...Must be America’s fault!

A few days ago I called what of my many French friends and as we talked about a bunch of subjects, we also discussed the recent youth riots that have shaken communities all over that country.

That’s when that friend said on a couple of occasions that what happened was the fault of America, or more precisely, that of Americans. He was specifically mentioning a culture of permissiveness and incivility on the part of France’s youth as well as the devastating role of Social Media (an other American “invention”). 

Needless to say that these comments took me aback, especially coming from someone I considered as a close friend. That was enough to force me to respond. 

First, regarding the way kids are educated, I said that developed nations generally embraced American culture and approach to general education and adopted it without having much idea as to what it would lead to down the road. 

Then, as far as social media were concerned, they had been overwhelmingly adopted by the entire world because of their addictive, corrosive and voyeuristic properties, meaning that everyone of us is also free to chose and reject them, so, putting the blame on America for everything wasn’t fair at all! 

Happily, we nicely concluded our telephone call, but I still can’t believe that this highly educated person my friend is, could be as insensitive as I perceived him to be...