The idea that young from migrant families have not integrated with French culture is wrong. Modern French education has taught them to reject authority, discipline and tradition and to put self-expression and self-realization first. Social media influencers and trendsetters promote absolute freedom and rejection of notions of objectivity, ethics and natural law.
France’s migrant youth have been told to be themselves and to do what they want. So, they destroy buildings, burn cars and throw stones at the police to express themselves. Their actions are not an expression of Muslim culture of any kind. Their nihilistic fury lacks any political or religious objectives. It is simply rebellion against any boundaries.
Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti has decided to blame the parents for a failure to exercise parental authority, but how could they? When the whole culture in education and the legal system has been undermining family values and reducing parental power, it is not a surprise at all.
Young migrants claim that they do not like France and do not identify with it, and by saying that, they are following the logic of what is said in the mainstream. They hear that the nation-state is an anachronistic evil, that Western civilization has been a source of misery and genocide, and that the intolerant, xenophobic European culture is responsible for racism and colonialism. How could they be expected to associate themselves with such evil?
These frustrated young people are in reality faithfully replicating the dysfunctional culture that is dominant in French society and culture, which has rejected tradition and embraced egoistic individualism. They are the children of today’s Republic.
President Macron has blamed the riots on computer games and social media such as TikTok or Snapchat, which, he argues, poison young people’s minds. However, these forms of media are just a mirror reflection of mass culture and that mass culture is based on the left-liberal hegemony of which Macron is a prime example.