Every new generation constitutes a wave of savages who must be civilized by their families, schools, and churches.
-- "The Vertical Invasion of the Barbarians," from Robert Bork's
Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline
.
Earlier
this month Gates of Vienna posted video footage of the vicious assault of an unsuspecting white man by a mixed-race group of teenage boys on a
Paris public bus. Gates also blogged a Figaro interview with the victim
[French only], venturing to title it “Paris
Syndrome” [with translation]. The man's attempt to
explain away the incident and to defuse its media attention recalled to Gates the “Stockholm Syndrome” whereby hostages identify with
their keepers. Here are related remarks based on a disturbing
experience I had recently on a Montreal public bus.
It was between 10:00 and 11:00 P.M. on a very dark, very cold, but otherwise calm mid-winter Saturday night on the French-speaking, east side of town. The bus was about three-fourths full. As a group, we were tranquil, a bit subdued even, owing to the hour and the cold and our proper manners. At one stop six to eight teenage boys, aged 14-17, boarded in a tight group. Based on their visible traits, I guessed that they (or their parents) had been born in North Africa, in Morocco, Algeria or Tunisia (also known as the Maghreb). My Algerian-born companion confirmed this based on her recognition of their accents.
From
start to finish, these boys' presence was a complete nuisance,
perhaps a criminal one. They clustered at the front, just behind the
driver's seat, verbally one-upping each other with cackles, shouts,
and taunts. At one point, they belted out quasi-military chants, to the tune ofI
ain't sure, but I been told/Navy wings are made of gold...., in Maghrebi-Jouale
(Jouale: Quebec French). I don't dispute that teenage
boys the world over have a real need to “strut their stuff,”
including in groups and, as appropriate, in public. When I was
their age, I too did nearly the same thing with male friends,
including light-hearted variations on the same refrain from An Officer and a
Gentleman (albeit within a track team's workout discipline).
But it got worse. Some boys accosted
each other with pokes and slaps on the head. Most aggravatingly, one
pounded on the wheel casing as if it were a drum. Another opened a
window to stick his arm and head out (uncovered and in deep-freeze
temperature, with no regard whatsoever for nearby passengers). One even separated himself from the group to take a seat,
surprisingly capable of embarrassment. Or maybe just fatigue. After the longest 15
minutes in my recent memory, they tumbled, as one, off the bus at
some stop.
Had their conduct been criminal? Possibly. If so,
they had disturbed the peace and, perhaps, interfered with the
driver's safe operation of the bus. I have no problem with letting
“boys be boys." What I have a problem with is boys being boys
in a way that will never lead them to becoming responsible men. One
of these ways is when boys are a nuisance, a disturbance, and an
endangerment to public transport – to the vehicle, the operator,
the passengers, and of course to themselves.
* * *
May
all of the above be a point of departure, not some hand-wringing,
irresponsible “conclusion.”
The point of departure is that
for a quarter of an hour this Maghrebi mini-mob entirely dominated
the environment of the bus, and no one made a
peep or lifted a finger to intervene. Remarkably, sadly, the one with the most authority
to do so – the driver – did nothing. In Oakland, California I
have seen (African-American) drivers of public buses – men and
women who know better than to tolerate such behavior – pull over,
halt the bus, and announce that they won't budge until disrupting
(African-American) teens either stop or get off. Guess what? It
works. Oh, and did I say that the Montreal bus driver was white? If
you had guessed that, you were right (not necessarily white, and
certainly not racist).
As far as I could tell, none of these
North African teens were drunk or high. Their deliberate behavior was
as self-conscious as it was anti-social. “Root causes” are a
total failure of family, school, civic, peer (and, if applicable,
mosque or church) pressure on the boys to conduct themselves decently
in public. I have to wonder, however, whether there is a solution?
Because from the driver and the passengers (myself included) none was
forthcoming.
Sitting at arm's length, I kept my eyes on them
the whole time, prepared to stand up and encourage others to do so,
should they have picked on anyone outside their group. (Half the
passengers were middle-aged or older.) Admittedly, I shrank
from doing what I believed, still believe, was right: to push past
them and demand that the driver assert his authority (as some of his
Oakland colleagues do). The fact is, these boys were
intimidating. As we saw recently in Paris, anything can happen in
such a situation. Or rather, as we saw recently reported in
Paris – because this stuff goes on every day in European and North
American cities that host North African immigrant populations.
The
issue is one of authority,
in its abstract sense and its real manifestations. Specifically, it
is the failure by everyone concerned to instill, to assert, to abide
by authority. That the situation didn't further break down or
escalate this time was due to the whimsy of those teens only,
not to any demonstrated capacity or virtue on the part of the mostly
native-born, mostly-ethnically-white Montrealers. It is a situation
of neglect and impotence on many levels that – for lack of
unshakable assertions of authority – invites aggravation
and aggression with no end in sight.
It's Paris Syndrome, once removed. And it's ongoing in a city near you.
.
Related: "Is Paris Praying?"
.
(This post has been revised since its first appearance.)
