I'm so exhausted

[frenchani]

Such violence, so many dead people already.

As if the situation weren't stressful enough, I just read that, apparently many people (especially Americans) are spreading lies about Charlie Hebdo on the Internet, either on tumblr or twitter, calling it a racist newspaper that "had it coming", not understanding at all what a satirical magazine is

Comments

[frenchani]

But you see the KKK couldn't exist over here. Any kind of racist speech is strictly banned, especially antisemitic speech. Hate speech is illegal if it incites racial hatred (not necessarily actions)which is already considered as violence.

It is also forbidden to draw svastikas for instance, and Mein Kampf isn't allowed to be neither published nor sold.

And we also have a law forbidding apologia for terrorism. Sadly, a few people are currently being prosecuted for that...

We don't have any law forbidding pornography over here, unless, of course, it involves underage people, especially pedopornography, or animals, because those are a matter of sexual abuse and ill-treatment. The problem isn't pornography per se.

I know about what your constitution says about the separation of church and state, but you still have politicians talking about their faith and using religious arguments or invoking god in their speeches, which would be an issue here, and there's still "in god we trust" written on notes, or the use of the bible in court, etc.

So from our point of view, religion seems to be everywhere in your "public space" while it's considered a strictly private thing in France.

[frenchani]

We are all the product of our history. Ours is very long and very complicated but the last 250 years shaped our current views and system.

Over here the experience of the World Wars, especially the German/nazi occupation and Petain's government between 1940-1944, mostly explains the limitations of free speech when it comes to racism and antisemitism.

As for religion, our current system was built against it since religion was the justification of the old system and Church always sided with kings and tyrants against the people, etc.

We are basically the children of Rabelais, Molière, Voltaire and Diderot, puritanism is not in "our genes".

So yes very different, hence frictions and misunderstandings, but you're right we never went to war with one another.