I finally read an article that explains the social ills and history which lead up to the riots that are spreading across France.

To say the least, it was very eye opening. I think many people here, me included, have western Europe on a bit of a pedestal (and, as it turns there are still people in other countries do this with the US – our recent foreign policy notwithstanding). It’s not like I didn’t France has poverty and disenfranchisement, at some level this is unavoidable, I just never guessed it existed on the scale described in that article. Just as I have heard foreigners amazed that New Orleans had so many people that were so poor they had no means to leave the city. Though who can blame them? Apparently our own government was unaware of this as well.

What’s worse still is that it apparently takes large scale rioting or natural disasters to get our governments heads out of their asses to notice these problems. Will they stay out long enough to actually do something though?