No wonder American "progressives" love Europe so much. Europeans have this nagging tendency to criminalize speech merely because it may be "offensive":
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". (Link.)
The nerve of that woman! Actually speaking her mind, and in general terms at that!!
I wonder what would happen to American comedian Bill Maher if he were in Europe for his recent comments about the Pope and Catholicism:
"I'd like to tip off law enforcement to an even larger child-abusing religious cult," Maher told his audience. "Its leader also has a compound, and this guy not only operates outside the bounds of the law, but he used to be a Nazi and he wears funny hats. That's right, the Pope is coming to America this week and, ladies, he's single.""If you have a few hundred followers, and you let some of them molest children, they call you a cult leader. If you have a billion, they call you 'Pope.' It's like, if you can't pay your mortgage, you're a deadbeat. But if you can't pay a million mortgages, you're Bear Stearns and we bail you out. And that is who the Catholic Church is: the Bear Stearns of organized pedophilia -- too big, too fat."
'Ya think Maher would face fines and possible jail time? My guess: Nope. Because he's mocking Christians, who're [still] in the majority in Europe. Not only that, Catholics aren't exactly prone to rioting in the streets over insensitive comments, or prone to issuing death threats. They're more prone to writing letters to the editor, complaining to advertisers, and voicing their objections on talk shows. That's another reason not to make a "big deal" out of Maher, right? Just ask Lawrence O'Donnell!
American "progressives" would just love to have laws on the books like those Euros do; in fact, they argue that "insensitive" speech should not "be free" at all, and that minorities don't actually have the same "free speech" rights as those in the majority due to the "inherent power imbalance in the legal system and in [white] racial hegemony."
Thankfully, it would essentially take a constitutional amendment to make this insanity possible, and that sure ain't an easy task. (Of course, if we elect someone like Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, they could appoint Supreme Court justices who could "interpret" that our First Amendment "doesn't permit hate speech" despite all kinds of precedent ... I wouldn't put it past judges that those two candidates would prefer ...)
You've gotta give Maher credit, though. I love his closing monologues, but this last one just about blew the rest out of the water. Equating the Catholic Church to Bear Stearns in an apt analogy? Friggin' genius AND dead-on.
Posted by: Mike Matthews at April 15, 2008 09:43 PMWow Maher really said that?! He is a cowardly puke - has not been funny for years and is now added to my list of people I'd like to punch.
Posted by: AJ Lynch at April 16, 2008 05:00 PMHe's a jerk, I agree AJ. But he has every right to say what he does. That's what makes our country superior to so many others, European countries included.
Posted by: Hube at April 16, 2008 07:21 PMCowardly, AJ? C'mon, can't you right-wingers come up with something else? I mean, you all have worn out ''unpatriotic'' over the last seven years, so I guess ''cowardly'' is the next best thing.
The real cowards are the ones at ABC who cancelled him six years ago for no reason other than he was being, um, politically incorrect.
Posted by: Mike Matthews at April 16, 2008 08:04 PMMike: I know you dig Maher. You're a lot like him, though you have a lot more tact, IMO!
I've no problem with economic boycotts for those who continually make statements like Maher. (Was he bounced by ABC b/c of such threats?) That's the American way and the market place at work. Maher found another outlet at HBO. Imus found one. As long as the government doesn't get involved in it, I don't really care.
Posted by: Hube at April 16, 2008 08:10 PMThe problem is ABC was cowardly because they fired him for no discernibly adequate reason. His ratings frequently matched Letterman's and Leno's and even though several advertisers dropped, the network was in no way under economic pressure. They caved because the jingoism in this country was so deafening at that point that they didn't have the balls to stand by their man.
Pitiful. I've watched his show on HBO since its inception, but it's missing something PI had. Sure, it's got the profanities and such that I lap up, but PI was wholly unique and provocative.
Posted by: Mike Matthews at April 16, 2008 10:17 PMHube:
I defend his right to say anything but still would like to clock the little puke.
Mike:
Unless you take the liberal cool-aid intravenously, Maher has not been funny for years. Funny to me is an equal opportunity irreverent basher - like Carlin. Maher has picked a side and that makes him not funny to me.
Posted by: AJ Lynch at April 17, 2008 11:54 AMSorry, AJ. I don't know which show you've been watching -- or not watching. Bill Maher has been offending both sides for hears. I think the only thing he hates more than Republicans is the Democrats' incompetence. He goes after them on a regular basis on his show. He's got balls. And that kills the right-wingers because he speaks so much truth disguised as comedy.
Posted by: Mike Matthews at April 17, 2008 01:21 PMMike:
I liked maher a long long time ago. He was what I call irreverent, the essential comedic quaility for me.
But like many others (Howard Stern is an example), they have some success, make some money and join the establishment. That ruins it for me. You know you see them at Oscar parties, Playboy Club, and you know they can never really regain that irreverent quality again.
That is just me - it seems you still worship the little dweeb- to each his own.
Posted by: AJ Lynch at April 17, 2008 05:00 PMMike: You have to admit that Maher is a lefty and hits the GOP much harder than the Dems. Be honest.
Dennis Miller is Maher's antithesis, and he's a lot funnier.
Posted by: Hube at April 17, 2008 07:13 PMHube:
I just heard Maher may apologize for calling the Pope a Nazi. If he does, I will take him off my list of people I would like to punch. Heh.
Posted by: AJ Lynch at April 17, 2008 09:02 PM