Bill Bartlett's naive idealization of the underclass is pure white-skin privilege in practice. My sympathy for people ceases when they start doing things like burning down asylum homes or beating up immigrants.
[WS:] I am with your on this, comrade. There are few things more annoying than campus radicals or suburban bleeding hearts who are separated from lumpenproletariat by their social status and invisibles wall of their "gated" communities, and chastise and guilt trip those ungrateful commoners who do not appreciate being the victims of lumpen delinquency and violence. It reminds me of Marie Antoinette who had a peasant village built in Versailles so she could amuse herself and her court by playing a peasant girl. The only logical response to such drivel is "if you like them so much, why do not you live amongst them?" As for myself, I have nothing against the lumpen as long as they do not attack other people, trash my neighborhood, or destroy my quality of life.
Another point: the Spiegel piece that you posted is far from simplistic lumpen bashing - it is about structural changes in European economies and the social impact they have. It is quite clear that the author does not "blame individuals" but rather focuses on structural problems that cause this social problem, and the shortage/inadequacy of structural solutions to mitigate it.
Wojtek