Schadenfreude

[Hemlock]

I can't believe there is no thread on what is happening in France.

I feel a little happy about what is going on (even though I shouldn't). After hearing how France "invented human rights" and being lectured on about how much better France is...they got there commupance.

That and they are on their 5th republic! Five! Damn, people.

[jaguar]

wtf are you on about?

That said, it's time to lay out some serious smackdown in the suburbs of paris.

[Sundae]

Trevor Phillips, Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality (UK) wrote in the Observer this weekend,
"The hundreds of cars that have now been burnt in French streets are pyres that mark the passing of a French delusion - that the incantation of 'liberté, égalité, fraternité' would somehow mask the réalité of life for non-white French men and women: repression, discrimination, segregation."

Personally I was horrified at the idea that personal property, which other poorly paid citizens have worked for and probably need in order to work is simply being viewed as justified fuel for a protest. My parents' mantra of "work hard & keep your nose clean" does give me a tiny right-wing kernel under my soft liberal layers.

Still - I acknowledge that France is facing a difficult situation. I have lost touch with the French friends I had in London, but they were gloomily predicting trouble 4 years ago. Their opinion (and I am submitting it simply as that) was that France has such an emphasis on being a secular society, it leaves immigrants rootless. How do you bring people into line when the essential problem is that they don't care about the society they live in any more?

Its too easy to insist that people have decided to live in another country & should immediately accept the language, laws, religion (or lack of it), morals etc. But increasingly it doesn't look as if this works. But do you try to improve conditions thus making it appear you are rewarding lawlessness?

We haven't worked this out in Britain yet - July's bombings have raised uncomfortable questions. I don't think you have worked it out in the US either. And I'm not sure what the answer is, but Schadenfreude isn't really on my list.

[Undertoad]

The France thread is under Current Events: The Apocalpyse continued

[jaguar]

Mr Phillips needs to get his head out his ass if he doens't think it's that bad here, that asshole is more concerned about PC language in council chambers than gigantic closed transmigrant communities.

[Hemlock]

Originally Posted by jaguar

wtf are you on about?

That said, it's time to lay out some serious smackdown in the suburbs of paris.

Yeah - they need to bring in the French Army - that will show em'.

I did see an interesting statisitc: Although ~10% of France is Muslim, ~30% of people under 20 in France is Muslim...that means in ~1 generation France will be a Muslim nation, unless trends change. The French seem to have forgotten how to procreate.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

A dismal prospect for a nation so fond of being passionately in love, isn't it?

[Sundae]

Which may explain this

The French Govt are offering extra benefits for women who have 3+ children.

But the government is worried that many middle-class professional women put off child-bearing until their late 20s.

The new financial incentives encourage families to have a third child.

"The family has changed," Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, himself a father of three, told a conference on the family.

"But it remains at the very heart of French society. It is a source of joy, of comfort, and a haven for its members. That is why we are announcing measures to help families in their everyday lives."

[wolf]

Do the immigrant moms get the bonus also, or just those who are genetically French?

Hitler offered money to the mothers of large numbers of Aryan children too.