Police Arrest French Comedian For Being 'Apologist For Terrorism'

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Brendan James - Talking Points Memo


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French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala was arrested Wednesday for allegedly expressing sympathy for one of the Paris attack terrorists in a Facebook post, The Guardian reported.

“Tonight, as far as I’m concerned, I feel like Charlie Coulibaly,” the comedian allegedly wrote, as quoted by The Guardian. The post has since been removed, and it combined the slogan “Je suis Charlie" with the name of Amedy Coulibaly, who killed four people in a Paris kosher market.

An anonymous justice source told The Guardian that Dieudonné was arrested for being an "apologist for terrorism.”

Dieudonné — infamous for his "quenelle" gesture that critics say is reminiscent of the Nazi salute — attended the rally for free speech in Paris on Sunday, which he also called “a magical moment comparable to the big bang" in his Facebook post.

The French government had previously banned the comedian's show for anti-Semitism. The U.K. also barred Dieudonné from entering the country last year.

[RBP]

The number I heard last night was 54... arrests so far in France for speech violations after the attack.

But the newspaper.... stifling speech... so they like speech the government approves of only, apparently.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Arturo Garcia - Raw Story


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Daily Show host Jon Stewart returned to the world of faux-French cinema on Wednesday to explain the country’s free speech debate surrounding a notoriously provocative comedian.

“We have similar speech issues here in America, generally erring on the side of the government allowing sh*tty people to say sh*tty things,” Stewart explained. “As long as we can’t see their boobs.”

While France embraced the value of freedom of expression in response to the massacre against Charlie Hebdo last week, Stewart said, it was “weird” for authorities there to arrest comedian Dieudonne after he expressed sympathy online for the attackers.

“Don’t get me wrong. That is a despicable Facebook post that that guy did,” Stewart said. “But isn’t that what the Unfriend button is for? No, France, you don’t just hide them from their timeline — that’s the coward’s way.”

Fifty-four people in all have been arrested since the attack on charges of “defending terrorism,” a situation that had Stewart admitting, “Je suis confused.”

“I’m beginning to think comedy isn’t France’s thing,” he said. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, France. You’ve still got painting, kissing, and food that’s hard on the outside but soft on the inside — you’re the best at it. Stick to that. Stick to your bries, your baguettes, your broulez creme. Just stay away from comedy. That’s our thing.”

To get the point across, Stewart told the story of “The Anguished Pencil,” a pencil trying to reconcile his freedom of speech with the meaning of his existence.

“Make love to me,” his pencil lover asked. “Subsume your hypocrisy in the ecstasy of orgasm.”

“But is not love itself speech?” the titular pencil asked her. “When speech is restricted, is love, then, not violence against the state?”

“If you don’t want to f*ck, just say you don’t want to f*ck,” she responded. “I’m OK with that. If you don’t want to f*ck, I’m OK with that.”

Watch the melodrama — and Stewart’s commentary — as posted on Thursday, below.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--6ZU7olSTg

[Hal-9000]

“Tonight, as far as I’m concerned, I feel like Charlie Coulibaly,”

Is it terrorist sympathy or just a poorly formed thought? He's feeling like one of the terrorists?

I'm not seeing the severity