Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Houellebecq Cleared
A marginal victory in France for free speech, as evidenced by the refusal of a three-judge panel to convict Michel Houellebecq for "inciting racial hatred" by calling Islam "a stupid religion." Just a reminder that the rest of the world does not enjoy anywhere near the number of constitutionally enumerated and protected rights as we do here in the USA. Strange, though, how stories like this are generally ignored by the same folks who ask us to constantly follow the advice of the EuroElite.
The money quote from the article comes from Dalil Boubakeur of the Paris mosque:
Islam has been reviled, attacked with hateful words. My community has been humiliated.
All because Michel said that Islam was stupid? Wow, I knew the French were a bunch of wimpy ninnies, but apparently French Muslims are even wimpier. The only alternative explanation for the apparent wimipiness is that these four Muslim groups just wanted to see someone go down and punished for publicly speaking any words against Islam. But we know that they would never do anything like that, right?
# posted by Eric @ 12:23 PM 
