Very clarifying, thanks! On Sun, Jan 18, 2015 at 3:31 AM, Russ Abbott <[email protected]> wrote:
> The New Yorker has a good article about this: http://goo.gl/Hh90a1. > Here's a core paragraph. > > The different treatment accorded to Charlie Hebdo and Dieudonné is, > however, built into France’s complex cluster of laws regulating protected > speech. These laws are alternately very free and highly restrictive. Right > after the French Revolution, France abrogated its old laws making blasphemy > a crime—and soCharlie Hebdo’s blasphemous depictions of Muhammad are not a > crime. At the same time, France’s press laws, which date to the late > nineteenth century, make it a crime to “provoke discrimination, hatred, or > violence toward a person or group of persons because of their origin or > belonging to a particular ethnicity, nation, race, or religion.” In other > words, you can ridicule the prophet, but you cannot incite hatred toward > his followers. To take two more examples, the actress Brigitte Bardot was > convicted and fined for having written, in 2006, about France’s Muslims, > “We are tired of being led around by the nose by this population that is > destroying our country.” Meanwhile, the writer Michel Houellebecq (whose > new novel was featured in the issue of Charlie Hebdo that came out just > before the attack) was brought up on charges, but acquitted, for having > said in an interview that Islam “is the stupidest religion.” Bardot was > clearly directing hostility toward Muslim people, and was thus found > guilty, while Houellebecq was criticizing their religion, which is > blasphemous, but not a crime, in France. > > On Sun Jan 18 2015 at 7:34:19 AM Michel Bloch <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Having been for several years one of the few “French moles” on your >> forum, I feel obliged to write for the first time. Hi Nick! >> >> 1. In *Full Metal Jacket,* Joker being asked why he wears the >> peace-sign on his marine-corps uniform, answers “Sir, this shows the >> ambiguity of human nature”. >> >> What you should know is that the key people from *Charlie Hebdo* were >> the best political cartoonists in France, a sort of “Pleiades of the >> Cartoonists”. They promoted anarchy and anticlericalisms and therefore were >> hated by most of the Establishment. To better express how incongruous the >> aftermath of their death was I enclose one of the many cartoons I received; >> it shows a fortune teller predicting to those guys what will happen after >> their death, and that’s how it goes: *the bell of Notre-Dame-de-Paris >> will ring; the rightists will celebrate your fame, MRS Merkel will march in >> the street for you…* All of this is so unbelievable that all they can do >> is laugh, laugh, and laugh! >> >> What followed the slaughter in Paris, was a combination of bottom up and >> top down phenomena’s so was very open to irrationality. Those events >> demonstrated-if needed-how ambiguous the human nature is! >> >> 2. As regards the freedom of speech and how it is defended in each >> of our countries, here again, it is not that simple. >> >> After Shoah, and to fight against a rampant anti-Semitism including the >> negation of the reality of the extermination of the Jews, laws were voted >> in France against the “Incitement to racial and anti-Semitic hatred”. So >> Dieudonné, the pseudo humorist but a true professional anti-Semitic >> activist, is prosecuted not “par le fait du Prince” but for breaching a >> law. He wrote I am Charlie followed by the name of the killer at the kosher >> hypermarket. >> >> Ambiguity again. I have been wondering many times how the American could >> live with a fully accepted first Amendment as regards the freedom of speech >> and the French needed what we call *memorial laws*. >> >> Thanks to Charlie, I discovered why. When it comes to sacred and key >> national matters, your Medias can practice self-censorships which would be >> unacceptable in France. >> >> I hope not to have been too disturbing for the members of this forum by >> both my different perspective and by my sort of Parisian English. >> >> >> >> Amicalement >> >> Michel BLoch >> >> 33146370193 >> >> www.mountvernon.fr >> >> >> >> >> >> *De :* Friam [mailto:[email protected]] *De la part de* Nick >> Thompson >> *Envoyé :* dimanche 18 janvier 2015 01:59 >> *À :* Friam >> *Objet :* [FRIAM] re the French and Furriners >> >> >> >> Dear Friamers, >> >> >> >> As we tried to cope with the week’s events this Friday, we found >> ourselves in disagreement about the degree to which the French, in >> particular, had endorsed multiculturalism. In that connection, I found >> myself humming the following passage from the French national anthem: >> >> >> >> Aux armes, citoyens! >> Formez vos bataillons! >> Marchons! Marchons! >> Qu'un sang impur >> Abreuve nos sillons! >> >> >> >> The English is … >> >> >> >> *To arms citizens Form your battalions* >> >> >> *March, marchLet impure bloodWater our furrows* >> >> >> When I visited the French countryside many years ago, there were >> billboards with blond babies and messages like “keep france strong”. Not >> sure, if I were a brown person, how comfortable I would feel in a crowd of >> a million people singing those particular lyrics. Funny how these little >> antiquated expressions of solidarity can get out of hand. >> >> >> >> Whuf! >> >> >> >> Nick >> >> >> >> PS Just to further the irony, the daily show (yes, yes, I know) reports >> that the day after the “Je Suis Charlie” rally for freedom of expression, >> the French police arrested a blogger for expressing anti semitic >> sentiments. In short, because of their history with Algeria, I am afraid >> the French have a problem as profound as our own. >> >> >> >> Nicholas S. Thompson >> >> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology >> >> Clark University >> >> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ >> >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >
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