Brigitte Bardot's unconditional compassion for animals doesn't extend to fellow humans, especially if they happen to be Muslim. Bardot has taken on a second career of sorts as a celebrity defendant. She recently went on trial for the fifth time in France for insulting Muslims. The prosecutor in the case, Anne de Fontette, is asking for a tougher sentence, adding "I am a little tired of prosecuting Mrs Bardot.
The one-time sex kitten is married to Bernard D'Ormale, an associate of right wing demagogue Jean-Marie Le Pen who heads up the National Front.
Muslims aren't the only objects of Bardot's limitless scorn. In her book, A Cry in the Silence, gays and lesbians are described as "cheap faggots or circus freaks". This seems odd since Bardot has claimed that gay people are among her best friends - as she put it: "For years, they have been my support, my friends, my adopted children, my confidantes."
The unemployed don't escape her scorn either. They are characterized as people "who only accept jobs on the black market." The woman who describes herself accurately as 'no Balzac' also denigrates interracial marriage, women in politics, immigration ... among other things.
Her hysterical excesses when describing the influence of Islam on French society knows no bounds. It's unclear if she reads Mark Steyn, but she seems to be infected with a similar virus, at various times describing Muslims as barbaric, cruel etc and out to exterminate the French.
In 1998 Bardot was convicted of inciting racial hatred following comments she made about civilian massacres in Algeria. Some time later the Human Rights League and the Movement Against Racism sued her for racial discrimination and promoting racial hatred.
This time around the charge is once again 'insulting Muslims' and 'inciting racial hatred'. French anti-racist groups had a problem with remarks Bardot made about the Muslim feast of Eid-al-Adha. They outlined their concern in a letter to President Sarkozy. In the past Bardot has claimed that France is being invaded by 'sheep slaughtering Muslims' - she announced that she is "fed up with being under the thumb of this population which is destroying us, destroying our country and imposing its acts." A statement that derives more from perception than reality.
Even though France is host to the largest Muslim population in Europe, it's hard to understand how a mere 8% of the French population could be responsible for Bardot's angst. The greater truth is that Bardot has little or no comprehension of the day-to-day lives of French Muslims and listens too much to the anti-immigrant talk common in right wing circles. She herself has admitted that her husband never shuts up about politics.
It's sad to see the decline of a former icon of French cinema, once the model for the French Marianne, into this hate filled figure. On occasion Bardot has had teary moments in which she appears to have regrets. One such moment occurred in court when she tearfully claimed that she never "knowingly wanted to hurt anybody."
Despite the delusional and hateful nature of some of Bardot's remarks in La Figaro and elsewhere, I personally believe that people should have the right to express their opinion without fear of prosecution. The last thing we need in our societies is libel chill - a climate in which writers, artists and editors are afraid to present controversial opinion out of fear of legal repercussions. Prosecuting Bardot in such a public manner makes her into a martyr figure in the eyes of some and lends authority to her commentary that it simply doesn't deserve.
She offered the following insight as a way of explaining her reactionary tendencies:
"I was born in 1934, at that time inter-racial marriage wasn t approved of. There are many new languages in the new Europe. Mediocrity is taking over from beauty and splendour. There are many people who are filthy, badly dressed and badly shaven."
The one-time sex kitten is married to Bernard D'Ormale, an associate of right wing demagogue Jean-Marie Le Pen who heads up the National Front.
Muslims aren't the only objects of Bardot's limitless scorn. In her book, A Cry in the Silence, gays and lesbians are described as "cheap faggots or circus freaks". This seems odd since Bardot has claimed that gay people are among her best friends - as she put it: "For years, they have been my support, my friends, my adopted children, my confidantes."
The unemployed don't escape her scorn either. They are characterized as people "who only accept jobs on the black market." The woman who describes herself accurately as 'no Balzac' also denigrates interracial marriage, women in politics, immigration ... among other things.
Her hysterical excesses when describing the influence of Islam on French society knows no bounds. It's unclear if she reads Mark Steyn, but she seems to be infected with a similar virus, at various times describing Muslims as barbaric, cruel etc and out to exterminate the French.
In 1998 Bardot was convicted of inciting racial hatred following comments she made about civilian massacres in Algeria. Some time later the Human Rights League and the Movement Against Racism sued her for racial discrimination and promoting racial hatred.
This time around the charge is once again 'insulting Muslims' and 'inciting racial hatred'. French anti-racist groups had a problem with remarks Bardot made about the Muslim feast of Eid-al-Adha. They outlined their concern in a letter to President Sarkozy. In the past Bardot has claimed that France is being invaded by 'sheep slaughtering Muslims' - she announced that she is "fed up with being under the thumb of this population which is destroying us, destroying our country and imposing its acts." A statement that derives more from perception than reality.
Even though France is host to the largest Muslim population in Europe, it's hard to understand how a mere 8% of the French population could be responsible for Bardot's angst. The greater truth is that Bardot has little or no comprehension of the day-to-day lives of French Muslims and listens too much to the anti-immigrant talk common in right wing circles. She herself has admitted that her husband never shuts up about politics.
It's sad to see the decline of a former icon of French cinema, once the model for the French Marianne, into this hate filled figure. On occasion Bardot has had teary moments in which she appears to have regrets. One such moment occurred in court when she tearfully claimed that she never "knowingly wanted to hurt anybody."
Despite the delusional and hateful nature of some of Bardot's remarks in La Figaro and elsewhere, I personally believe that people should have the right to express their opinion without fear of prosecution. The last thing we need in our societies is libel chill - a climate in which writers, artists and editors are afraid to present controversial opinion out of fear of legal repercussions. Prosecuting Bardot in such a public manner makes her into a martyr figure in the eyes of some and lends authority to her commentary that it simply doesn't deserve.
She offered the following insight as a way of explaining her reactionary tendencies:
"I was born in 1934, at that time inter-racial marriage wasn t approved of. There are many new languages in the new Europe. Mediocrity is taking over from beauty and splendour. There are many people who are filthy, badly dressed and badly shaven."
Tags:
