The Paris Riots- An Enlightened Lesson?
The on-going unruliness that began in the suburbs of Paris, and spread to other areas of the country, as well as other European capitals including Brussels and Berlin, inches a country closer to a policy that will soon be a dictum throughout the European and North American world- “nobody gets in and nobody gets out.” This is especially ironic, not to mention disturbing, when one considers recent French politicizing. France is known for its ostensible tolerance regarding a wide variety of issues, specifically toward the immigrants that have flooded its cities in the wake of colonialism. To seek one reason for the sudden outburst of frustration in the Parisian suburbs is as tenuous as connecting the causal event- the accidental death of two black kids- to the violence that followed. In fact, the seemingly illogical chain of events beginning with a paranoid retreat from authority and resulting in riots of hopelessness indicates that Western thought is unable to properly process the affair. And this is the real problem, just as the Western world is at a loss to decipher the logic that engages in and defends terrorist activities, so too do we struggle with the link between the sad fate of two young boys and the unrest of entire communities. The reality that both of these issues reveals is what I would term the underbelly of the Enlightenment. The rigid logical postulation of Descartes and Kant, among others, which spawned such brilliant thinkers and critics as Freud and Nietzsche, Doestoevsky and Darwin, is also the legacy of imperialism, colonialism, communism, and Hitlerian fascism. In a quest to construct codified nation-states and national identities exclusion of “the other” is a natural result. This is not original thinking on my part, any student of post-colonial and feminist theory will tell you the same. In a terrifying revelation, it seems we have created a muted double of our own logic, our own self-reliance and “godless” individualism. This same “logic” that seriously debates the use of torture, as our government is currently doing, seems to reveal the contortions and rubberized bends that Western ideology can undertake. The point is not to criticize the thought process that begat the Enlightenment and the last 500 years of Western history- the same logic allows me to communicate with you. But it would seem that the same liberal, or humanist, principles that engender my train of thought should also explore the possibility of another form of “logic.” This is not a support of Deconstructionist thought, though I find Derrida’s seminal theory both invigorating and agreeable, but rather a realization that a completely separate mode of thought has developed in human history that lies outside the bounds of Western ideology. But even that last statement indicates or supports the idea of centralized thought. The rift between East and West, specifically the Christian and Muslim worlds (there I said it), is a deep rivalry, one that seems to be justified by the Old Testament. As disheartening as it may seem, it may be an irreparable chasm. Issues such as culture and ideology certainly play a role in the separation. But is it possible that two sets of separate “logic,” lie on either blade of the clashing swords. And is it possible our logic is wrong? Maybe. And might theirs be wrong as well? Maybe. But this is not the problem. The issue is the fact that one logic, right or wrong, has held sway over the other- politically, economically, territorially. Thus, rioting in the streets of Paris, New York, or Berlin should come as no great shock- and this is not to justify or condone such activity. But it is time to admit that our colonial history has come to roost in our own back yards, and that we have reached the end result of the concept of nation-state. In a quest for individualism and self- sovereignty we have forgotten the most basic of instinctual principles- that mankind herds with those who look and speak the same. And thus the ostensible openness and freedoms espoused by the philosophical treatises of the Western world have not only brought “the other” to our doorstep but the hatred and fear of “the other” along with it. While we watch the events unfold in Paris and other European locales, only questions remain. Do the mute speak with fire? Is our logic an increasingly closed system? Is logic a mask that society wears to hide the true identity of all humanity-savagery and corruption? Or can we look at this as a Hindu might or as Herbert portrayed in his fourth installment of the Dune series (God Emperor)- that destruction is the mother of creation and vice versa?
