Gone are the days of tearing down the system; now is the time to burn a car for better dental benefits

The funny part of France's latest round of riots is what they're rioting about

muses Jonah Goldberg.

These rabid rebels smashing their way through people and property alike, shouting revolutionary slogans and playing Robespierre in a FCUK hoodie are demanding ... continued job security with paid vacations. Gone are the days of tearing down the system. Now is the time to burn a car for better dental benefits.

Bernard-Henri Lévy has more. Speaking of (worldwide) victimitis, Rich Tucker adds that

…there are many things Americans do that are offensive to Muslims. Ocean City, Md., with its women in bikinis is clearly offensive -- but are we as a society ready to demand that all women wear burkas to the beach?

Effort never killed anybody, but… (tak til Joe)

Update (merci à Thorvald): Charles Krauthammer has more on Liberty, Equality, Mediocrity: The

new act of revolutionary creativity [is] a very long way from liberty, equality, fraternity. The spirit of this revolution is embodied most perfectly in the slogan on many placards: CONTRE LA PRÉCARITÉ, or "Against Precariousness." The precariousness of being subject to being fired. The precariousness of the untenured life, even if the work is boring and the boss no longer wants you. And ultimately, the precariousness of life itself, any weakening of the government guarantee of safety, conformity, regularity.

That is something very new. And it is not just a long way from the ideals of 1789. It is the very antithesis. It represents an escape from freedom, a demand for an arbitrary powerful state in whose bosom you can settle for life.

…And these young rioters want to keep things just that way--to rely not just on their advantages of class, education and ethnicity but also on an absolute guarantee from the state that their very first job will be for life, with no one to challenge them for it.

…Against precariousness? That is perhaps to be expected in a country where 76% of 15-to-30-year-olds say they aspire to civil service jobs from which it's almost impossible to be fired. This flight from risk is not just a sign of civilizational senescence. It is a parody of the welfare state. Yes, the old should be protected from precariousness because they are exhausted; the sick, because they are too weak. But privileged students under the age of 26? They cannot endure 24 months of precariousness at the prime of life, the height of their energy?