I suppose many of the younger people get tired of hearing us complain about PC, hate crime legislation, speech codes and the like. They have been taught that you don't have a right to say anything that offends a protected group, which means pretty much everyone but white Christian men. This article explains what we fear. For those too young to know her, Brigette Bardot was by far the most famous actress in France for most of her life. *************************** PARIS (Reuters) - French former film star Brigitte Bardot went on trial on Tuesday for insulting Muslims, the fifth time she has faced the charge of "inciting racial hatred" over her controversial remarks about Islam and its followers. Prosecutors asked that the Paris court hand the 73-year-old former sex symbol a two-month suspended prison sentence and fine her 15,000 euros ($23,760) for saying the Muslim community was "destroying our country and imposing its acts". Since retiring from the film industry in the 1970s, Bardot has become a prominent animal rights activist but she has also courted controversy by denouncing Muslim traditions and immigration from predominantly Muslim countries. She has been fined four times for inciting racial hatred since 1997, at first 1,500 euros and most recently 5,000. Prosecutor Anne de Fontette told the court she was seeking a tougher sentence than usual, adding: "I am a little tired of prosecuting Mrs Bardot." Bardot did not attend the trial because she said she was physically unable to. The verdict is expected in several weeks. French anti-racist groups complained last year about comments Bardot made about the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha in a letter to President Nicolas Sarkozy that was later published by her foundation. Muslims traditionally mark Eid al-Adha by slaughtering a sheep or another animal to commemorate the prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son on God's orders. France is home to 5 million Muslims, Europe's largest Muslim community, making up 8 percent of France's population. "I am fed up with being under the thumb of this population which is destroying us, destroying our country and imposing its acts," the star of 'And God created woman' and 'Contempt' said. Bardot has previously said France is being invaded by sheep-slaughtering Muslims and published a book attacking gays, immigrants and the unemployed, in which she also lamented the "Islamisation of France". (Reporting by Thierry Leveque; writing by Francois Murphy, editing by Mary Gabriel)
The thing that really got me in this story was that the prosecutor, far from being ashamed of prosecuting someone for rather mild statements of opinion, was actually annoyed that Bardot would not knuckle under. What's next? Prison?
You mentioned that young people might be getting sick of your comments. What America needs is a new kind of Conservatism, a branch which recognizes these problems (and 8% of the French population being Muslim is a huge potential problem, no doubt about it, and that's a shocking statistic, by the way. There is no doubt in my mind that their religious leaders are instructing the women to have 10 children each, with an eye to 30 years out when the number will be 24%) and fights against PC inanity while at the same time violently denouncing homophobic idiots who are ranting against gays because they are actually grey-zoners themselves and don't know how to deal with their attraction to individuals of the same sex, and their kin, the Jew/black/Asian haters that seem to gravitate towards your side.
Must be France does not have the equivalent of the First Amendment, or a certain group of people are off limits for any criticism or complaints, while other groups of people are considered to be all-out fair game by the same ones crying for special protection. Even authors with no intention of insulting islam are issued fatwas when not writing to their idea of perfection and even people remotely connected with the book are killed. Goodbye, France. Enjoy your wine before it is banned.
I wonder how Christians and Jews are protected in Arab countries, when someone badmouths them. Are the "inciters" fined or are they praised???? After all, there seems to be a death sentence for anyone who has the nerve to convert from Islam to something else.
My point was that young people may not appreciate what they are in danger of losing, namely their rights to free expression and free thought. They seem to have been indoctrinated through PC and multiculturalism to think that protected groups are legitimately off limits to criticism. Even you seem to think that while muslims are fair game, homosexuality is not. Viewing homosexual conduct as abnormal and immoral is a religious doctrine protected by the First Amendment. That is not "ranting against gays," it's being in line with the traditional teaching of every major religion. If someone thinks obesity is unwise, does that mean they hate fat people?
Interesting observation, Nik. Found this via Google and it's from 2006: "The number of Muslims in contemporary Europe is estimated to be 50 million. It is expected to double in twenty years. By 2025, one third of all European children will be born to Muslim families. Today Mohammed is already the most popular name for new-born boys in Brussels, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and other major European cities.â Bye, bye Europe. Better enjoy your wine, cigarettes, strip shows, and nude beaches while you can before all the above become punishable by death by order of the Caliphate.
There are a lot of religious doctrines that aren't protected by the First Amendment. We're seeing a polygamy case play out right now in Texas, and those people are claiming "religious persecution." No sale. The dirty little secret of politics and religion is that the state always trumps the church; the church wins merely to the extent that it can convince the state that supporting the church is in both their best interests. If the church is strong and predominant, like the Catholic Church in Europe in the Middle Ages, then the Church is the de facto ruler, but that leads to abuse of power and eventual rebellion (Martin Luther; the Anglican Church). Fringe religions like Mormonism have no chance unless they are predominant in an area (like Utah), but Texas ain't Utah so they're in trouble there. Muslims, even those who are a minority in an area, have revealed themselves to be less tolerant than most fundamentalist Christians or Jews, so they're now getting little sympathy from the majority, whereas most gays who are out of the closet try very hard to live and let live. That's the point traderNik was making. A reasonable person can tolerate consensual behavior he doesn't approve of but that isn't being imposed on him, whereas tolerating intolerance from others is asking a bit much.
I agree with you that freedom of expression and other freedoms have been eroded in the West as a result of PC BS. I also agree that freedom of speech includes the right to censure people for their sexual behaviour. Sure, you can say 'I think homosexuality is immoral'. You'd be a nitwit if you did, but you can say it. As the member above pointed out, radical Muslims deserve our censure whereas homosexuals obviously don't. I just found it unfortunate that yet again, a right winger made a good point about the unfettered immigration of Muslims into France, and then we hear that she's just another run-of-the-mill nutbag who thinks there's something wrong with homosexuality. I see the two viewpoints go hand in hand on here quite often. I'm just saying it's too bad. A New Conservative movement could be in power for the next 50 years straight if they could only weed out the freaks who make these kind of statements. The number of middle and middle left voters they would get from the Dems would far outweigh any extreme right homophobes that they lost. This type of crap should be denounced by a New Right - that's all I'm saying. I suppose you have a point about this type of view being in line with the major religions (at least their official line). I grew up in a community where the United Church was the big one and my friends and their parents, although Christian, have no such hangups.