An Encouraging Sign Amidst The Terror

While the right seems hell-bent on exploiting the Paris massacre, it is heartening to see that some of the people most affected, the French, are demonstrating that they won't be so easily manipulated

French mourners in the city of Lille, which is north of Paris, sent anti-immigrant bigots scurrying away after they tried to intrude on a vigil for victims of Friday night’s terrorist attacks, the Independent reports.

The vigil began at 3 p.m. local time but was quickly interrupted by about 15 members of far-right group, the French National Front. The group angered grief-stricken vigil attendees by shouting, “Expel Islamists,” throwing firecrackers and unfurling an Islamophobic banner.

But the bigots were quickly forced to leave when the crowd of hundreds turned on them and forced them to retreat. Security forces intervened before tensions escalated further, according to the British publication.

Ward, I'm Worried About The Beaver

In this complicated world filled with dire threats ranging from rapidly-escalating climatic disasters to unprecedented rates of marital discord to street (and theatre) violence that leaves everyone feeling more vulnerable than ever, I'm sure many Americans pine for the halcyon days of tranquility and simplicity epitomized by that classic family show, Leave It To Beaver.

You know the world I mean, where everyone owned a house on a quiet street, Mom was at home to provide a wholesome snack for the kids as they returned each day from their segregated schools, a world where even the biggest problems ('Beave ditched school today') were no match for the patriarchal wisdom of that archetype of fatherhood, Ward Cleaver, always ready to dispense sometimes severe but always loving solutions to wayward behaviour.

The only problem, of course, is that this world never existed, except in the fictional world of the television universe.

It is a fact apparently lost on the extreme right that now dominates the U.S. Republican Party. In his column today, The Star's Tim Harper casts some light on the reactionary platform that was endorsed and adopted at the RNC this week:

The platform adopted here would outlaw abortion, including in cases of rape and incest.

It backs a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman and affirms the rights of states and the federal government to refuse to recognize same-sex marriage.

Same-sex marriage, it says, is an “assault on the foundations of our society.”

The platform says the party would overturn any bid to limit the capacity of clips or magazines for weapons and oppose any move to restore the ban on assault weapons.

It would aggressively pursue anti-union right-to-work legislation at the state level.

It backs energy exploration and development of the Outer Continental Shelf and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

It would overturn any immigration amnesty, and advocates making English the official national language.

It would reject the use of taxation to redistribute income or fund “unnecessary or ineffective” programs.

It is, in short, a platform that would win enthusiastic approval from even the darkest of hearts found amongst the Taliban and the theocratic regime in Iran, who would no doubt recognize kindred spirits in the country they now call "The Great Satan.'