Another day, another story about John Galliano. Yesterday’s big story was about Galliano getting fired from Dior – and I truly hoped that would be the end of it. Today’s story is about Galliano being “persuaded” by his bitchy model BFFs Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss to check into rehab. The New York Times claims that Galliano will likely check into to The Meadows, an Arizona rehab. Well… it’s not like he has anything else going on, and it’s not the first time booze got the blame for some bigot’s hate speech.
John Galliano the talented and troubled designer who was fired by Dior for making anti-Semitic remarks in a drunken rant at a Paris bar, left France to enter rehabilitation on Wednesday, according to friends who would speak only anonymously because of the sensitivity of the situation.
He was persuaded to accept treatment for his alcohol problems by close colleagues and friends like the supermodels Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, the sources said. While the treatment center is not known, it is likely that his destination is The Meadows, a facility in Wickenberg, Arizona, where Elton John and Donatella Versace were treated in recent years.
For Christian Dior, the billion-dollar fashion house that dismissed him on Tuesday for making anti-Semitic remarks while apparently drunk, the problems are only multiplying. The Dior autumn 2011 women’s wear show will go ahead here on Friday, according to a person at Dior who asked not to be identified.
The future of the John Galliano brand, which is underwritten by Dior and barely breaks even financially, is complex. Relying mainly on licenses, built up over the last decade, executives will have to see whether those external partners still want to be associated with a designer whose name has been globally smirched.
But more dramatic for Dior, and for the entire future of haute couture, is the problem of finding a replacement for Mr. Galliano. From the British designer’s tsunami of ideas in the twice-a-year haute couture and ready-to-wear collections, design teams build ranges of inter-season collections and accessory lines. Without leadership, the fashion house can run only a short time on empty.
In the past, Dior’s parent company, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, and its founder and chief executive, Bernard Arnault, have tended to switch both executives and designers from brand to brand. Mr. Galliano himself started his reign at LVMH at Givenchy in 1995, before switching to Dior the following year. So it is natural that the name of Riccardo Tisci, the currentdesigner at Givenchy, , Italian-born and British-trained, is considered high on the list of possible replacements at Dior.
Mr. Tisci, like Mr. Galliano an alumni of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, has climbed the steep learning curve toward the heights of haute couture at Givenchy. The theory goes that other LVMH brands, like Céline, Loewe and Louis Vuitton, might then follow with changes in a kind of fashion merry-go-round.
Other theories suggest that a rising fashion star might be plucked to take over at Dior or that an established success story — such as the invigoration of Lanvin by the designer Alber Elbaz — could be transferred to the LVMH stable. But with so many long-established houses searching for new talent, even with the might of Dior, a speedy choice will not be easy.
[From The NYT]
I think Dior will probably go with an established designer to replace Galliano. You know who they should get, in my honest opinion? Christopher Bailey, who is currently doing magnificent things with Burberry. Bailey’s style is detail-oriented and feminine enough for Dior, and he has the vision to do extraordinary things with the label.
Regarding some of the comments I’ve been seeing on these Galliano posts – it seems some of you are under the misapprehension that all of these Galliano controversies are some kind of free speech issue. You’re wrong. First of all, Galliano said his anti-Semitic statements in France, where there are laws against hate speech. Secondly, Galliano wasn’t fired from Dior because LVMH hates free speech – he was fired because his hate speech was bad business, and because the controversy could have quickly snowballed into a situation where one of LVMH’s most profitable divisions would have been forever tainted by one drunken bigot. Third – for those screaming about free speech for Galliano, what about Natalie Portman’s free speech to call him a bigot? Or my free speech to call him the new Mel Gibson? Why is the “free speech” argument only used when someone says something offensive, and not when people react to the dumb, offensive things being said?
UPDATE: Galliano speaks! Thru his lawyers. According to the WSJ/HuffPo, Galliano’s statement says:
Since the events of last Thursday evening I have not been able to make any public comment on what took place based upon advice from my French lawyer. However, given the continuing delays at the French Prosecutor’s Office I should make my position clear. I completely deny the claims made against me and have fully co-operated with the police investigation.
A number of independent witnesses have given evidence and have told the police that I was subjected to verbal harassment and an unprovoked assault when an individual tried to hit me with a chair having taken violent exception to my look and my clothing. For these reasons I have commenced proceedings for defamation and the threats made against me.
However, I fully accept that the accusations made against me have greatly shocked and upset people. I must take responsibility for the circumstances in which I found myself and for allowing myself to be seen to be behaving in the worst possible light. I only have myself to blame and I know that I must face up to my own failures and that I must work hard to gain people’s understanding and compassion. To start this process I am seeking help and all I can hope for in time is to address the personal failure which led to these circumstances and try and earn people’s forgiveness.
I have fought my entire life against prejudice, intolerance and discrimination, having been subjected to it myself. In all my work my inspiration has been to unite people of every race, creed, religion and sexuality by celebrating their cultural and ethnic diversity through fashion. That remains my guiding light.
Anti-semitism and racism have no part in our society. I unreservedly apologise for my behaviour in causing any offence.
It sounds like he’s only talking about the specific incident last Thursday night, and not about the tape of him saying that he loved Hitler. Interesting.
