The French are revolting!!!

*puts on Groucho Marx glasses* ...and they weren't that pretty to begin with.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051108/ap_on_re_eu/france_rioting

Now, shouldn't the French government be surrendering about now? Oh, okay, that was a cheap shot...but I'm looking for topics to talk about that are other than the 50-some odd "I know everything" threads.

What are these riots in France saying about the European economy? We've seen riots like this in America...Is this basically coming from the same root causes? Or is there something else at work here?

Without being especially educated in the country's demographics, policies, or culture, I'm going to guess it has to do with a segregated underclass suffering from a lack of education, employment, and opportunity. If that is so, their riots have the same root cause as riots in the U.S. and all over the world.

The difference between the U.S. and France, is that the U.S. is a virtual police state with a massive civilian police force to maintain order. When I was in Europe, I anecdotally noticed a significantly smaller police force in most countries (the U.K. being the exception). I guess if they're going to experiment with income and opportunity disparity as we do in the U.S., they're going to have to get the requisite police force to maintain the status quo and keep down the underclass.

~Ulrika~

From what I've read, it looks like this storm has been brewing for a while. Apparently, foreginers, especially muslims, are pretty much segregated in crummy neighoborhoods outside Paris. It's no secret the French aren't very foreign friendly. Hopefully this will open their eyes and make them more accepting of others... distasteful as they may find them

Leilany

Good lord, how are you able to sleep at night with your head so full of bs?!

Its truly amazing!

Alby Yellowknife

Alby Yellowknife helps you sleep?

NOW we know where he went

I'm gonna guess one cause is the high unemployment in France, especially among the migrant community. Too many kids with too much time and energy.

agreed 100%

The riots went on for 11 or 12 nights before anyone was killed. Not only that, but the first fatality was a man who died from injuries sustained while trying to put out a trash can fire. On top of that the first gunshots didnt happen until that same night. When they did, they were from pellet guns! The french are such wimps. The last time we had riots in the US there were guns and fatalities the very first night. If only france had an organization like the NRA they would know how to riot properly.

Tru dat =/

-Ayame Sapeur

Well, I think that is more a commentary on how civilized the world outside the US is

12 days of rioting before a death and pellet guns

I remember LA riots, between 50-60 killed in less than half that time

plus who can forget Reginald Denny

Yeah, I think our barbarism is nothing to be proud of. Even if the French can be termed wimps, I think it is more respect for human life

our lack of that manifests itself in our Capital Justice system and foriegn policy

"i loves my gun"

isn't the term pro life kinda silly?

yeah, we're the good guys

I heard on Talk Radio this morning that CIA Agents have been seen leading these gangs that are committing arson and other crimes in France.

Most of the rioting folks were not born and raised French. So I am not convinced that the disparity in numbers of deaths betwwen French and American riots has everything to do with culture.

Most are of Middle Eastern or African extraction.

It's also worth noting that the LA riot was a reaction to a really obvious miscarriage of justice, mostly white cops caught red-handed using extreme force and then getting off nearly scott-free, whereas the superficial catalyst for the French riot was two people electrocuted while climbing an electric fence as they fled from the police. I say superficial because, just as in the LA riot, there had been other (and still are) chronic problems which festered for decades.

There is a 50% unemployment rate among these minorities in France. I would probably be pissed off too, although I don't know that I would riot. After all, I would have made the concious choice to relocate to France.

while I agree with most of your points, I still maintain our culture is far more rooted in violence than other cultures (yes, including those Muslims).

While there is no arguement with the superficial causes of each event plus the underlying issues, the 50-60 that were killed in LA weren't responsible for any of the injustices, hence, I do not agree that the cause of the riots can be correlated to the effect (in terms of loss of life) as much as cultural, French, Mulsim, African or otherwise vs the good ole US of A

Alby and Ulrika, sittin' inna tree...

Americans are more violent? (No really???)

At least our economy doesn't suck, and we're generally ahead of the curve fighting racism and bigotry. haha... yay france..