“I am against violence, but…”

Posted by Marc Hodak on April 9, 2009 under Collectivist instinct | 2 Comments to Read

How would you finish that sentence?  I would perhaps say something like, “but if someone were to physically threaten by wife or child, watch out for my stick or gun.”  Someone else might say, “but if I catch that guy abusing his dog again, I swear I’ll sock him.”  What would you say?

Well, in France, this rationale seems perfectly acceptable among at least 45 percent of the people:

“I’m against violence but if these things keep happening it’s because there is an underlying despair,” said Socialist legislator Jean-Marc Ayrault

“These things” refers to the French phenomenon of ‘bossnappings’–the forcible detention of top management by workers in response to the threat of layoffs.  That’s right, getting laid off from your job is an excuse for violence in France.

In the U.S., few people would condone getting laid off as an excuse for violence.  It’s not a coincidence that the closest thing we have to a company run on French attitudes is also the source of the phrase “going postal.”

Socialists, however, believe that one person hiring another is an immoral act, yet also claim that being fired warrants a violent response.  Inconsistent, I know, but I’m not making this up.

“This sort of thing (bossnappings) will inevitably happen again,” said Bruno Lemerle of the CGT union in the Peugeot car plant in Sochaux, France’s biggest factory.

“Those who sow misery reap fury. The violence is done by those who cut jobs, not by those who try to defend them,” he said.

Of course, the defining aspect of socialism is that they believe that worker violence is is OK, while employer attempts to thwart it are evil.