Western European (Yes), Riot (the Word They Won’t Use), Report

“Denial” is a river that streams through Western Europe and courses its way into the reports of the worldwide Mainstream Media.

Oh, you didn’t know that riots have still been occurring in France and other Western European countries? Now you will.

France

As of Saturday at 11 PM, The New York Times’ home page only has a vague headline down in the International section (”Paris Police Are on Guard as Fear Rises Over Threats”) linking to this article, which twists itself into a pretzel to avoid the word “riot” and “Muslim,” and even spends a paragraph praising French gun control laws. But the fact is that rioting and destruction continue in France on a scale that would cause blanket news coverage and worldwide denunciation if it were happening here in the US. Ominously, the rioting is dampening everyday French existence in a major way:

The number of cars torched overnight in France climbed slightly over the previous night to 502 in a 16th night of unrest that took its heaviest toll on the French provinces, police said Saturday.

Security was boosted in the capital with some 3,000 police officers fanning out around strategic points to counter feared weekend attacks targeting Paris. Gatherings were banned from Saturday morning until Sunday morning.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but “gatherings” is a euphemism for “sporting events, concerts, weddings, wedding parties, church services, parties at hotels and meeting rooms, and any other occasions or events involving groups of people.” In other words, as I read it, much of life in France came to a screeching halt on Saturday and Saturday night.

Denmark

Perhaps you knew that riots were occurring in Denmark a bit ago. They still were, as of Wednesday night:

Police in the city of Århus were again called out to respond to disturbances in the Rosenhøj district Wednesday night.

Faint reverberations of recent French immigrant riots continued in the Danish city of Århus Wednesday night, as teenagers rampaged through its Rosenhøj quarter, setting dustbins on fire, smashing shop windows, and trying to set fire to one store.

I suppose we should be relieved that there were no car burnings.

Belgium

Riots in Belgium? You didn’t know? Well the Belgians don’t seem to either, even though it’s happening under their noses. Instead, they’re engaged in exercises of delusional self-congratulation (bolds are mine):

Preventative approach has ’spared’ Belgium of riots

BRUSSELS — The Belgian government’s preventative approach has ensured that the riots in France have not blown across to Belgium, Interior Minister Patrick Dewael said on Thursday.

“At the moment, there are isolated incidents and no city guerrillas or organised uprisings,” the Liberal VLD minister told MPs.

During a mini-debate in the Belgian Parliament in Brussels, Dewael said the situation in Belgium — which has witnessed four successive nights of unrest and arson attacks — cannot be compared with France.

However, Dewael said it is not impossible for French-style rioting to occur in Belgium, but that the Belgian focus on prevention — via a close-knit network of street and neighbourhood workers — was bearing fruit.

….. The minister’s comments come after dozens of cars and trucks have been torched in Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent in recent days. It sparked fears that French violence would jump the border.

Despite the tension though, the national crisis centre has said no large gatherings of youths have been witnessed and the situation was in general calmer on Wednesday evening than on previous nights.

I’m sure the law-abiding citizens of Belgium are dancing in their homes (dancing in the streets would be dangerous, after all) that “only” dozens of cars and trucks have been torched.

I think we’re beginning to see a language devolution that is creating another politically incorrect word: riot. It seems to heading into total disuse, though I suspect the word will be employed “liberally” to describe any disturbance in the US involving three or more people.

The Netherlands

No, there haven’t been riots (Nov. 13 UPDATE: But awfully close–“In the Dutch city of Rotterdam, four cars were torched and a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a home.” Were 4 cars torched in YOUR town last night?). But the forces of political correctness, willful blindness, and cultural suicide appear to have the upper hand (bolds are mine):

….. According to a new survey the Dutch public wants more attention to positive events. Half of the 845 people surveyed by the Millward Brown market research bureau described the atmosphere in the Netherlands as negative or very negative.

….. Enter the United Smile organisation. United Smile - which commissioned the poll - is headed by 27-year-old Ward Schepman. It is launching a campaign in November entitled ‘Nederland verandert, verander Nederland’ (the Netherlands is changing, change the Netherlands).

Complete with a television advert, the campaign aims to recruit young people into ‘action teams’ to draw attention on the streets to positive changes in society. People can also help by contributing positive ideas to the website.

Schepman, a native of Utrecht, is a graduate of a culture and society education course. He launched United Smile a year ago because he felt there was too much emphasis on the negative in the Netherlands: the murder of populist Pim Fortuyn in May 2002; the killing of filmmaker Theo van Gogh on 2 November 2004; threats to teachers and politicians forced into hiding.

A counterbalance to this litany of bad news is essential; positive aspects of Dutch life have to be mobilised, Schepman says. “A smile is the first opening for mutual recognition and appreciation.”

Sixty young people are currently working with United Smile. They help to organise educational programmes in schools and in community centres.

The organisation also takes an artistic approach to educate young people about themes such as public safety, integration, liveability and co-existence. It is inviting volunteers to join ‘action teams’ to take to the streets and be “creative, a little bit crazy, but above all…positive”. The aim is to make onlookers smile.

I can smile with the best of them, and those who follow this blog know I have a Positivity post every day, but this Dutch effort has all the earmarkings of “la-la-la, nothing’s wrong” denial of reality, or worse, a “permanent Kumbaya campaign.” Earth to Mr. Schepman: Something is definitely wrong when people are killed and politicians are forced into hiding. For cryin’ out loud, this guy started his United la-la-la Smile endeavor just days after Theo Van Gogh’s murder at the hands of a Muslim jihadist thug! Does anyone think Van Gogh would have been spared if he had only smiled?
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UPDATE: A reminder from this post:

– The 1967 Detroit riots lasted 5 days.
– The 1967 Newark riots lasted 5 days.

The French riots have now entered their 17th day.

UPDATE 2: I have it from a reliable source, an unknown source, and a shaky one that the following is true–easy to believe, hard to accept that people think this way, but true. Excerpted from the reliable source (bold is mine):

As not seen on (French) tv
Images of Paris’s suburbs on fire shocked the world - but not the French, because France’s media took it upon themselves to censor them, reports Jason Burke.

….. Jean-Claude Dassier, the director-general of the rolling news service LCI, effectively admitted censoring his own broadcasts of the riots. Speaking at a conference in Amsterdam, he said the prominence given to the rioters on international news networks had been ‘excessive’.

What shocked observers most, however, was his admission that his decisions had been made for political reasons. ‘Politics in France is heading to the right and I don’t want right-wing politicians back in second, [let alone] first, place because we showed burning cars on television,’ Dassier told an audience of broadcasters.

UPDATE 3: Two weeks of facts and figures on the French riots (as of last Thursday). Lowlights: 300 districts affected; one death; 115 injuries; 32 towns under curfew; “more than 6,600 vehicles torched and dozens of buses, schools, gymnasiums, nurseries, libraries, shops and businesses destroyed in arson attacks”; damages in the hundreds of millions of euros (ahem–the torched vehicles “only” account for about 25 million euros, so there is a dreadful amount of property damage other than to cars); 1,800 arrests.

UPDATE 4: EU Rota has more on what the French and Belgians are trying to pass off as “calming.”
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Nov. 13 Wizbang Weekend Carnival Participant.