The Barbarians at the Gates of Paris (The Underclass in France)

City Journal ^ | Fall 2002 | Theodore Dalrymple

[samtheman]

France is a semi authoritarian state ruled by about 1000 famlies and has been for centuries. It has only a veneer of democracy. The population are sheep and even people who "work" in France are partially on the dole.

The underclass is needed by the elite, both in the US and in Europe. The underclass is the threat the elite hold against the middle-class: keep paying taxes and don't complain, or we will unleash our animals against your neighborhoods

Visualize Paris or New York or Los Angeles the day after the welfare checks didn't come

This is Euro-Socialism in action. This is the economic agenda of the Democratic Party in the USA.

This is RAT dreamland.

The RATs want to be the New Aristocray in America, lording it over all those disgraceful greedy business-people, taxing them into submission, and building a huge army of vagabonds to enforce the New Socialist Order.

This is the RAT vision for America. This is their Utopia.

[prognostigaator]

you got that right.
bump

[livius]

blaming the house one lives in for barbaric behavior is Psychobabble 101...

You're absolutely right, but at the same time, I'm glad to see somebody point out that the Brave New World archictecture of Le Courbusier (and others) reflects certain attitudes towards society that I believe do have something to do with our contemporary problems.

Many of the architects of his time fancied themselves social theorists, and they were constructing their buildings for the "new man"(Socialist, Nazi, Communist or whatever) who had thrown aside the past and was going to live "rationally." Hence their contempt for any non-theorists who might have objected to their arrogant assumptions about human environments, theories that had to do with a lot more than architecture and design.

So now we have a Europe that has consciously thrown aside its past, rejects its own culture, and wonders why it's feeling a bit menaced by the not-quite-so-rational folks it's breeding in its concrete hatcheries.

[SauronOfMordor]

The RATs want to be the New Aristocray in America, lording it over all those disgraceful greedy business-people, taxing them into submission, and building a huge army of vagabonds to enforce the New Socialist Order.

In order to rule, you need thug-enforcers who will impose your wishes upon the populace. Necessary attributes of thug enforcers include a complete alienation from the middle class (inconvenient to have thugs being ordered to beat up on their own relatives and friends) a willingness to be violent, and a complete lack of useful non-thug skills, so they know that their standard of living is completely dependent on their success as enforcers for the rulers

[Mamzelle]

Ought to be read again...bump

[dennisw]

bumping too

[dennisw]

Props on that!

[Sir_Ed]

"I am reminded of a Black American and former communist (whose name I can't recall at the moment), after visiting the Soviet Union in the 70's and walking around Moscow's enourmass depressing housing projects said to himself "Shit- this is what I want to turn America into?"

Eldridge Cleaver, I think...

Ed

[Sir_Ed]

"Although an agnostic, I make frequent exceptions to thank God fervently that Ronald Reagan, and also Maggie Thatcher, came to power when they did"

Don't forget Karol Wojtyla and Lech Walensa...those four people put paid to communism (except for North Korea, The NY Times and US Universities).

Ed

[Stultis]

Indeed. I may even have my old Solidarity t-shirt around here somewhere. Also add Vaclav Havel. There were many heros who stood up to communism, both from without and within its iron walls. God bless them all, especially those who died (and still do some places) in gulags and cells, unknown and unsung.

[Gritty]

This deserves another BUMP for those who missed it!

[KantianBurke]

regarding post #36, for those planning a trip to Paris, what neighborhoods should one be sure to steer clear of? Thanks! Regarding this sets off alarm bells. Better forwarned.

[Prodigal Son]

Mostly it's the outskirts of Paris that are really bad, which is what this article is talking about. If you have a chance, rent or buy the movie Le Haine. It might've been mentioned in the thread already. It will give you a look at these immigrant ghettos that you might never see in the middle of Paris.

