Not bad my French considering that I had to take two goes to pass my 'O'-level. Oh, alright, yes, I did have just a little help from mon ami, 'M. Google Translate'. Anyway, the point of this (fairly useless) post is to ponder on the decision by the French Senate to ban the denial of genocide in general, and in particular, the genocide allegedly inflicted on the Armenians by the Turks in 1915. I use the word "allegedly" for the simple reason that I have no idea whether or not the Turks are (or were) guilty of what is a crime under international law. Commonsense (never a totally reliable indicator, particularly mine) indicates that a great number of Armenians perished at the hands of the Turks but whether it amounts to 'genocide' is quite beyond my pay grade, and indeed, my knowledge, to decide. It sounds to me like the sort of squabble likely to keep lawyers busy for years, and international lawyers for decades, if not lifetimes!
So, setting aside guilt or innocence (and thus risking a hefty fine and/or imprisonment were I to say this in France), I would like to dwell on the sort of people and their mind-set that allows them to insist that other people say or unsay things. It is a peculiarity mostly confined to those of a political persuasion and not necessarily full-time politicans only, but also the myrid bottom-feeders who swim round the arsehole of parliamentarians and nibble away at them until they take on board the message of the day. Nor, of course, is it confined to our French neighbours. I am still waiting in trembling fear for a knock on my door at 3.00 am because I have twice referred to Ms. Diane Abbot MP as a "fat, black clown" - and when it comes, I don't think it will be at the behest of the United Union of Clowns who are so useless that they can never carry a pail of water ten feet!
What these 'denialist deniers' fail to understand is that simply banning people from saying what they think or believe does not somehow make the beliefs go away. In fact, I suspect that it has just the opposite effect of making the gagged believe all the more strongly that they are onto 'The Truth'. It must be true, they say to themselves, quietly, under their breath, because otherwise why would the authorities make such an effort to silence them? And because they have been silenced there is now no opportunity to bring to their attention certain established facts which might change their minds. I mean, personally, I am more than willing to listen to arguments attempting to convince me that Ms. Abbot is, in fact, not fat, not black and not a clown!
Furthermore
Whatever happened in Armenia happened nearly a century ago. The Turkish government has changed many times since then. If we are to hold present day Turks to account for the alleged sins of their great grandfathers, then what motive do we give them to improve
Rather we should comment on- and if necessary impose consequences on- people who presently transgress decency. we are not short of targets.
Posted by: Pat | Tuesday, 24 January 2012 at 22:08
Excellent point, Pat.
Posted by: David Duff | Wednesday, 25 January 2012 at 09:04
What awful evil will now occur in France if someone utters his belief that the Armenian massacre was not "genocide" but a particularly nasty outbreak of Turkish wickedness? Frankly, who cares what it's called? This is purely Sarkozy's cheap and pathetically transparent way of garnering a few more votes from French citizens of Armenian extraction (approx 500,000 apparently). Sarkozy has apparently forgotten the (5 million?) Moslems in France who will likely join their fellow Moslems in Turkey and turn their (voting) backs on Sarkozy: an own goal - and an avoidable own goal (unless Sarkozy reckons that no Moslem would ever vote for him anyway which is quite possible). Are all politicians pillocks?
OTOH I, for one, thank God for the French who are (so far!) resisting accession of Turkey to the EU.
Posted by: Umbongo | Wednesday, 25 January 2012 at 11:09
Fair enough, Bongers, but I was hoping that you were going to offer up a contrary opinion to my summary of Ms. Abbott's characteristics!
Fat chance, eh?
Posted by: David Duff | Wednesday, 25 January 2012 at 11:30
The French are just trying to upset the Turks because they (the French) really really really don't want Turkey in the EU.
Who can blame them, now that Ataturk's legacy is being undone?
Turkey as a member of the EU would mean ANOTHER fifty million or so Islamists heading for Western Europe.
I'm with Mongseer Crapaud on this one. Turkey is not in Europe and shouldn't be made to pretend that it is.
Posted by: Andrew Duffin | Wednesday, 25 January 2012 at 12:48
Fat, black, and clown may be legit or not, but she has revealed herself to be a racist, accusations of which are privileged in law, are they not?
Posted by: dearieme | Wednesday, 25 January 2012 at 12:55
I suspect you're right, Andrew, on French motives so perhaps we should offer them two cheers!
I think they must be privileged, DM, because everybody and his uncle seem to accuse everybody else and his aunt of being 'racist' almost on a daily basis.
Posted by: David Duff | Wednesday, 25 January 2012 at 13:39