Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Theodore Dalrymple: Bonfire of the Vanities -
Opinion Journal ^ | November 7, 2005 | Theodore Dalrymple

Posted on 11/07/2005 11:31:59 AM PST by UnklGene

Bonfire of the Vanities -

By THEODORE DALRYMPLE - November 7, 2005

When it comes to rioting, there's no 35-hour week in France.

It may be difficult nowadays to get people in what the French call the Hexagon to work on Friday afternoons, but not to riot, at least not in the "sensitive" quartiers that surround most towns and cities. The productivity of the rioters has been increasing rapidly of late, and France looks like it will be breaking its record for burnt-out cars: 1,295 on Saturday night alone and 750 on Friday night, 500 the night before, and 300 the night before that. This year so far, the tally is 29,000. If the trend of the last few days continues, geometric progression being what it is, it won't be long before the rioters will have to go to Germany or the Low Countries to express their social conscience in a practical way... the officer of the CRS -- throughout the disturbances.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: anthonydaniels; dalrymple; france; insurgency; intifada; jihad; parisintifada; parisriots; quagmire; surrender; terrorism; theodoredalrymple; uprising

1 posted on 11/07/2005 11:31:59 AM PST by UnklGene
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: UnklGene

"it won't be long before the rioters will have to go to Germany or the Low Countries to express their social conscience in a practical way.."

They aready have.

Check out the Dutch and Germany.


2 posted on 11/07/2005 11:38:08 AM PST by Bigh4u2 (Denial is the first requirement to be a liberal)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: UnklGene
Theodore Dalrymple has long been an accurate chronicler of the disintegration of British culture as liberalism gains more and more control over its culture, government, and economy.

This article mentions at the bottom that he lives in France. He used to be a physician working in British jails. Perhaps he's retired?

Anyway, his article is excellent, as usual. Will France rise up and expel the invaders who are destroying French culture and society? No evidence of it so far.

I hope Americans are watching. Saying "It can't happen here" is just what I'm sure the French did up until the last couple of weeks. It's also what western European Jews said in the 1930s. Our safe and comfortable lives make us believe we're somehow protected from the violence and conquest that are the norm for many other countries. We're not, and the evidence that we're going to have to fight and defeat the would-be conquerors is mounting.

3 posted on 11/07/2005 11:47:39 AM PST by American Quilter (Why doesn't the government have to pay taxes on its income?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bigh4u2
Caller to Rush just predicted Germany will be next (and you're right, there was a report earlier on FR of trouble in a couple of spots), then Belgium, Holland and the Scandinavian countries.

We're already hearing of trouble in Aarhus (Denmark); wonder if Malmő, Sweden is next? Large Muslim immigrant populations there. IIRC they're more recent immigrants there, and not Algerian as in France.

4 posted on 11/07/2005 11:54:25 AM PST by shhrubbery! (Max Boot: Joe Wilson has sold more whoppers than Burger King)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: shhrubbery!

Waiting for Detroit. That's the closest we have to the mohammedan barrios of Europe. That would be Hamtramck(sp?) specifically, where the muezzin calls 5 times a day.


5 posted on 11/07/2005 12:00:16 PM PST by ThanhPhero (di hanh huong den La Vang)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: ThanhPhero

is there anything left to burn in detroit?


6 posted on 11/07/2005 12:08:48 PM PST by flashbunny (Anybody want to trade Alito back in for Miers?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: ThanhPhero

Good analysis, I agree 100%.


7 posted on 11/07/2005 12:13:38 PM PST by GOP_1900AD (Stomping on "PC," destroying the Left, and smoking out faux "conservatives" - Take Back The GOP!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: UnklGene

Your link does not go to the article. It goes to the WSJ front page.


8 posted on 11/07/2005 12:14:42 PM PST by GOP_1900AD (Stomping on "PC," destroying the Left, and smoking out faux "conservatives" - Take Back The GOP!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: UnklGene

Actually, the top link is OK ... only the bottom one misses it's mark.


9 posted on 11/07/2005 12:15:33 PM PST by GOP_1900AD (Stomping on "PC," destroying the Left, and smoking out faux "conservatives" - Take Back The GOP!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: American Quilter

"Will France rise up and expel the invaders who are destroying French culture and society? No evidence of it so far."

