Bonfire of the Vanities - Life goes on

Europe isn't "all that". We need to remember this when certain elites in this country point to the sophisticated nuance of Europe - especially France - as something to aspire to and model (WSJ.com - Bonfire of the Vanities):

"Of course, apocalypses have a habit of not happening. The present riots are only a temporary exacerbation of 'normal' life in French lower-class and immigrant suburbs. (In all of Western society, not just France, social housing means antisocial behavior.) Even when there are no riots, such suburbs are strewn with the carcasses of burnt-out cars, like skeletons in a desert, and one can see the blackened remains of shops that have been put to the torch. Drug-trafficking goes on openly, and the hostility to outsiders is palpable."