Posted on 11/08/2005 7:53:22 PM PST by nickcarraway
Washington - France's explosion of rioting has captivated Americans, who tend to view the French as smug, snooty and quick to point fingers at what\'s wrong with the United States.
Now it's payback time, and influential media outlets and analysts can barely conceal their gloating.
Conservative newspapers like the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times are proclaiming a blow to European self- righteousness and the continent's welfare-state economies, which they say are partly to blame for immigrants' misery.
'Just two months ago, the French watched in horrified fascination at the anarchy of New Orleans, where members of America's underclass were seen looting stores and defying the police in the wake of Hurricane Katrina,' the New York Times reported from Paris.
'Every night for more than a week, the suburbs of Paris have been a showcase of Europe's failure to integrate its immigrants,' said the Wall Street Journal.
U.S. politicians have publicly remained mum on the riots that have spread from Paris to all across France, though the State Department has warned U.S. citizens to stay away from the worst flashpoints.
But U.S. television networks are showing nightly images of burning cars and riot police - which Fox News TV reporter Greg Palkot said 'looked like nothing short of Baghdad'.
There's a sense of vindication among conservative writers who like columnist Mark Steyn have darkly predicted 'burning buildings, street riots and assassinations' in Europe's major cities, with their African and Arab minorities.
For the U.S. right wing, it's no coincidence that the violence is erupting in the European nation with the largest Moslem minority. They have long claimed that Europe has underrated the explosiveness of an immigrant population they view as nearly impossible to integrate into society.
Others even charge that Europe has become a breeding ground for international terrorism, alluding to the Hamburg-al-Qaeda cell that helped carry out the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Many U.S. politicians across the spectrum share political scientist Samuel Huntington\'s theory of a \'clash of civilizations\' - or the view of British essayist Theodore Dalrymple that \'the sweet dream of universal cultural compatibility has been replaced ... by the nightmare of permanent conflict\'.
Another reason cited in the U.S. for France\'s unrest is the economic system.
\'In a country where short workweeks and early retirement are sacred, there is little emphasis on creating new jobs and even less on grass-roots entrepreneurial activity,\' economist Joel Kotkin wrote in the Wall Street Journal.
He says the overregulated welfare state itself is an obstacle to integrating immigrants into France\'s society and economy.
Clearly, part of the problem is economic, said Stanford University political scientist Niall Ferguson. \'But the second problem is that Europeans do not try hard enough to make immigrants integrate culturally,\' he wrote in the Los Angeles Times.
Many commentators say that, at the very least, the French riots show that social problems and a bungled or aloof government response are not limited to the United States.
\'Yet until now, many in France assumed that what they regard as a superior \'social model\' protected them from the eruptions of lawlessness that in recent years have touched Los Angeles, Miami and New Orleans,\' said the Washington Post.
Some are also reminded of the argument that France\'s Moslem minority was a reason why Paris opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, a stand that infuriated the Bush administration and U.S. conservatives and led to a French-bashing orgy a few years ago.
'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 Americans?' Steyn said in the Washington Times.
I dislike the Islamo-nuts even more than I do the French....but the pathetic response by both the French government AND the citizenry end any hope I had for Europe.
If this crap happened here, by day 3 (at the latest) I'm sure that (some of) our citizens would band together for self-defense, and not a little offense.
Well, illegal Mexican may not be a delight to behold, but at least they don't live to cut your head off so they can desecrate 72 virgins.
What the frenchies don't seem to understand is that they share the same "social model", aka socialism, with those cities mentioned which are all rat-run, liberal workers' paradises. What kept those American cities from burning down completely? A few vestiges of free republicanism, like the 2nd Amendment, still lingered in those places. Of course, that is not a factor in gay Paris, as is quite evident.
Does he have a point?
Look at the bright side. Throwing France under the bus may be the b*tch slap the West needs to wake up and stop kissing Muslim butt.
"Hell, after France bent over backwards to kiss Islamofascist ass, it is rather karmic to see them strung over a barrel by the same monsters they so gleefully defended over the nation that pulled their asses out of the fire not one, but twice.
And judging from the latest events, looks like we're going to have to do it again."
Ummm... no, we're not. Might want to ask any of your military family/friends what they think of the idea of pulling France's chestnuts out of the fire this time around. I know my answer is a polite but firm "No thanks." and I'll take my court martial with pleasure. As I've said before, I'm not worried about it coming to that. They're too stupid and proud to ask for our help any way.
Plus our own socialist policies under the Democrats led to several major riots in this country. The only difference now is the subject matter.
*
NATO member nations have certain obligations to come to the defense of other member nations and it's been made painfully clear on a number of occasions that our government will honor that commitment, no matter that other NATO member nations prefer to piss down our leg and tell us it's raining.
So yeah, I do believe we are going to wind up having to rescue France again. Personally, were it up to me, I would recommend that entire damned nation suffer a few years of abject fascist misery prior to rescue, but I am not your Commander-in-Chief.
Pray for W and Our Troops
I'm gloatig.
Are you gloating?
I'm still gloating.
Hey Vern, r u a gloating?
Dang this is fun.
Would this be a good time to remember how the compassionate populace of France went off for "holiday" one August a few years ago and failed to check on their elderly family members during a heat wave that killed thousands?
That is some scary map!
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......French-bashing orgy a few years ago, that continues to this day.
Yes, exactly so.
I'll never be able to look at the Easter Bunny again, after seeing that green-eared thing in the center background.
The one holding the copy of the Koranus.
Anyone who believes that once they get land they'll be peaceful is a certified bonehead.
Eat eeze tray hilariuzz monsewer. Bone jure.
Unfortunately, I think you are correct.
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