this reminder from levant pretty much sums up the 'makeshift memorial, piles of teddy bears and tea light candles' attitude of the world and worse still, france.
France’s president, Francois Hollande, called the attacks an “act of war” and said in response he will “lead a war that is pitiless”.
I’m sorry, but I don’t believe him — and if my observations today were any indication, no-one else does either.
You can watch my short video reports from Paris,
by clicking here.
If my first impressions of Paris are accurate, Hollande doesn’t mean it, and neither do most Parisians. In fact, the opposite has happened: France has developed a tolerance for terrorism. They accept terrorist violence as the new normal. They’re numb to it now.
Here’s proof.
In January of this year, Muslim terrorists launched a series of five attacks that killed 17 people across Paris, including 12 at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. That led to a massive solidarity march through Paris, with millions of people — including many foreign leaders — swearing it would never happen again.
But it did happen again, ten times worse. By coincidence, Friday night also had five attacks, and the death toll (so far) is 139, with 352 injured.
But there’s no massive march this time, no stream of foreign leaders coming to pay their respects. And even at the actual site of the massacre, the mood was subdued.
As you can see in my video reports, there were a few hundred people milling around, but there was no resolve, no conviction, no purpose. Outside Bataclan, a street performer set up to entertain the crowd — and no-one seemed to find it inappropriate.
Down the street at the Place de la Republique, a crowd of perhaps 1,000 gathered. They knew it was a momentous occasion, but they didn’t quite know what it meant, or what to do or say. So they smoked marijuana, sang Top 40 pop songs, and took lots of selfies. There were a few patriotic flourishes — they sang the French anthem, and even chanted “Liberté!” a few times. But it felt more like a festival than a call to action, let alone a change of course.
To be fair, many of those at the plaza were students, who have never been taught a vocabulary of patriotism and have lived their entire lives in a cocoon of political correctness. But what of President Hollande himself and his promise of pitiless revenge? Today, French combat aircraft dropped a grand total of 20 bombs on the Islamic State. He surely killed fewer terrorists than they killed at Bataclan alone.
After the Charlie Hebdo attacks, nothing changed. Unlimited, unscreened Muslim migration continued — including the arrival of two new Muslim “refugees” who participated in Friday's terrorist attacks.
At the plaza, the crowd chanted, “love is stronger than hate”. But Friday night proved that’s not true. And it won’t be true after the next attack, either.
Paris terror attack updates - The Rebel