Anti-Semitism is all the Rage in France
By Onan Coca / 1 January 2014
We’ve just spent quite a bit of time defending Phil Robertson from the attacks of militant homosexual groups like GLAAD. We love free speech at Eagle Rising. The First Amendment enables us to do what we do and offer criticism and praise in an open and free context. We make no bones about our conservatism, and do not pretend to be a place where you will find moderated “both sides of the story” arguments. We think liberals are almost always wrong, and we use our platform to trumpet that, every day.
So when a story broke last week about the government of France considering an attempt at banning a French comedian, we were dubious.
The controversial French comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala faces a potential ban from performing in the country as officials and advocates there continue to decry his material as "anti-Semitic."
Barring the 46-year-old, who goes by first name Dieudonné on stage, and has turned his trademark "La Quenelle" hand gesture into something of a viral trend, is seen by many of his fans as an infringement of his rights.
His series of remarks considered hateful by many continued as recently as last week, when radio personality Patrick Cohen asked Dieudonné on Radio France if journalists are giving him too much attention.
"When I hear Patrick Cohen speaking, I say to myself, you see, the gas chambers ... too bad.” Dieudonne said… He has also described Holocaust remembrance events as "memorial pornography."
And the La Quenelle gesture, which involves pointing one straightened arm downward while touching that arm’s shoulder with the opposite hand, has been lambasted by Jewish advocacy groups as a “Nazi salute in reverse,” raising tensions over his burgeoning popularity.
After doing a little more research, we’ve concluded for ourselves that the comedian is very likely a racist anti-Semite. That’s what we’ve come to believe. Does that mean he should be banned from the public arena? No.
Banning speech, even speech as gross and offensive as Dieudonne’s is not what we do in a free society. Fortunately for us, we don’t live in France. So we don’t have to deal with either his comedy or the government’s attempts to ban him.
If he ever comes to America, you can be sure that I will avoid his anti-Semitic brand of humor and I’ll conduct my own personal boycott of his hateful speech.
Beyond that, it seems that anti-Semitism has become all the rage throughout Europe (and beyond). It's sad and it's scary.
But a new wrinkle to this saga unfolded over the last week.
asoccerA couple of French athletes have taken to supporting, or even encouraging Diedonne’s hateful message. First, French soccer star Nicolas Anelka sparked outrage by displaying the same gesture after scoring a goal for West Bromwich of the English Premier League.
The gesture being Dieduonne’s “Quenelle” gesture.
You can imagine in soccer crazy Europe the tremendous uproar his use of the reverse Nazi salute might cause. Moreover, Anelka’s use of the quenelle gesture is even more disgusting when considered in the light of all of the racial tension in Europe that is displayed at many of these soccer games. Anelka is black, and throughout Europe neo-Nazi’s are constantly harassing black athletes during these matches. Justifiably, black soccer stars have called for an end to racism in general, but they’ve also called for an end to cultural indifference that allows racists to feel comfortable spouting their evil rhetoric in public. French stars like Thierry Henry have joined with FIFA and other soccer stars to call for an end to racism at soccer events… but now we have soccer stars actually ENDORSING RACISM at these same events!
It’s despicable.
However, things hit even closer to home for those of us who enjoy watching an American sport. Namely basketball. Where one of our biggest stars, another Frenchman, Tony Parker, has been noticed endorsing Dieudonne’s anti-Semitism as well.
At Eagle Rising we are all for free speech. However, we also believe that it is our duty to stand against evil -- and racism in any form is evil. So for our part, we’ll say that these three anti-Semitic Frenchmen disgust us. We won’t support any of them financially, which means that we also will not support the athletic teams the athletes play for. We’ll tell everyone we can that these three men are anti-Semitic, or have at least supported an anti-Semitic comedian who espouses evil ideas and speaks with a hateful, revolting rhetoric.
We’d advise both Nicolas Anelka and Tony Parker to renounce any connection with Dieudonne and seek the forgiveness of the Jewish community the world over.
Anti-Semitism in particular, and racism in general must be destroyed. And each one of us should do our part by standing against this evil whenever we can.
Read more at
http://eaglerising.com/3910/anti-semitism-rage-france/#qGODCJXqxb3RmkfY.99
