France and all that tricky free speech stuff

It's complicated, right? Not as (to use a word that caused consternation previously) EASY to do as it is to say.






This BBC article mentions four other incidents of people being detained for, you know, free speech

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Updated On: 1/15/15 at 12:30 AM

"I do not agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

I saw that quote (falsely attributed to Voltaire) posted a lot on social media in the days following the Charlie Hebdo attack.

Doesn't seem so clear cut now does it?


Newspaper in Israel Scrubs Women From a Photo of Paris Unity Rally

"One cannot provoke, one cannot insult other people's faith, one cannot make fun of faith." Pope Frances

I like this guy so far, but where do we draw the line, at faith? Substitute faith in this quote with any other word and it seems ridiculous, but faith, ah that's a different story. **** faith!

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South Florida, I think you're being far too kind to him. Here's what he said:

"If my good friend Dr. Gasparri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch," Francis said, throwing a pretend punch his way. "It's normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others."

"There are so many people who speak badly about religions or other religions, who make fun of them, who make a game out of the religions of others," he said. "They are provocateurs. And what happens to them is what would happen to Dr. Gasparri if he says a curse word against my mother. There is a limit."

The pope's words, and his clever little analogy, clearly imply that the Charlie Hebdo "provocateurs" deserved a violent response. I don't see any way around that.

On a more general note, I think progressives who think this pope isn't as big an a-hole as previous popes have been seriously duped.

Updated On: 1/16/15 at 11:35 AM

Alexander Stille in The New Yorker offers a nuanced explanation of French free-speech laws and why they seem to be unfairly held against Muslims. Their laws are very different from our First Amendment.

Blasphemy is legal in France, but hate speech is not: It is legal to say anything you want about a religion--but it is illegal to incite hatred against its followers.

So:

LEGAL IN FRANCE: Charlie Hebdo was allowed to refer to Pope John Paul II as “un pape de merde” (a shi_tty pope).

ILLEGAL IN FRANCE: Brigitte Bardot was convicted and fined for having written “We are tired of being led around by the nose by this population that is destroying our country.” She was guilty of inciting hatred against Muslims.

The article also covers the French laws against directly or indirectly inciting terrorism and denying the Holocaust.


Why French Law Treats Dieudonné and Charlie Hebdo Differently

Updated On: 1/18/15 at 12:00 PM

LD, that's why I printed the link last week that said not everybody is on the same page when claiming they were in solidarity around the world with activists and artists hashtagging and gathering for "free speech".

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It's funny watching LH ask OTHER people who they used to be. Don'tchya think?

I certainly hope the people putting out Charlie Hebdo are edgy and satirical and free speechy enough to put a false cover on the next issue renaming the mag "Charlie Coulibaly".

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Just like in Germany they do not tolerate Nazi anything. They are less free in such speech.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strafgesetzbuch_section_86a

Oh, your ignorance of German laws is not shocking.

^^^ That's pretty great.

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