imkittymyers at hotmail dot com
Monday, November 07, 2005
IS PARIS BURNING?
Oui! As well as Dijon, Seine-Saint-Denis, Clichy-sous-Bois, Le Bourget, Les Mureaux, Grigny, Aulnay-sous-Bois, Argenteuil, Toulouse and countless others before long.
About twenty-five years ago, Nurse G had a good friend in grade school named Heather whose father was a VIP with Corning, Inc. The family was transferred to Paris for several years (Corning had facilities there). I would have thought that her family would have felt right at home in Paris as they were very liberal. Yet they quickly became bitter over how they were treated and complained that the French were cold, arrogant and despicable. Heather's complaints were slightly more mundane: icky school lunch entrees of organ meats (which they had to eat) and cliquey classmates. The family's only pleasant experience in Paris were the pastries. So, instead of spending 3 - 4 years of joie de vivre in Paris, they packed up and returned within a few months vowing neverever to return.
Not that that anecdote has anything to do with Paris burning now, mind you. But I can't help but derive a soupçon of schadenfraude these days while watching the French's sense of superiority go up in flames.
8 Pam has a roundup (w/pictures) of Paris links posted in her Proof that Multiculturalism Doesn't Work.
8 Mark Steyn nailed yet another reason why France refused to join the war on terrorism in Wake up, Europe, you've a war on your hands: If you had millions of seething unassimilated Muslim youths in lawless suburbs ringing every major city, would you be so eager to send your troops into an Arab country fighting alongside the Americans? For half a decade, French Arabs have been carrying on a low-level intifada against synagogues, kosher butchers, Jewish schools, etc. The concern of the political class has been to prevent the spread of these attacks to targets of more, ah, general interest. They seem to have lost that battle. Unlike America's Europhiles, France's Arab street correctly identified Chirac's opposition to the Iraq war for what it was: a sign of weakness.
8 AnkleBitingPundits asks, And Democrats Wanted The French To Help Us In Iraq?: Hell, they're more impotent than Eunuch's in their own country, what made anyone think they would have done a damned thing for us somewhere else?
8 Speaking of the Dems,ChicagoBoyz point out, Paris Burns, The Second Leftist Utopia Burns With It: In addition to thousands of cars, lots of buildings, and at least one elderly old lady doused with gasoline by the rioting “youths” of Paris, the American Left is also watching its default Utopia – their dream of the European welfare state -- going up in smoke. (Of course they may not realize it yet. But I think these riots cannot be buried on page 8 of the newspaper forever.)
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