Is Paris Burning? A Looted Supermarket Where Only the Pork Remained—and the Manipulation of Impressions on Social Media

“Is Paris burning?”

These are the words Hitler is said to have addressed to the German commander in Paris after ordering the city’s destruction near the end of World War II.

Unfortunately, Paris today really is burning.

France has seen repeated demonstrations and riots, and footage of clashes and looting in the streets continues to appear.

A video I watched recently explained that what began as a protest by high school students drew in various organizations and developed into a large demonstration demanding improvements in living conditions.

People also appeared who took advantage of the situation to loot.

This may have become a familiar sight in France, but that does not make it normal.

What caught my attention this time, however, was not the riot itself but the way the video presented it.

A Supermarket Where Only the Pork Remained

One video showed the interior of a looted supermarket.

The shelves had been ransacked, and products had been taken.

For some reason, however, only the pork remained untouched.

The video’s commentator eagerly pointed this out.

“Look. Only the pork is left. This proves that the looters were Muslims.”

Muslims are forbidden from eating pork.

So there is a certain logic to the idea that the pork remained because the looters were Muslims.

At least in the case of that particular supermarket, that may indeed have been what happened.

However, it is a clear leap to use that one scene as the basis for concluding that all the looting taking place in France was carried out by Muslims.

Who carried out the looting elsewhere? How many people were involved? What circumstances were behind it?

That footage alone tells us none of this.

With Selected Facts, You Can Create Any Story

Another video explained that pro-Palestinian organizations and far-left groups had joined the demonstration and caused riots.

Various political organizations do, in fact, participate in demonstrations in France. Some people also exploit the confusion to commit crimes.

The problems created by France’s immigration policies over many years are also serious.

France accepted large numbers of immigrants without making sufficient progress in education, employment, and integration into society. The resulting friction and crime cannot simply be dismissed with pleasant platitudes.

But the video had another problem.

It selected from an enormous number of events only those scenes that supported its argument.

Suppose, for example, that a thousand people were present at a riot.

Ten of them took part in looting. Now suppose that one of those ten was Muslim.

Film only that one person and explain, “Look, Muslims are rioting.”

The footage itself may be genuine.

But the impression received by viewers will be completely different from reality.

You can deceive people without telling a lie.

There is no need to fabricate facts. You need only select the facts that suit you.

Why Do Japanese Commentators Go Out of Their Way to Clip French Riots?

Another thing that concerns me is the existence of people distributing this kind of video in Japanese.

There is nothing particularly strange about introducing French riots to a Japanese audience.

But they go out of their way to search for overseas footage, isolate images of shelves with pork left behind or far-left groups in the street, and add Japanese commentary.

What exactly are they trying to communicate?

As you watch, their objective becomes visible.

They want to use France’s immigration problems to criticize Japan’s policies on accepting immigrants.

By featuring far-left groups that participated in the riots, they also want to connect the story to criticism of the Japanese left.

In other words, they are using events in France as material to reinforce their own political arguments within Japan.

If they want to criticize Japanese immigration policy, they should investigate the reality in Japan and debate it.

If they want to criticize the left, they should address its arguments and actions directly.

Perhaps that would not have enough impact.

So instead, they bring in riot footage from distant France.

A ransacked supermarket. Burning cars. A violent crowd.

Add the words “immigrants,” “Muslims,” and “far left,” and a story that is easy for Japanese viewers to understand is complete.

The objective is no longer to help people understand France. It is to make Japanese viewers think, “I knew immigrants were dangerous,” or “I knew the left was terrible.”

The videos appear to explain riots in France, but in reality, they are making France speak on behalf of Japan’s domestic political conflicts.

What Is Burning in Paris?

If France’s immigration policy has problems, criticize them.

If people participated in riots and committed looting, punish them severely.

But when individual crimes are transformed into a problem attributed to an entire religion or group, the real causes disappear from view.

That was precisely the danger I felt in the videos.

The real France faces a range of problems, including fiscal difficulties, immigration policy, social inequality, and political dysfunction.

The world is not simple enough to explain all of that through a single scene in which pork remained on a shelf.

Then again, preparing one easily understood villain probably attracts more views than explaining a complex reality.

Hitler is said to have once asked, “Is Paris burning?”

Today, there is no need even to ask.

From distant Japan, anyone can search only for the scenes that are burning and use them to support a political argument.

Cars are burning in Paris. As people watch, someone in Japan is starting another fire—a campaign against the left.

Apparently, riots in France remain excellent fuel even after crossing an ocean.