims make up the vast majority of France's immigrant population. But they were not rioting because they wanted more mosques built or anything like that. In interviews, you will see that none of them was saying anything like, "We protest the immorality of French society" or "We are rebelling against this law." Their basic message was pretty simple: "We want to be treated as French citizens." Most of the rioters were the children of immigrants who felt, rightly, that they are as much French citizens as I am an American. And the problem was that French society at large tended to classify its people as "francais" (French) and "etranger" (foreigner). You literally found that kind of language in newspapers. And an etranger had significantly lower access to university education, stable jobs and good housing, other things being equal. To say nothing of almost zero representation in the government and politicians occasionally calling them smelly (literally, some minister talked about the minorities having a smell).
My point is that the violence in response to the Danish cartoons
were inspired by religion. The riots in France were not. We Americans, because of our experience, tend to attribute problems to ethnicities and religions like that, but it just doesn't fit in the case of the riots in France. Those had little to do with Islam and more to do with simple acceptance into part of the French identity. And thus, you can't really compare that event with what's been happening in response to some Danish cartoons.