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If I compare, for example, my experience living in cities in China vs cities in Europe, I would argue that the relative freedom of movement forces residents in Europe to confront the inequality in their everyday lives.
In China, on the other hand, such inequality can be easily covered up by either confining the migrant workers (an artificially created underclass of people without hukou[0] registration in the city but still seek opportunities there) in urban villages[1], or sometimes, simply cracking down on and expelling them through policy changes with little resistance[2].
I don't doubt the fact that you're not a sheltered person, but even the average urban residents in China can be oblivious to the plight or even the existence of such an underclass. I'd argue that one can be quite sheltered even if they live there, which is also by design. And this is actually quite common in relatively wealthy Asian countries, see this example [3] in Singapore of how people talk about maids.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hukou
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_village_(China)
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/27/china-ruthless...
With the same logic you could say wages don't need to increase for the next 20 years, or police can be defunded because more crime is not so important, because the 3rd world is off way worse...
The comment I replied to said "it's feeling more like a third world country", I replied "no it's not even close to an actual third world country". I don't see how you could then derive that I meant "therefore it's not important".
Are third world countries the only place where things need fixing?
> I would argue that the relative freedom of movement forces residents in Europe to confront the inequality in their everyday lives.
Imagine you see China today, let's say Shenzhen skyline. 20 years in future you go there and all lights are out, windows are broken and homeless people everywhere, streets are filled with dirt and woman are scared to go out when it gets dark. If I then tell you "well, looks like some poor people moved there, everyone is moving closer together, that's why we see some problems here"..... Nooo! It would be some massive government failure that is responsible.
> You can't then come along and say
Of course I can. That is also my experience. According to OP many third world countries they visited seem to be handling this better than places like Paris, but imo it's just because they have the power to sweep the problem under the rug. I don't think that is the solution we should aim for.
Oh and btw
> You can't come along and pick some worse example from another place.
I didn't pick them, OP did. I literally would not have replied to OP had they not invoked the "turning to 3rd world country" drivel.
> but imo it's just because they have the power to sweep the problem under the rug
OP talks about decline in a certain place. It has NOTHING to do with sweeping problems under the rug. Why not? Because the "under the rug sweeping" didn't happen 20 years ago either! So why did things get worse, instead of better? Because of bad policies, number #1 being bad migration policies which is not merit based. This happend in whole western Europe and turns cities into what OP described, while eastern Europe cities remain what was Paris 20 years ago. So please stop denying OP or anyone to say "wow, it got so much worse here over the years"....
Now the reason I write in an angry way and the reason I'm so upset, is that there is no solution to these problems. Quite the opposite, it will only get worse. But that's another topic. So sorry if my words were a little aggressive.
Nobody wants confrontation because it's uncomfortable. But inequality like this is literally the inescapable reality migrant workers live in. Your average locals might be able to turn a blind eye to it, they can't.
Seems at least a little bit hypocritical to enjoy the life made easier by (often imported) cheap labor while not wanting to be aware of their troubles, or you know, live with them in close proximity.
The rich don't take the metro, they are driven from place to place.
Your comment would be more convincing if you said Le Marais, Belleville, or the 13th were getting bad.
It turned out to be a homeless encampment filled with immigrants to France.
I've been in 2019 and that's the last time Paris will ever see me: immigrants touching you trying to sell you stuff, people defecating in front of the supermarket in broad daylight, homeless camps, I've had a drugged up homeless jumping on me.
Shame, because the bakeries are top notch.