Isn't it interesting that the French have been known to be fanatic about the "purity" of their language. They have a cabinet level position that "decides" for example the proper word for e-mail (i.e. courier d'electonique, I believe)
Yet this same group can't seem to see the importance of fighting for democratic values. They have been awash in socialism so long that, like an overly permissive parent, they allow people to enter their country and receive all the benefits thereof without working since there are few jobs to be had. Why? Socialism rather than a free enterprise system produces stagnancy.
Always remember that John F'in Kerry would have us BE like France...as would many of the Democrats.


10 posted on 11/07/2005 12:54:59 PM PST by t2buckeye
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: UnklGene
The Paris stock exchange has every confidence that, in the end, Sarkozy or no Sarkozy, the French state will emerge victorious over the disorganized racaille, and everything can continue as before. The index has risen steadily -- or calmly, to quote the officer of the CRS -- throughout the disturbances.

Interesting detail I have not seen elsewhere.

11 posted on 11/07/2005 12:55:46 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: t2buckeye
Always remember that John F'in Kerry would have us BE like France...as would many of the Democrats.

Too right. Their childlike belief that being nice to everyone will make everyone like us is a huge threat to our national security.

12 posted on 11/07/2005 12:57:04 PM PST by American Quilter (Why doesn't the government have to pay taxes on its income?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: shhrubbery!

I remember living in Norway for a year in the mid-70s as a student. As an American, I was routinely reviled for being a capitalist pig and a racist, as all of my fellow Norwegian students were either Socialists or Communists.

A few years later I visited friends in Norway for a week and there was an article in the Oslo paper about a racial attack by Norwegian youths against Pakistani immigrants - burning down their hovels and beating up the inhabitants. Funny, I didn't hear anyone in Norway at that time calling each other racists when they committed violence against Pakis, yet they continued to call Americans racist.

Liberalism causes a loss of reasoning ability.


13 posted on 11/07/2005 1:14:22 PM PST by cinives (On some planets what I do is considered normal.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: American Quilter

Yes, Dalrymple and his wife recently retired from UK's NHS.
He was a shrink and she was (is) also an MD. His real name is Anthony Daniels. He had to write under a pen name because of his harsh criticism of the NHS.


14 posted on 11/07/2005 1:45:29 PM PST by UnklGene
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: GOP_1900AD

Sorry, the WSJ is having a free week today; this was a normal subscriber only. I got through with the kink. I'll try agaqin.


15 posted on 11/07/2005 1:48:21 PM PST by UnklGene
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: cinives; shhrubbery!

This is a classic symptom of "Do as I say, not as I do!"


16 posted on 11/07/2005 2:08:56 PM PST by NZerFromHK (Alberta independentists to Canada (read: Ontario and Quebec): One hundred years is long enough)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: UnklGene
If push were ever to come to shove, the trains to the townships could be turned off, assuming they were not wrecked first by the inhabitants themselves, and the roads to the center of Paris (and other towns and cities) could be blocked with a few armored cars or a couple of tanks. A state of emergency could be declared, after which the CRS could go about its business in all calmness and serenity.

Bump.

17 posted on 11/07/2005 4:00:02 PM PST by Drew68
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: UnklGene
A French employee works 30% fewer hours than a British worker, and a much smaller percentage of the French population than the British works at all, yet total French output is very nearly equal in value to British. In other words, the French are much more efficient economically than the British. But their relative efficiency has been bought at a price: the creation of a large caste of people more or less permanently unintegrated into the rest of society.
Wow. What a hodge-podge of barely-connectable quasi-cause-effects blurted out in a burble of near-thought, all in a single paragraph, barely taking a breath. C'mon, this is stupid. Total output equals Britain? Per capita? Aggregate national? Doesn't say. Efficiency bought at the price of permanently unemployed? What? How is it more efficient... or what is the connection between permanent unemployment of one group and the efficiency of another? Doesn't say. By what measure is France "more efficient" than Britain? Doesn't say.
the French had accepted with equanimity a kind of social settlement in which all those with jobs would enjoy various legally sanctioned perks and protections, while those without jobs would remain unemployed forever
Are the perks and the protections the source of the efficiency? Doesn't say.

Whatever else this guy is or isn't... he has serious mental impairment when it comes to all things economic.

18 posted on 11/09/2005 12:42:53 PM PST by samtheman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: American Quilter
Will France rise up and expel the invaders who are destroying French culture and society?

Most of the "invadrs" are citizens. A major Western country has not expelled citizens based on their religion or ethnicity for a long time.

19 posted on 11/09/2005 3:45:00 PM PST by liberallarry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson