The Off Topic Topic

[Duque de Bragança]

Meanwhile in France.

Macron disagrees and offers another explanation:

Amid national riots over a police shooting, the French president blames the unrest on videogames
By Rich Stanton published 1 day ago
The rioters are acting like they're in "the videogames that have intoxicated them."

 
 
 France is currently engulfed in large-scale public protests and riots sparked by police shooting and killing a teenage boy in a Parisian suburb on Tuesday. The 17 year-old has been named as Nahel M. and was shot while attempting to drive without a driving license (added by me) away from a traffic stop. The officer who did it has since been charged with voluntary homicide, but the incident and the victim's Algerian heritage have led to much anger focused on the French police and racial profiling. Thousands of arrests have been made in the days since, with speculation mounting that president Emmanuel Macron would today declare a state of emergency.

Macron did not do that but, in a statement condemning the recent violence and calling the situation "unacceptable and unjustifiable", went on to point the finger at videogames (among other things). The French president blamed parents for not keeping their children away from the riots, said social networks had played a part by inflaming tensions and being used to organise protestors, and the coup de grace was a denunciation of videogames.

The original French is in the below clip, but what Macron's saying of the rioters is that "there is a feeling some are living on the streets, like in the video games that have intoxicated them".


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What game does Macron have in mind? It's left ambiguous because this is simple political convenience, another scapegoat to throw on the pile as the French authorities try to re-assert control of the larger situation. It was only last month that Macron was boasting of a 350 million Euro investment in France's videogame and movie industries sector, but at times like these games still retain something of that boogeyman power.

Readers of a certain vintage will recall the countless times games have been blamed for society's ills and even specific incidents. The US Senate held hearings in the 1990s following various moral panics about violence in games, resulting in the creation of what we now know as the ESA ratings board. Grand Theft Auto created its own controversy, placing tabloid stories about the game where you could shoot cops. Various titles like Doom and Manhunt have been linked to deadly crimes. Rarely has any causal link been shown.

The civil unrest in France has now lasted for three days, with no signs of abating, and Macron saying the government would examine "all options" for restoring order. The BBC has live coverage of events.

Spoken like a true granny such as his teacher-granny-wife.

[Sheilbh]

Meanwhile in France.

He's in the US and seen similar from European far-right groups - and it's been a bit of a trope since at least the 2005 riots, it's not a million miles away from Fox identifying "no-go areas" in the UK.

Interesting to see this sort of stuff also coming out of the Indian internet. It's again that striking feature of the modern far-right/radical right/nationalist groups that they are, ironically, perhaps the most effectively transnational political movement in the world right now - picking up memes and arguments from one context to another and transmitting them very broadly and across borders.

Although it isn't helped with French police union saying they're at war with "wild hordes" which rather plays into that narrative.

[Duque de Bragança]

Although it isn't helped with French police union saying they're at war with "wild bunches" which rather plays into that narrative.

Fixed!

Horde(s) sauvage(s) is the French title of the Wild Bunch. Cops probably watched that classic.

The union has back-pedaled a bit but maintains most of it.

[Sheilbh]

Horde also means horde in French, no? As in Marie Favereau's recent books.

Is there any other reason to think they're making a multi-lingual cinephile pun?

[Duque de Bragança]

Horde also means horde in French, no? As in Marie Favereau's recent books.

Is there any other reason to think they're making a multi-lingual cinephile pun?

Yep, but that cinephile (pretty mainstream over here) pun is more likely to be known among the general people than Marie Fevereau's little known book, outside of Mongolian history circles.

Although there was this film about cops and banlieue scum uniting against zombies (!) called la Horde, directed by a critic. It's no classic, however, despite the comparable trajectory to Truffaut and the Nouvelle Vague (first les Cahiers then movies).

Or this mini-series:

[Sheilbh]

Random question - what happened to Russians in Germany in the 30s?

I was reading about Nabokov who obviously fled the revolution and ended up in Berlin for about 20 years. He wrote some of his novels there and had friends and family working in the Russian emigre community. Because of increasing anti-semitism he eventually moved to Paris (in 1937) and then New York (in 1940) as his wife was Jewish.

But from what I understand Berlin especially was a huge centre for Russian emigres (and still sort of is) post-revolution. I imagine many will have escaped after the rise of the Nazis, probably to France. But I was wondering if anyone knew for the rest - was there a deal to return them when Nazi Germany and the Soviets were friends? Or did they just ultimately become forced labour?

[Josquius]

Video games do seem more likely to be a part of the reason for kids joyriding than Islam I gotta say.

The 700's. France made a good recovery though.

[Duque de Bragança]

Video games do seem more likely to be a part of the reason for kids joyriding than Islam I gotta say.

Sure, and rock and roll music/hip hop/rave/ Role playing games, gamebooks etc. as well.

[Josquius]

Video games do seem more likely to be a part of the reason for kids joyriding than Islam I gotta say.

Sure, and rock and roll music/hip hop/rave/ Role playing games, gamebooks etc. as well.

Yes for all but the last 2. Unless I suppose they're some sort of driving related one I've not encountered.

Edit - actually no. Those 2 as well. Even D&D has more to do with joy riding than islam.

[Duque de Bragança]

Keep going but don't drink (too much). It's getting a bit out of hand. 

[HVC]

Is there something particular to being Muslim and being a joy rider that I'm unaware of?

[Duque de Bragança]

Better to think of banlieue hoodlums, as in refusal to comply twice ending up in a car chase, multiple traffic violations, drug dealing before, problems with police, school dropout etc, and joy rider, I believe.

I guess granny teacher wife Macron does not allow her pupil to watch "violent" movies such as the Fast and the Furious before bed time. Hence Zupiter having to rely on even more rote clichés 

[HVC]

Most of our " banlieue hoodlum" here are baptists

[Josquius]

It's funny how it's Islam that is to blame when brown youth are so integrated they misbehave as white kids would.

[Razgovory]

Today is the 3rd anniversary of me getting my pet cats.  So I bought them a cake.