Another dog that didn't bark?

Josh Feit offers a brief but provocative perspective in The Stranger:

What's interesting to me about the French riots is that they strike a totally different note than other instances of Muslim dissent that have erupted in the 21st Century. In this instance, America isn't the villain, but seems, in fact, to be the ideal.

I have no idea how much basis there is to this view -- Feit offers only one quote and that from a Spanish Muslim -- but as Feit points out "the rioters aren't burning American and Israeli flags and blaming all their problems on the West."

So this POV -- very much a surprise to me -- is certainly worth investigating. Are there any more facts which would support (or weaken) Feit's suggestion?

Comments

[Tommer Peterson]

Craig Smith writes on this same topic in yesterday's New York Times.

[David Sucher]

Thanks, Tommer.
It looks as though there may be a bit more to the story than the wild-eyed "Jihad at the Gates of Paris"

[Hans in Toronto]

The Toronto Star wrote about the connection between urban design and unrest in France. Apparently what was once the most notorious neighbouthood in France didn't hasn't had a single riot following its redevelopment from a closed-inwardly Le Corb-inspired designed complex in to one that is more open to its surroundings.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1131750620468&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154