Here is a listing, in chronological order, of the posts on the riots in France I have written from my perspective as an expatriate in the country:

Random Fate - Fear and hate

Random Fate - Violence in France is spreading

Random Fate - More on the riots in France

Random Fate - Another view of the reaction to the riots in France

Random Fate - Q.E.D.

The Moderate Voice - Some thoughts both personal and more general on the riots underway in France

Given I live in the affected country, I may have a viewpoint that is a wee bit more informed than many you might read.

Technorati Tags: blogging, blogs, France, opinion, right wing blogs, right wing weblogs, right-wing blogs, right-wing weblogs, riots in France, some thoughts, weblogs

…in a long post I have written for The Moderate Voice.

If you read it in full, it may answer some of the questions that various people have posed in comments to my previous posts on the topic.

Feel free to respond either at The Moderate Voice or here at Random Fate.

Technorati Tags: commentary, current events, France, news, riots in France

Proving that the radical right-wing is seeing only what they want to see, here is a blog that refers to my post “Fear and hate” as going “on and on about what the riots are and are not about—wholly irrelevant points, since the rioters chose of their own free will to behave in a subhuman, criminal manner, and therefore, they and only they are responsible for their own behavior.”

Nowhere did I try to excuse the behavior of the hooligans, yet somehow they try to link what I am saying to what the rioters are choosing and implying I am saying the perpetrators are not responsible.

Seeking explanations is NOT making excuses.

If I seek out why a building collapses, am I trying to say that the architect and builder are not responsible? No, I am trying to find out the reason so I can make sure it does not happen again.

Yet, somehow, the author at RightWingNation appears to think searching for fundamental causes is making excuses.

Was I name-calling the radical right-wing?

The post I quote from gives further evidence that the radical right-wing is seeking out connections that do not exist so they can associate the words “subhuman” and “criminal” with Islam.

Perhaps I should have tried some name-calling.

Take a moment to think, people, and stop jerking your knees.

I repeat my point, if we link the violence to Islam when it is not connected, we will take yet another step on the path to being in a true holy war.

Unfortuately, the radical right-wing does indeed need to “put the kool-aid down and back away” because the lenses they use to view the world are obscuring too much.

For another view from the center on the right-wing reaction to the violence in France, The Radical Centrist has some thoughts worth reading:

Restrain your schadenfreude!

While at Incite, there is recognition that Islam is not the driving force behind the riots now, but the underlying disaffection may well be levered using radical Islam as a tool to deliberately create instability in the future. The final paragraph perfectly describes the key issues now and for the future.

The Dividends of Disorder

This is why we must recognize and address the true causes underlying the violence, because if we react as if it is another case somehow proving “Islam is evil” we will take action that will be to our detriment.

We are in a war against a group that uses radical Islam as a tool, but as has been said by many, including President George W. Bush, we are not in a war against Islam. It is not a holy war, and it will not be unless we make it one through ill-thought-out actions.