Ramadan Riots in Brussels

[jordan179]

You can find the whole story at http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2009/09/ramadan-riots-in-brussels.html, assembled by Baron Bodissey from a number of Belgian sources, but the gist of it is that, in what is becoming an annual tradition, mobs of

Comments

[jordan179]

Dude Constantinople used to be full of the equivalent of rampaging soccer hooligans on a regular basis. They didn't do anything about it because it didn't effect the people who mattered.

Actually, the street wars of the Blues and the Greens did sometimes threaten the Empire, and at those moments quite a lot was done about it. Consider the Nika Riots of 532 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nika_riots).

And I seriously doubt that these Brussels riots are failing to "affect the people who matter." Since they are fiercest in the "historic heart of the city," they are probably making it difficult and dangerous for the EU-crats to get to their offices. And if you follow the story to which I linked, you'll notice that in at least one case the mob invaded a gated residential compound.

This isn't an indication that the EU is powerless against violent rioters; it's an indication that the powerful people in the EU don't care what happens to ordinary people. Those are

[sanscouronne]

Hey, are you calling me a Eurocrat??

[jordan179]

I don't think that you can so neatly slice up populations into "Eurocrats" and "ordinary people," much as the snobbish Eurocrats may imagine that it is possible. Even under the Ancien Regime, where actual laws forbade all but morganatic marriages between nobles and commoners, such took place and the bourgeoisie rose into the ranks of first the gentry and then the nobility. Today, with no such laws, social mobility is much faster.

The "Eurocrat" may live in a mansion with servants and bodyguards, but the younger members of his family mix with the commoners -- at least with the richer commoners -- and are vulnerable to attack by the Muslim mobs. Furthermore, not all Eurocrats are utterly devoid of decency or patriotism. Finally, the smarter Eurocrats may wonder if they will be able to keep their status and wealth should the Muslims become a majority.

In short, European society isn't that deeply divided, and there is cause for optimism in the rising popularity of the Rightist democratic parties. If the democratic Right fails,

[anonymous]

Looks like Europe can't get away from Hereditary Aristocracy riding over the peasants booted and spurred. "Birth and Breeding", you understand...

Considering in France the only way to become a Government Bureaucrat is to be born the Son of a Government Bureaucrat...

[jordan179]

I disagree strongly with your implicit characterization of all, or even most, Europeans as spineless traitors. Yes, there is a sgrong tinge of these attitudes among the elite and the chattering classes, but countries are more than just their elites, and elites who offend the people too greatly in democracies will find themselves on the outside of power.

Which is what's happening in Europe right now. There is a very strong, and very grassroots, shift to the right.

[jordan179]

I'm not sure what "weird hobby" you mean, nor am I aware of whether or not sanscouronne comes from a rich-elite, nouveau-riche, upper middle class, middle class, or poor family. She seems nice, polite and well-educated, but that tells me more about herself than her family.

In any case, I seriously doubt that most of the children of rich families in Europe live in isolated bubbles, never mingling with the common folk. Such mingling would be practically unavoidable in university or when starting one's career, even if later in life they tended to become more aloof. Nor do I believe that roving bands of Muslim maurauders perform credit checks on their intended victims, and refuse to beat or rape those who have above a certain crucial level of income or can demonstrate the right social connections.

Muslim violence may affect the poor more than the middle classes and the middle classes more than the rich, but in the end no one is completely spared the danger.

[jordan179]

Actually, I think she's calling you an "ordinary person."

[sanscouronne]

I don't know what's worse! The idiot in office or the idiot who put him there.*

*Unless you believe the EU to be a hostile takeover of democracy, which somewhat exonerates the "ordinary person."

[jordan179]

I think that the EU has anti-democratic tendencies, but is still very dependent upon democratic support because of the nature of its constituent states. The indirect nature of the EU slows its response to the will of the people, but won't permit it to consistently govern in opposition to that will for very long. And the will of the people is turning slowly but steadily anti-Muslim immigration.

[jordan179]

I'm not sure what you mean by that. The governments of the European countries are democratically elected. They're snobbish, by American standards, but absent popular support they cannot hold power.