The M Word

Molly Moore is nothing if not consistent; a brief dispatch on (we hope) subsiding violence in France identifies rioters as:

• attackers
• youths
• groups of boys and young men
• young men
• a man
• young men and boys
• arsonists
• groups of youths
• youths

Muslims are described as such only when they can be described as victims. As in:

On Friday night, a man on a motorcycle hurled two molotov cocktails at a mosque, slightly damaging the building.

It all fits like a glove; whatever social failures have taken place are primarily those of the original inhabitants of France:

The violence, which has hit nearly every major city and town in France, has opened a nationwide debate over the inequities and discrimination in French society.

And we all know where this is going:

A poll published by Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper Sunday indicated that 71 percent of those surveyed do not believe President Jacques Chirac can resolve the social problems that fueled the riots. The survey also showed that 25 percent of the respondents support the policies of Jean-Marie Le Pen, a politician who has capitalized on the violence to promote his National Front party's "zero immigration" platform.

The picture is complete. Youths with an undetermined cultural background are rioting, though we discover there are Muslims in France when their mosques are attacked or they're discriminated against by reactionary Frenchmen.