Rein on All Fronts
By Charles Rein
For my headline, I've borrowed the song title of the same name, 'Eve of Destruction." It originated from a protest style song written by P. F. Sloan. While true, several artists have recorded it, the most popular recording was by Barry McGuire (released in the sweltering summer of 1965.) A month later in South-Central L.A. the Watts riots would explode killing 34 people and property damage estimates approached $40 million.
With those "fun facts" behind us, I ask if you've heard of this past week's police shooting and resulting demonstrations? Some see shadows of police brutality in a teenager's death. The United Nations went so far as to declare (we) must 'seriously address the deep issues of racism and discrimination in law enforcement'. On the other side, a radio host is so fed up, his narrative is "foreigners can't integrate and those protesting the police shooting are immoral."
Location? It began in a country full of baguettes, cheese, wine, smokers; home to the iconic La Tour Eiffel and even a one dimensional Pepé Le Pew. Yes-that U.S. Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon created the stereotypical "French skunk who stunk" you may remember from your childhood. As he was introduced way back in 1945. I'm not saying that you're that old, but well if you can remember him...
So what happened?
1) Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old of Algerian and Moroccan parents, was shot and killed by a police officer in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. Apparently Merzouk seemingly ignored a police officer's commands then suddenly accelerated away from the police traffic stop.
2) Demonstrations erupted over this and included fires set to parked cars and extensive looting.
It's been nearly a full week since the protests began and some U.K. outlets have written that "while unrest in France have subsided, riots have begun to spread to cities in Switzerland and Belgium with protest chanting, "Justice for Nahel."
Was this last week of 'France burning' a delayed nine year mirror of our own 'Merica on fire'? You may recall mass demonstrations and looting in Ferguson, Missouri; curfews were put in place and nearly 3,000 National Guardsmen called up by then Governor Jay Nixon in 2014. These Ferguson demonstrations came in three different waves, all within a year in the U.S. Now some wonder will French protests decline or spread like a California wildfire?
Some of the French protestors maybe saying, "Eez zee falt of zem pole-leaze. Zay overstep zee bounds and killt zee teen." A British news site went as far to call it 'an execution' by cops.
Others say, the real problem is not an assassination but immigrants and assimilation! After all, Merzouk was brought up in a single parent home in a suburb that once housed the biggest shanty town for Algerian immigrants.
Going back 17 years to a PEW RESEARCH CENTER study titled, The French-Muslim Connection-
Tom Rosentiel, pointed out that "France was home to the largest Muslim population in Europe"... persons primarily of Algerian and Moroccan extraction (since religion is not tabulated in France’s census, no official estimate is available).
The other side may argue, "French pole leaze shouldn't be ze judge, jury and executioner. Ezz dis the American version of your muscle man, Sylvester Stallone film, Judge Dredd?" while putting down their cigarettes and glass of wine at a cafe along the banks of the river Seine and blowing zee smoke.
You may recall a philosopher from the Golden Age of Pericles' -Athens - a guy named Plato-not the cartoon Pluto. Plato was quoted as uttering: "When there is crime in society, there is no justice."
An author of a poetic paper written on 'Plato's Concept of Justice', D.R. Bhandari at Jodhpur India J.N.V. University explained:
"Plato was highly dissatisfied with the prevailing degenerating conditions in Athens. The Athenian democracy was on the verge of ruin..." In addition, "Sophistic teachings (Sophists- wandering professional teachers and intellectuals) who taught that ethics of self-satisfaction resulted in excessive individualism (and) also induced the citizens to capture the office of the State for their own selfish purpose, [The "ME Generation?" Sounds familiar?] and eventually divided "Athens into two hostile camps of rich and poor, oppressor and oppressed."
https://www.murrayandmurray.com/blog/2017/august/in-plato-s-concept-of-justice-an-analysis/
So we can sit up late into the night drinking several Bordeaux wines, debating who's to blame. Or we can pop some Orville Redenbacher in the microwave, 'American style,' grab a couple of 2 liter Coca-Colas and get comfy on the couch to re-watch the 1995 Hollywood Sylvester Stallone movie, 'Judge Dredd' who seems to encapsulate the 800-year-old Latin phrase "Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius"- reportedly spoken by the commander of the Albigensian Crusade, prior to the massacre at Béziers in July 1209. A direct translation of the Medieval Latin phrase is "Kill them. The Lord knows those that are his own." Or as you've probably seen this phrase abbreviated on bumper stickers, "Kill them all and let God sort it out."
"Sacré bleu!"