The New York Times has a piece out today questioning whether France should be setting limits on Dieudonne Mbala Mbala's hate speech. Mbala ia an ant-Semitic "comic" who has made a name for himself as a Holocaust denier and inventor of the "quenelle" (an inverted Nazi salute). The article seems to imply that denying him "free speech" is a slippery slope that could infringe upon the civil liberties of all French people if allowed to get out of hand.
While I agree that the ideal is a world where free speech is protected, part of me wonders what the reaction would be if a Jewish man or a white person began to perform anti-Muslim shows in France? Not only would the authorities shut them down immediately, they would almost immediately be murdered. Even in the US, with its "tradition of free speech," I do not recall that the New York Times editorialized in favor of the minister who wanted to burn Korans down in Florida or the guy who made the movie that this administration blamed for the Benghazi debacle.
In Europe, Theo Van Gogh was assasinated and Ayaan Hirsi Ali - a sitting member of parliament - was forced into exile. In Denmark, the cartoonists who drew a picture of Mohammed are still living under constant threat and the NYT feels that this is a good time to remind everyone that MUSLIMS in France could face discrimination if cretins like Mbala are not effectively dealt with.
This story fosters a completely false analogy and then effaces the identity of those Muslims and far-Leftist third-worlders (trois-mondistes) who are fanning the flames. The former have become the "Jews" of the post-9-11 world - i.e. the "oppresed" who need to be sympathized with, and the latter are the Times's core audience.
The last paragraph offers this chestnut, "Dieudonné's got this constituency out in the banlieues and he speaks to them in code, he doesn’t have to say, ‘The Holocaust never happened." Pray tell, who is it that lives in the banlieues? Might it be primarily North African MUSLIMS? If the NYT knows, it certainly isn't saying so. Perhaps they are the ones speaking in code?
By fostering this false analogy and bending over backwards to try and demonstrate that Muslims also have it bad and are being "persecuted," they are essentially equating the victimizers with the victims.
Meanwhile, in the streets of Paris, Jews are being brutalized on a daily basis and neither the NYT or any other major paper cares to cover these outrages. See HERE and HERE for just two recent examples.
While I agree that the ideal is a world where free speech is protected, part of me wonders what the reaction would be if a Jewish man or a white person began to perform anti-Muslim shows in France? Not only would the authorities shut them down immediately, they would almost immediately be murdered. Even in the US, with its "tradition of free speech," I do not recall that the New York Times editorialized in favor of the minister who wanted to burn Korans down in Florida or the guy who made the movie that this administration blamed for the Benghazi debacle.
In Europe, Theo Van Gogh was assasinated and Ayaan Hirsi Ali - a sitting member of parliament - was forced into exile. In Denmark, the cartoonists who drew a picture of Mohammed are still living under constant threat and the NYT feels that this is a good time to remind everyone that MUSLIMS in France could face discrimination if cretins like Mbala are not effectively dealt with.
This story fosters a completely false analogy and then effaces the identity of those Muslims and far-Leftist third-worlders (trois-mondistes) who are fanning the flames. The former have become the "Jews" of the post-9-11 world - i.e. the "oppresed" who need to be sympathized with, and the latter are the Times's core audience.
The last paragraph offers this chestnut, "Dieudonné's got this constituency out in the banlieues and he speaks to them in code, he doesn’t have to say, ‘The Holocaust never happened." Pray tell, who is it that lives in the banlieues? Might it be primarily North African MUSLIMS? If the NYT knows, it certainly isn't saying so. Perhaps they are the ones speaking in code?
By fostering this false analogy and bending over backwards to try and demonstrate that Muslims also have it bad and are being "persecuted," they are essentially equating the victimizers with the victims.
Meanwhile, in the streets of Paris, Jews are being brutalized on a daily basis and neither the NYT or any other major paper cares to cover these outrages. See HERE and HERE for just two recent examples.
