Tuesday, November 08, 2005

ViL: Islamist rioters?

Andrew Sullivan writes:

"NOT EXACTLY ISLAMIST: I'm concerned about Muslim extremism in Europe and fear the worst. But I have to say that the reporting so far from France does not conform very closely to fears of an explicitly Islamist insurrection. I found this post by Iain Murray very helpful. And this quote struck me as telling:

They complained that police manhandle them during identity card checks, even claiming that some officers plant hashish on them as a pretext for arrests, and that they regularly fire off rubber pellets during sweeps. "You wear these clothes, with this color skin and you're automatically a target for police," said Ahmed, 18, pointing to his mates in Izod polo shirts, Nike sneakers and San Antonio Spurs T-shirts.

San Antonio Spurs? Not exactly Osama-wear."

This is an easy error to make, but the Paris rioters fit the Islamist actuality (not stereotype) very well, including their mode of dress.
See this brilliant article by Theodore Dalrymple, which really hits the nail on the head:

http://www.city-journal.org/html/15_4_suicide_bombers.html

1 comment:

Vol Abroad said...

I'd also like to point out that one of the 21/7 bombers was wearing a "New York" t-shirt on the day he tried to kill fellow Londoners.

And Palestinians cheered the collapse of the Twin Towers in Nike shoes and "western" t-shirts.