November 07, 2005
France Is Hoist On Its Own Petard ~ UPDATED
Oddly enough, this individual is praying for France! The French are now at a crossroads of thier own making. By pandering to the labor unions, the government has dropped the work week and the work ethic to such low standards that unemployment in France is huge, some 10.1% (2004 est.) (and nearly triple that for the young) of the workforce is without jobs, and the highest levels are in the ghetto's of non-assimilated North African Muslims and other ethnic minorities.
Rioting in one area of Paris has spread to much of france (read here, here, and here) and no one seems to know how to bring a halt to 12 days of riots. Crackdown will happen, to the detriment of those rioting, but more importantly to the body politic of France.
Yet, a solution must be found, one that brings a halt to the destruction and a halt to the non-assimilation of legal immegrants to France, and much of the European Union. If the balkanization of the French polity continues, it will spread through the more socially aware [/sarcasm] countries of Europe and it may even be a portent of our own multi-cultural experiments. Too often, the ultimate end (though not the goal) of multiculturalism is isolation and ultimate radicalization of those who become isolated.
UPDATE: Below is a map showing the extent of the rioting. (HT to Instapundit for the tip) Click on the map for the source and the rest of the article.
Pray for France, they need it!
UPDATE #2: The Brussels Journal has an in-depth look at the whole thing.l The money graf:
What is happening in France has been brewing in Old Europe for years. The BBC speaks of “youths†venting their “anger.†The BBC is wrong. It is not anger that is driving the insurgents to take it out on the secularised welfare states of Old Europe. It is hatred. Hatred caused not by injustice suffered, but stemming from a sense of superiority. The “youths†do not blame the French, they despise them.Read the whole thing.
UPDATE #3: Hugh Hewitt has an excellent interview with Victor Davis Hanson that is not to be missed. (Again, HT to Instapundit) Go here and read the whole transcript. My favorite quote from Dr. Hanson? Easy:
Well, there's two messages. One, that we in America can see where an unassimilated un-integrated a population goes, and where that leads to, it leads to a sort of an apartheid. And two, we can see what happens with an EU that can't create real economic growth, and has high stagnant unemployment of 10%. And three, this is I think a little bit more controversial, that we can see what happens to a society that doesn't ask the immigrant to integrate, and the immigrant doesn't feel that he has to integrate, or to learn the language, or learn the traditions of the West. So you have this Orwellian situation when thousands of people are rioting, you want to say let me get this straight. You do not want to go back to the country, an hour or two away by air, that you praise in the abstract, but you surely want to stay in a country that you want to burn down to the concrete. It doesn't make any sense..."
UPDATE #4: Roger L. Simon has an excellent article on the riots as does Judy writing at Adloyada. Be sure and read all the comments as well.
Posted by GM Roper at November 7, 2005 07:47 AM | TrackBackSorry, I can't pray for France...it's illegal...they are a secular society.
But fret not, they will soon be a Muslim society, so they'll be able to pray to Allah for themselves.
Posted by Maggie at November 7, 2005 10:11 AM
I don't know, GM. The last crossroads was after they declared war on Germany--and they dithered, and they hoped FDR would rescue them, until Hitler attacked them. Will Paris be declared an open city again?
Posted by PJ at November 7, 2005 10:12 AM
This Just In :
French PM De Villepin demands immediate surrender of the 'insurgents' to the forces of the French State. Indicates that no mercy will be shown to those who continue to defy the majesty of the 5th Republic.
In related news, he announced that effective immediately the Government would be taking its newly instituted 4 week Winter Break at a secure undisclosed location and suggested that citizens of Paris still in possession of un-toasted vehicles might want to consider a Winter sojourn themselves.
On a completely un-related note, I happened to catch Mike Wallace on Fox yesterday being interviewed by Chris Wallace. Now that was a hard-hitting piece of investigative journalism. If it weren't for some people who say Chris would not have had anything to say at all. As in : "Some people say that Rather's and CBS's problem was that they wanted the story to be true and did not behave in a professional manner as a result. Do you have any comment on those type of statements by some people ?"
Attaboy Chris --- you really showed the old man a thing or two there.
Anyhoo in the course of a sanctimonious 15 minutes of self-congratulation, Mike said that 'every reporter is a PATRIOT' and dearly loves his country'.
Quite apart from the obvious quibbles I think I will let Mike respond to Mike on this.
"No," Wallace said flatly and immediately. "You don't have a higher duty( to behave patriotically). No. No. You're a reporter!"
Patriotism: The devoted , love, DEFENSE, and SUPPORT of one's country.
I really have to ask what Mike's definition of patriotism really is. Do we all get to simply make up our own meanings to words in order to bend reality to whatever we desire it to be ?
And more importantly I have to ask why Chris was allowed to do a 'hard-hitting' interview without bothering to ask a relatively simple question such as this? If your 'guest' says he is "A" and there appears to be some discrepency on the exact meaning of "A", I would have thought that the proper thing to do was investigate.
Oh well, guess that's why I don't get paid the big bucks, and do interviews on Fox.
Posted by dougf at November 7, 2005 03:14 PM
Let's not react too quickly. Let's have the U.N. Security Council issue sanctions against the kids and keep issuing those for ten years before France can take any action--which requires U.N. approval, of course. Maybe we can also have a program covering food for money.
Posted by Woody at November 7, 2005 03:33 PM
The unemployment numbers work very differently in the U.S. and France. In the U.S. once you've stopped "looking for work" you are no longer unemployed. In France, that's not the case. So while France may still have a lower percentage of the population working that wishes to work, the raw numbers don't compare well.
2nd, I hate to interrupt anyone making fun of the French. If we liberals and conservatives can't unite to make fun of the French then we might as well dissolve the union now. That said, it's hard to use riots as an indictment of the whole country's moral bearings. We've had our fair share of riots and homegrown terrorists in the U.S. as well.
Posted by Mavis Beacon at November 7, 2005 06:52 PM
