On Being French

This whole "being French" thing is getting more and more complicated. Riots are tearing the cities apart and fires are eating through the blinders of Parisian society. Unfortunately, nobody quite seems to know how to deal with it. Chirac, much like other bumbling Presidents of other powerful nations, has been slow to react. French society, it seems, does not know how to deal with difference and doesn't officially recognize that difference even exists. So, essentially the policy is "There's no such thing as the dichotomy of black and white, muslim and christian. But if you're black, we're not gonna give you a job, entendu?"
Suddenly, white French society is forced to deal with an issue that they've tried to pretend does not exist. France is changing, from the outside in, and the poor suburban dwellers are beginning to raise their voices, cutting into the airspace of all those with their heads in the sand. As Craig Smith said in today's NY Times, "Put simply, being French, for many people, remains a baguette-and-beret affair." Well, ladies and gents, being French, put simply, is turning into a halal-and-head scarf affair. And if our Gallic friends don't learn to accept this fact, they're gonna be forced to....One car at a time.