What's Bad About Paris

Warning: this post is just a looong regurgitation of negative impressions I had in Paris. For a more upbeat entry, skip to the next one in this blog.

The days leading up to my summer-long European expedition were stressful because I wasn't just leaving for a long trip; I was moving out of the city for good. However, on the day of my departure, I felt serene.

Quickly after landing, I got the impression that the Parisian region is just like a giant Bronx. There are lots of graffiti all over the place, palpable racial tension and lots of shady characters. Paris has that dog-eat-dog dynamic. It does have an American ghetto vibe. Just like in lower-income American neighborhoods, there are many Blacks, but the Latinos are replaced by Arabs from the Maghreb. Throw in some Eurothrash elements from the crappier countries of the EU and hordes of tourists, and it becomes very difficult to find ethnic French people in Paris.

It is obvious that France has issues with its immigration policy and social integration. That country seems to put more value on its immigrants speaking French than on them having specialized skills or capital. This leads France to welcome many people from its former African colonies who don't bring much to the country's social and economic fabric. This fosters xenophobia from the ethnic French who come to equate immigration with the degradation of their society. Sensing this perception, immigrants are easily alienated. No wonder Paris experienced racially charged riots a couple of years ago.

Contrast this with the Anglo-Saxon working model for immigration and social integration in which anybody bringing in skills or money is welcome. This less ethnocentric model is faring way better in countries such as the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and even the US.

I am tempted to attribute France's social failures on its insistence in having immigrants speak its hard-to-learn language of limited global relevance. However, countries such as Denmark, Sweden and Norway have languages which are harder to learn and even more useless on the global stage, yet they more successfully (but far from perfectly) integrate immigrants into their societies.

Whatever the causes of France's social discordances, one thing is for sure: French civilization is on the decline (in case you had not noticed anything in the past 200 years).

Aside from the macro trends, here are some anecdotal cases of degeneration which I noticed during my week in Paris. Once, a guy was headed towards me on a collision course in a metro station because he wasn't looking where he was going. I put my arm in front of me in case of an impact and veered off to avoid him. When he saw my raised arm, he deliberately pushed me. I had to contain myself in order to do the reasonable thing and go on my way rather than satisfy my instinct to start a fight. On another occasion, I was walking towards a metro station when this guy asks me where it is located. I tell him I'm going there and that he can follow me. He tells me he's a Bengali refugee and quickly follows by saying that he can give me a satisfying "massage" if I'm interested! I just left him behind. On yet another metro trip, this apparently drugged up Maghrebian ghetto kid was drinking, singing and smoking on the train. Again in the metro, I saw this gang of half a dozen kids seemingly pickpocketing their way from wagon to wagon. Pickpocketing is a real problem in Paris with metro train conductors sometimes announcing on the PA system that thieves are operating in the current train. When it's not pickpockets, it's buskers who come on the trains with guitars or even trumpets and blast their way around for donations. Equally annoying are the beggars who come on the trains. There are so many of these pests because PEOPLE GIVE THEM MONEY!!!

Similarly, you'll find tons of hawkers near tourist sites. I wonder, first, what people dealing with beggars, buskers and hawkers are thinking. Don't they know that giving them money only encourages them to continue being nuisances for a living? Then, I wonder why the authorities are not doing anything to deal with these people. With the sheer number of these social parasites, the government could make millions handing out fines and it would go a long way in making Paris more pleasant. Many of the culprits also seem like illegal immigrants. I'm sure individuals would be less eager to peddle souvenirs if it meant possible deportation!

Then there are the scam artists operating all over. The classic scam consisting of following the marble under one of three cups being switched around is common. And one must keep an eye out for Gypsies. I had heard of them before as being the scum of Europe. Seeing so many of them pulling quick ones on tourists or trying to pity people out of some change, I understand how they got such a nasty reputation.

Then, you have the policies that don't make sense. France is notorious for its bureaucracy. Many things that could/should be simple are complicated in France. This is endemic both with the government and corporations. For example, you can walk into a grocery store with only one cash register open and a long line-up of people. Then you see half a dozen self-checkout stations but can't use any of them because two are reserved for some sort of food stamp program, two are reserved for holders of a certain card and two are hogged by people trying in vain to use the machines.

Corporate policies that don't make sense are one thing, but at least they punish the corporations pushing them. Bad government policies, on the other hand, just hurt the people. France is rife with those. France banned head scarves. This is manifestly targeted at Muslims. While I find head scarves to be ugly and religions (especially the Muslim one) to be stupid, I can't find any justification in having a government dictate what to or not wear. And ostracization doesn't do any good for cultural integration.

More government insanity... During my week in Paris, the government has banned any mention of Facebook and Twitter on television saying that such mentions constitute hidden advertisements. WTF!? First, mentioning a service you use is not advertisement. Second, you should have the right to advertise whatever you want. Third, this is censorship. Fourth, France is painting itself in a digital corner. Now, I don't know if this rule applies only to publicly funded television stations or to all stations. Regardless, it is retarded.

With such "logic", no wonder one needs to explicitly request for doors to open on the metro. Geez.

I'm sure it's another stupid government policy that makes it so that there are no convenience stores in Paris. Hell, I'd even go as far as saying there is no convenience at all in Paris.

And it's not just the shops... Sidewalks are too small and you are always cramped for space. It's the same on the metro. Apartments are tiny and overpriced. Food is expensive. Everything is expensive.

Why pay so much to be in such a place? Is it because it is beautiful? Except for a few nice, oversized spots that are not practical to walk through in every day life, Paris is much the same all over: old six or seven story masonry buildings. It quickly becomes boring.

So why would so many people pay so much to live in such a place? Well, I'm not personally convinced living in Paris is such a great thing, but it isn't all bad. More on this in my next post...

Between Asia and Europe

I haven't been very diligent with my travel blog. In my last entry, I left off in Hong Kong. After that, I went to Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, JiuZhaiGou, Shanghai, Suzhou, then on to Nagoya and Tokyo before finding my way back to Hong Kong and flying back home to Montreal.

Later, for the new year, I spent a week in Cuba, spending most of my time in Havana seeing how people deal with life in a highly controled communist economy.

Then, during spring, I went back to good old New York, Toronto and Boston.

All this before my 3-month trip to Europe. I don't feel like detailing those previous trips at this point so I'll just write down the impressions from my current peregrinations in Europe...