Personally, I found the 9th and 10th Arrondissements to be somewhat trashy. Some describe them as Bohemian, which to me has always meant "good place to get mugged". Lot of immigrants live there. You should be ok visiting those areas in the day though on a tourist type basis- in fact, you'll have to in order to see the Moulin Rouge. I'm not sure how extensively I would wander around late at night in those two though. Same goes for the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes. Nice for a day time walk, best avoided at night if you're not a local. Also, I found some of the Metro stops along the Number Two line in the north of the city to be questionable. Nothing ever happened to me on them but I didn't like the way the stations and exits were designed- too many places for lurking no-goods.

But if you're seeing the standard tourist things I don't imagine you'll have any problems at all. Paris is exhausting. You go and see three or four major sites a day and the only thing you'll likely find you want to do at the end of the day is eat dinner and go to bed ;-) A walk along the Seine in the evening is always good too though.

[KantianBurke]

Thanks for the advice, PS! Was planning on staying in the 18th "Arrondissement," near the Sacre-Coeur, but will definetly look elsewhere. Even though I'm a young signle guy I'd prefer to avoid being killed by 3rd worlders if it can be helped. Any personal preferences for restaurants? :>

[Rutabega]

Yikes! I am in Sweden, and last weekend, my husband, a friend from Mexico and his Swedish girlfriend and myself took the tram into the city. For about ten minutes, we were subjected to a gang of about fifteen thugs walking back and forth between the three cars and shouting and falling over into people. They were speaking a mixture of Swedish and some Slavic language (my husband is Polish, so we thought from the looks of them they were ex-Yugoslavian) and were about eighteen. Definitely immigrants like these (the tram was from one of our city's 'cites')
I was fuming, and kept asking my husband why the bus driver didn't kick them off. He says because, of course, the guys would have stabbed the driver to death.
Anyway, one by one the other men got up and moved seats (I assume the women stayed put after one moved and was followed and harassed even more). Our stop was only a few minutes away, so we stayed on the train, and two of the animals were spitting on the floor behind my husband. Well, I was clenching my fists and cursing under my breath when I got spit on. The Irish in me came out, and I stood up and started screaming at these guys some things that were pretty nasty. The looks on their faces that a) someone dared to tell them they were wrong b) that person was a female and c) that I was yelling in American English was almost funny. They backed off, and I was so annoyed that in a full train of men, these guys got away with their behavior.
My husband breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn't murdered (and yes, I am still annoyed that he was one of the people letting these thugs behave the way they did). The Swedish girlfriend started making some sort of excuses that the guys had a rough life, until I told her that was BS. The Mexican laughed and said, 'Bravo. I guess that's why the Americans went after Saddam!'

[Prodigal Son]

Any personal preferences for restaurants? :>

LOL, when I lived there, I was doing the poor student thing- although I wasn't a student ;-) I rarely saw the inside of a restaurant. There was a good joint for eating mussels, a chain restaurant HQed out of Belgium but for the life of me I can't remember the name of it- which doesn't help you much.

We lived in the 12th which is mainly residential. Not too much to see in the way of sites from between the new state library (mockingly called the Tres Grande Bibliotheque by the Parisiens) and Nation. Our flat was very near the Metro stop Duggomier on the number 6 line. If you can find some place that is fairly well centrally located that should serve you well in regards to the sites and if your hotel is close to an interchange between the Metros so much the better (even with the Metro, it can still take an hour to get from one side of Paris to the other if you have to change trains a couple times). Avoid the Number One during normal commute hours if you can- it's the main artery through Paris and is usually packed to capacity with people trying to get home and tourists trying to get to the Champs Elysees during those times.

I'm sure you'll have a good time.

[Dan from Michigan]

It sounds like their downtowns are a "St Joe, Birmingham, or Grosse Pointe" and the 'suburbs' there are like "Benton Harbor, Detroit, or Pontiac".

[Guillermo]

Bump for tomorrow!

[squidly]

bump for later

[Lancey Howard]

A very well-written and interesting article.
BUMP