The Barbarians at the Gates of Paris

City Journal ^ | Autumn 2002 | Theodore Dalrymple

[mojito]

This startlingly prescient article explains, better than any news report could, what is happening in Paris this week. A long read, but for anyone interested in this most important story very worthwhile.

[backhoe]

Is Paris Burning? ( Religion of Peace Alert )
Click the picture:

[spetznaz]

Interesting. Thanks.

[satchmodog9]

Long, but good. I love hearing how our nation has all these unique problems. Seems the rest of the world has them as well.

[dynachrome]

"Everyone knows la douce France..." Thought he said La Douche... at first glance. All of Dalrymple's columns are good reads about the decay of western civ.

[george76]

[GBA]

Bad moon rising...ain't that the truth! Great cartoon!

[Paleo Conservative]

From these projects, the excellence of the French public transport system ensures that the most fashionable arrondissements are within easy reach of the most inveterate thief and vandal.

Wonder why lots of middle class Americans aren't interested in improving public transportation?

[TXBSAFH]

Islamist vs frogs, I do not see as I have a dog in this fight. But it will be fun to watch.

[aculeus]

Excellent post!

[SE Mom]

It seems to be a matter of time only before this spreads across Europe.

As infuriating as the French are- much about their culture has enriched the world- yet their unwillingness to face themselves will be their undoing.

[Cicero]

Excellent article. I think there was another article by Dalrymple here earlier today. Impressive.

Although it may see peripheral, what he says about le Corbusier is all too true. I would add the Bauhaus School. The International Style is dehumanizing to a sickening degree.

[Regulator]

There's nothing prescient about this ninny's article. This reality was predicted over 33 years ago in The Camp of the Saints.

Want to know why Dalrymple is a fool? Saying this:

Unless it assimilates these millions successfully

The problem isn't that they aren't "assimilating". The problem is that they are there. They and their religion have no plan for assimilation and never did.

Quite the opposite.

[Deo volente]

ALL of us in the West have a dog in this fight.

Today, France and Western Europe.
Tomorrow, America.

[GBA]

What??? You don't believe in utopia??? sacasm off

[Nateman]

Long term results of socialism

[Yardstick]

*Big Bump*

[Alia]

Well written article; comprehensive.

[george76]

[Prodigal Son]

I read this a while back here on FR. It is a great piece. Theodore Dalrymple is a great social commentator. Thanks for posting it.

[fallujah-nuker]

"ALL of us in the West have a dog in this fight.

Today, France and Western Europe.
Tomorrow, America."

Amen.

[Yardstick]

FYI

The Barbarians at the Gates of Dawn, Theodore Dalrymple

[zerosix]

A very good article but I would go much further and state that the Barbarians have long ago breached the "Gate".

Just as Rome didn't notice when it was falling, Parisians were much too busy giving themselves shorter work weeks, spending summers on "holiday" while their parents died to notice that the lifestyle they have grown much to comfortable with has been paid for by Muslims and now the same are demanding their due.

[Prodigal Son]

Want to know why Dalrymple is a fool?

Well, I don't think the fool here is Dalrymple.

[TXBSAFH]

I care about Europe, but no France. Let them burn.

[Nowhere Man]

Bump for bookmark

[Cautor]

"Islamist vs frogs, I do not see as I have a dog in this fight. But it will be fun to watch."

Good point. The French have done all within their power to aid our enemies, especially the mohammedans. What justice the tables are now turned.

[Brett66]

The inhabitants of the cités are exceptionally well armed. When the professional robbers among them raid a bank or an armored car delivering cash, they do so with bazookas and rocket launchers

Surely there are laws against owning bazookas and rocket launchers? < /sarc >

[jongaltsr]

Those Barbarians have been there for centuries.
It's just that now they have competition for that title!

[Louis Foxwell]

France has never overcome the privilege of the court. It is so deeply embedded in the psyche of the French proletariat that they insist on providing cake to the desperate masses.
France will undergo another and another revolution until it is finally destroyed by the horrible spawn of its conceit.

[Whitewasher]

Another good late night read. Can't wait.

[Unam Sanctam]

Judges often make remarks indicating their sympathy for the criminals they are trying (based upon the usual generalizations about how society, not the criminal, is to blame)

This socialist mindset simply absolves everyone of individual moral responsibility.

[FreedomPoster]

No one should underestimate the danger that this failure poses, not only for France but also for the world. The inhabitants of the cités are exceptionally well armed. When the professional robbers among them raid a bank or an armored car delivering cash, they do so with bazookas and rocket launchers, and dress in paramilitary uniforms. From time to time, the police discover whole arsenals of Kalashnikovs in the cités. There is a vigorous informal trade between France and post-communist Eastern Europe: workshops in underground garages in the cités change the serial numbers of stolen luxury cars prior to export to the East, in exchange for sophisticated weaponry.

A profoundly alienated population is thus armed with serious firepower; and in conditions of violent social upheaval, such as France is in the habit of experiencing every few decades, it could prove difficult to control.

Marvelous.

[Reaganesque]

For years, French intellectuals have been demanding protection for French culture from the ravages of American/Anglo-Saxon culture. The biggest threats to their culture, they claimed, were McDonalds, Microsoft and Walt Disney. I have maitained for years that any culture whose gravest threats are Mickey Mouse and Big Mac's may well not be worth saving. Well, surprise, surprise!! They were wrong. I guess the French have been once again caught looking in the wrong direction while an enemy invaded. Call this their "Cultural Maginot Line."

[mrmargaritaville]

I hate to say that they deserve it----but they deserve it. The chickens are coming home to roost-chicken cordon bleu I guess.
Hey Jock (not Jacques)-choke on it you turd.

[Kozak]

Dalrymples book, " Life at the Bottom" is excellent, the essays show how far civil life in England has fallen ( a real eye opener to me). His experience as an English prison doctor resonates with what I see as an ER physician here.

[TheConservator]

Bookmarked

[Kozak]

Islamist vs frogs, I do not see as I have a dog in this fight. But it will be fun to watch.

The French have a good sized nulear arsenal and get most of their power from nuclear energy. Much as I despise them, having an Islamist France won't be an improvement for us.

[TXBSAFH]

24 empty trident missile tubes, it's miller time

[Kozak]

If we won't nuke Mecca, I doubt we nuke Paris. By the way the French have a boomer or two too...


FNS Triomphant

[TXBSAFH]

USS SeaWolf

[Khurkris]

Good find & post. Thanks.

[Drew68]

bump for later

[ladyinred]

Excellent article, and well worth the long read. I am wondering at what point the world is going to say enough of the leftist pc mindset that makes this kind of horror breed in our streets?

[Sam the Sham]

Remember science fiction movies of the 60's where they showed the future as people living in huge cinderblock apartment complexes ? Like Alex in Clockwork Orange going home to "Municipal Flatblock E" ?

Le Corbusier.

[SuziQ]

Well, I've never really wanted to go to Paris, but this article makes that visit even LESS likely!

[308MBR]

Did anyone get that? Allowing runaway immigration of people distinct from the culture to assuage a temporary labor shortage will produce a very real threat to the culture that allowed them to immigrate in the first place.

Now, let's ship the Mexican home, fine the doo doo out of whoever employed them while they were here and make them pay the income and social security taxes they owe the citizens of the USA

Maybe if the H1 visa program were ended, wages for scientists and engineers might rise, which would lead to more home boys and girls entering useful fields.

[processing please hold]

Let it burn.

[Cicero]

This was one of the earliest SF films (1927):

[gitmo]

An intently disturbing article. Deserves many bumps.