This morning’s New York Times published an article,
datelined Paris, which from a
European perspective is
astonishing in its candor:
Are the Roma Primitive, or Just Poor?
In fact, even for America, the notion that any ethnicity, now matter how primitive,
could be publically discribed as, err, “primitive” (of course with chaperoning
quotes) is no longer widely accepted.
I monitor the French press daily (though not intensively),
and have never encountered a depiction as unvarnished as this:
THE cluster of Roma, handcuffed and caged-in behind glass walls,
listened in silence as prosecutors accused them in court of selling child
brides for up to about $270,000 in cash, valuing them based on their ability to
steal. In a case that has riveted France, the prosecutors accused three family
clans from Croatia of grooming girls and boys as young as 11 to steal as part
of a gang that committed 100 robberies in France, Belgium and Germany in 2011.
One 20-year-old witness told the court he had stolen about $600,000 in
cash and jewels for his parents, or more than $7,000 a month, since age 13.
Less skilled thieves could face punishment, including beatings by Roma elders.
All but one of the 27 accused were convicted on Oct. 11 in Nancy, in
eastern France, of forcing the children to steal, and received sentences from
two to eight years. At the top of the network was a 66-year-old grandmother.
The case highlighted an increasingly rancorous debate here and across
Europe about what some politicians call, rather ominously, the “Roma question,”
a reference to the nomadic people, also known as Gypsies, who came from India
to Europe centuries ago. An estimated 11 million are scattered across Europe.
In Europe, you just don’t say that. Or
rather, you don’t print it;
meanwhile the murmur of vox populi grows louder and louder, and may
produce surprises in the next French general elections. But in the U.S. (so far at any
rate), gypsies need no more be treated with evasion and kid gloves than, say,
Armenians.
*
Für psychologisch
tiefgreifende Krimis,
in pikanter
amerikanischer Mundart,
und christlich gesinnt,
klicken Sie bitte
hier:
*
For a typical example of how the French press -- even the
relatively politically-incorrect right-of-center Le Figaro -- reports
such matters, consider a much less sensitive case, involving the theft of
agricultural equipment out in the fields:
Telle une nuée de criquets, une
bande de pillards a fondu sur la récolte début octobre pour faire main basse
sur pas moins d'une tonne de pommes de terre. Les auteurs de cette razzia
pastorale ont sévi à la nuit tombée, s'immisçant entre deux parcelles de maïs
avant de se volatiliser dans la nature avec leur encombrant butin.
Ni vu ni connu, sans aucune
traçabilité de provenance. «Les
empreintes de pas, plutôt de petites tailles, ont témoigné de la présence
d'environ vingt pillards», note un gendarme qui estime la marchandise à une
valeur de 10.000 euros. Et la facture s'envole avec les vols en série de
tracteur. Bien que valant bien souvent le prix d'une Ferrari, ces engins
ultrasophistiqués ont été volés avec une simplicité déroutante, comme de
vulgaires scooters.
http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2013/10/15/01016-20131015ARTFIG00527-les-agriculteurs-excedes-par-les-vols-a-repetition.php?m_i=t6qt1mr64CuPqAxcWWQxkk2NMcpxScxnrcB9gBZ6dnyJeWTZD
Here and in the rest of the article, there is no indication
whatsoever of what group might be responsible for these noctural larcenies, nor
even whether the thieves share any traits at all in common -- perhaps some slip
in from the local nunneries, while others are physicians on a country vacation,
who knows. There is not so
much as a code-phrase like “venus de l’Europe de l’est”, which every European
has long learned to decipher.
But there is one clue, which those familiar with the
hieroglyphics of European discourse about prickly matters will understand: that Sherlock-Holmesian detail concerning
the “footprints in the flower-bed”, so to speak: “rather on the small side.”
Instantly French readers know what is at stake. The allusion is to the well-known
practice of Romany Fagins of employing little Artful Dodgers in their schemes,
since these, if caught, are usually simply released, to steal another day. The French by now are hip to
this, and in their Comments, the readers pull no punches and name names. (“Gens du
voyage” -- ‘travelers’, as in Britain -- began as a euphemism, but simply means
gypsies.)
Tout ces vols, c'est archi connu,
sont le fait de gens du voyage et de gens venus de pays de l'est qui mettent
sur le terrain des mineurs qui se savent en totale sécurité face à la justice
française !
----
A propos comment appelait-on ces
gens qui faisaient des razzias sur les côtes de France pendant des siècles?
---
La France est pillée par les
nomades des pays de l'est, merci Schengen et les frontières ouvertes, et que
fait Monsieur Hollande et son gouvernement de d'abrutis ? Ils parlent de soit
disant fascisme et marine Le Pen qui danse au bal de Vienne. Il ne voit pas
notre Président Moi je, que la France est livrée à la criminalité.
--
Ce sont les mêmes qui volent des
kilomètres de cables en cuivre, et rassurez vous il n'ont jamais souhaité
travailler.
L'excuse de paupérisation ne passe pas, c'est clairement un choix de mode de vie.
Arrêtons la culture de l'excuse !
L'excuse de paupérisation ne passe pas, c'est clairement un choix de mode de vie.
Arrêtons la culture de l'excuse !
----
L'europe
passoire que nous ont fabriqué nos élites, entre-autre pour soit-disant nous
éviter une guerre, ne nous protègera de la guerre civile qui nous pend
inéluctablement au nez.
--
"C'est le symptôme d'une paupérisation croissante de la population qui va se servir dans les champs pour survivre."
Heuuu, le vol d'engins de plus de centaines de milliers d'euros n'ont rien à voir avec la paupérisation.
Pas plus que le vol de tonnes de légumes ou de fruits.
Il faut une sacrée organisation et des réseaux, mafieux, pour écouler tout ça.
"C'est le symptôme d'une paupérisation croissante de la population qui va se servir dans les champs pour survivre."
Heuuu, le vol d'engins de plus de centaines de milliers d'euros n'ont rien à voir avec la paupérisation.
Pas plus que le vol de tonnes de légumes ou de fruits.
Il faut une sacrée organisation et des réseaux, mafieux, pour écouler tout ça.
For Americans still clueless about this exotic wandering community, you may read a brief introduction here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24603386
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/world/europe/roma-couple-ordered-jailed-by-greek-authorities.html?ref=international-home&_r=0
 |
| Spot the Odd Man Out |
There is much, much more along these lines; but that
is not the point here, our focus being rather on rhetoric and euphemism in different
styles of journalism.
Incidentally, that last story has been garnering
international headlines, in a way that other much more dramatic examples of
Roma crime (after all, this one might
involve little more than illegal adoption plus welfare fraud and other scams)
are never heard of on this side of the Atlantic. And the reason is
obvious: Not the inherent importance of the story, but because it
involves a Little Blonde Girl. The whole thing is, in other words, just
the latest example of Victimology
Porn.
[Update, 22 October 2013] Whenever the Blond Child Female Victim motif is introducted, expect the limbic system to take over from the cortex:
Authorities in Ireland have taken
custody of a child described as a blond-haired, blue-eyed girl in the care of a
Roma family she did not resemble, the second such case in Europe in a week.
Police said Tuesday that they took
the girl into custody Monday afternoon in a neighborhood in southwest Dublin.
DUBLIN — Two blond, blue-eyed Roma
children were removed from their families in different parts of the country
this week — only to be returned when DNA testing confirmed their parentage.
.
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