Riots Here, Riot There.

Craig Smith, the European correspondent for The N.Y. Times in Paris has a excellent article, called France Has an Underclass, but Its Roots Are Still Shallow, in which he draws an interesting parallel between the riots in France and the urban upheavals of the 1960's, or the 1992 riots in Los Angeles, showing the similarities - a dangerous degree of isolation felt by a growing segment of its population, especially its young - and the differences too.
He also notes, somewhat ironically, how the French watched in horrified fascination at the anarchy of New Orleans, where members of America's underclass were seen looting stores and defying the police in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

I guess we all get to be humbled by reality one day or another.