The dignity of France!

[SaligoBay]

Titter ye not.   This rapper is being done for dissing "the dignity of France".   I mean, non mais, innit!   Have these people up top there got nothing better to do with their time?   [:D]    Obviously not.   I hope these guys get off with it.   And some wonky politician proposed a law to make it a criminal offence to insult the dignity of France or the French state.   "State" and "dignity" is a connection that I find difficult to make, and having a dummy spit at rappers doesn't really help!  

Rapper faces jail for song dissing France

Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Monday May 29, 2006
The Guardian

One of France's most popular rappers will appear in court today charged with offending public decency with a song in which he referred to France as a "slut" and vowed to "piss" on Napoleon and Charles de Gaulle. Monsieur R, whose real name is Richard Makela, could face three years in prison or a €75,000 (£51,000) fine after an MP from the ruling UMP party launched legal action against him over his album Politikment Incorrekt.

In the video for the song FranSSe, Makela, 30, appeared dressed as a gendarme with two naked women rubbing against the French flag as he rapped: "France is a bitch, don't forget to fuck her till she's exhausted/You have to treat her like a slut, man." At another point in the song, he sang: "I piss on Napoleon and on General de Gaulle."

When Daniel Mach, MP for Pyrénées-Orientales, heard the album last year, he proposed a law making it a criminal offence to insult the dignity of France and the French state. In November, when riots broke out in France's run-down suburbs, another UMP deputy, François Grosdidier, won the support of 152 MPs and 49 senators who demanded that parliament act against Makela's lyrics. But by then Mr Mach had taken a personal action against Makela for making and disseminating "violent and pornographic messages" to which minors could get access.

The case is the latest in a series of stand-offs between conservative MPs and rappers. In 2003, Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister and presidential hopeful, brought a criminal case against the rap band Sniper, saying their music was anti-semitic, racist and insulting. In one song, La France, they called France a "bitch". The case was thrown out of court last year.

The same lawyer who defended Sniper is acting for Makela.

Makela, who was born in Belgium and came to France aged 14, told Le Parisien he did not target any particular group but rapped against "the system". "You can have a critical view of the French state without being anti-French or racist."

  

[tmto]

The UK should take similar steps, instead of tolerating people who blatantly hate the country they have been given the right to reside in.

[Missy]

>>>...The UK should take similar steps, instead of tolerating people who blatantly hate the country they have been given the right to reside in...<<<

AND which is allowing them freedom of speech ... Catch 22!...

[Lori]

Considering how much American rap music I hear on the French radio

stations these days, I find it odd these politicians care at all. 

I am forever hearing  the "f---" word in nearly every American rap

song played. Referring to people, places, situations, etc.  When I

lived in the States, the FCC would not allow this type of language over

the airways.  Not sure where the issue stands over there

now.  I'm sure the French know the meaning of the

words....no? 

Is it just the France bashing they are concerned with?  I

personally get tired of being assaulted with foul language every time I

turn on the radio.  Mind you, I am no puritain, put me in the car

these days (the roads are filled with velos and camping cars), and

you'll hear them all flying from my lips.  I still get tired of it

on the radio.  And my daughter has come to think these words are

part of everyday American language.

[KathyC]

Depending on the words you have "bleeped" I would have thought prosecution for sexism and insulting the dignity of women was equally appropriate. Although I may have been known to use the odd expletive on occasion, I too find this continual use of aggressive foul language both stressful and intimidating. Fortunately for me my French is still pretty uncoloquial (incoloquial?) so when I'm in France the only "language" I recognise is "merde". I suppose that's something to look forward to as I achieve greater fluency, becoming aware of swearing.

Sorry, I seem to have been censored, I meant "poo".

[Norman]

I can`t remember the singer for the moment, but his recent little ditty has something like "**** you, you *** I don`t want you back" and many more delightful phrases in it........ excellent when your wandering around your local supermarket, everybody completely oblivious to it...... except the odd brit desperately trying to cover the mother-in-laws ears.....

Norman.

[PossumGirl]

It's interesting, but swearing has no impact on you when it is swearing that is not in your native language.  French people use the "F" word, because to them, it's actually pretty meaningless.  I know that there are French words I know that are inappropriate in a lot of circumstances, but I have to conciously stop myself from using them, because they have no "taboo" associated with them and therefore don't cause me discomfort.

I always laugh when I see a headline about a big pot bust somewhere in France, because mainstream newspapers put the word s##t in the headline, which is, of course totally shocking for a native English-speaker!

PG

[Cerise]

Not a rap fan myself - but if they want to find people slagging off the state they can probably get a few in our village bar at any time.  Don't much care for foul language either - especially in the supermarket as you say, makes you forget what you came in to buy - but think SB has a point, haven't they got any real criminals to catch.  Ah no, I forgot real criminals, are allowed to be members of the Government here [:-))]- only silly little boys singing daft songs (it was ever thus) can get in trouble.

[SaligoBay]

[quote user="tmto"]The UK should take similar steps, instead of tolerating people who blatantly hate the country they have been given the right to reside in.[/quote]

No, I don't agree you should smother youthful subversiveness.  I mean, the world didn't come to an end after punk, and most spiky-haired yoofs got it out of their system, cut their hair, settled down and are probably now complaining about the youth of today!

But French rappers, singing in French.  You'd think the govt would be glad that anyone was singing in French!

I agree about people who abuse freedom of speech for political ends, especially if they involve terrorism.

Actually, I want to know why Sarkozy et al are listening to rap in the first place.  They really don't look the kind!

[Missy]

>>>...Actually, I want to know why Sarkozy et al are listening to rap in the first place. They really don't look the kind...<<<

I reckon they are listening as they need to know the language in which to address their electorate... Syllabus part of their crash course in canvassing...

Crash is the word!...

[Dick Smith]

It's easier to shoot the messenger than answer the message?

[chris pp]

As I understand it, in my own little way, what we have in France is a paranoid system of Government, probably a result of the 60's, with a smattering of the early 80's thrown in, a total fear of anything that may upset the political status quo. The sound bites from the establishment haven't changed one tiny little bit over the entire period and always fall back on pour La France, tradition and and and.. it almost makes me cringe, corruption almost everywhere you look, back pockets being filled and overt racism, not to forget this is the country that sank the Rainbow Warrior, where did the orders for that come from??

I agree with SB, let the singers sing their songs, suppression leads to explosions.

Chris, being political.