Photos courtesy of Fame.
As if rehab cured racism…*rolls eyes*
Great post Kaiser 🙂
And who didn’t see this coming? Bleh. Go to rehab so I don’t have to hear about you any more.
Just because you drink, doesn’t mean that the racism was caused by that. Drunks usually utter the truth they cannot speak while sober.
Kaiser, I totally agree with you, especially your last point.
@Kaiser
Speaking only for myself and my comments, I think Dior’s actions and the statements by people who find his “behavior” to be repugnant are exactly right. This is not to be confused with my opposition to the French laws banning certain types of speech, other than incitement speech. Do they also have laws preventing Jews from saying negative things about the Palestinians?
France is France and I don’t want their laws here in the States. A true anti-Semite will support any and all laws protecting Jews because such laws grant “special status” which breeds resentment and thus more begotry.
Today the Supreme Court ruled that the Church in Kansas which protests at the funerals for Gay Servicemen have the right to do so. A more vulgar group of people I can not comprehend and yet when I read the ruling, I agree with it.
“America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.” (Michael Douglas: The American President)
“I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” (Evelyn Beatrice Hall/Voltaire)
Of course he’s going to rehab.
In that case, I think it makes just as much sense to send Kate Moss to the Museum of Tolerance.
Great…now he’ll be coming to MY state…not like we don’t have enough racists already ._.
Well said.
Great post Kaiser!!! I agree with you on all points!
The free speech argument is an incredibly flawed and narrow-minded one, at best. It’s also an incredibly American oversight to assume that all countries operate in the same manner as our own.
France has limitations to Freedom of Speech. You cannot speak or write in a manner that promotes racism, religious hatred (including denying the Holocaust), or hatred of sexual orientation. Those offenses are punishible by law. It’s pretty straightforward.
As Kaiser said, though, none of his “freedoms” were trampled on by firing this loser. Dior is “free” to terminate their relationship with him when he acts like a complete pig. Being the top designer at a fashion house is not a human right…
rita, youre kinda awesome.
I think they fired him because no one had the nerve to tell him he dressed like a circus clown.
I’m all about free speech, but shouldn’t there be some standards? I realize everyone is an individual, blah, blah, blah but you can’t go around slinging hurtful things and then claim free speech. Free speech shouldn’t invovlve being rude and hateful. At some point tact should override.
This the reminds me of the Micheal “Kramer” Richards thing a few years back.
wow – i didn;t realize there was rehab for being an asshole. maybe he could go and take mel and charlie with him.
I know when I was a drunk I was spouting anti-semetic speech. Actually, I would get into fights with my ex then kick him out of his own house.
Kaiser, great points. And you’re right. It’s not an issue of free speech but hate speech (and just hate all around).
I’m not sure what rehab can do for him, and it seems celebrities who’ve had years to cultivate such disgusting arrogance and then make these “missteps” use rehab as image damage control, rather than as a means of improving themselves. It may take years to rehabilitate him, and it may take an empathetic experience to make him realize his wrong, ugly belief system.
@ 6, you would think so, right?
@ Isabel, I agree wholeheartedly with everything you said. And yeah, there’s something very culture bound in thinking that other countries operate in the same manner as America.
Rita :
As a French personn, I can tell you that, in France, hate speech is not just for Jews.
It is forbidden to have hate speech toward Jews, gays people, musulmans…
Like (with your exemple) a jew cannot have a hate speech toward muslims…
Lately a journalist (who I think is Jew) said that “most drug dealers are black or arabic”… it was considered as a hate speech because it was offensive toward a whole group of individuals.
A comic guy was always accused of hate speech toward disabled people because he said that “trisomic people are like shrimp : everything is good about them, except the head”…
See… hate speech is far away from being a law made to only protect the Jews… There is no “special statut” with Hate Speech
@Rita – wonderfully put.
@Kaiser – great write up.
Free speech, even in the US, has limitations. One is not allowed to yell fire in a crowded theater, as the proverbial saying goes. Galliano is free to say what he wants, but he must accept the consequences of his words.
Also – is there @ssh*le rehab? Can we send Charlie Sheen along?!
Awesomely well put, Kaiser; thanks <3
I’m the only Jew I know who is GLAD that the Klan marched in Skokie (where many Holocaust survivors lived and still live) that one time, and that the ACLU defended their right to do so. That kind of thing is excellent for a community: blacks and Jews and regular honkies came out in the thousands to counterprotest, and it was a great thing overall. Dior has a right to protect their business interests, which is ultimately the issue here. And seriously, like Kaiser implied: Go defend someone who’s actually being oppressed if you feel like defending free speech. Or wear the blue ribbon, or help distribute suppressed information. Jeez.
That picture of him just cracks me up. I he had worn side curls instead of braids, he would have looked like an orthodox jew!
The sad thing is that he will go to rehab, get out, do a few mea culpas and either get hired by another fashion house or start his own.
People have such a short memory, right or wrong. Some other celeb will do something outrageous and all the attention will be off of him.
I know, I am a total cynic.
Hey people? You do understand that none of you, who are calling Galliano names, is better than the man himself, right? You and Galliano have one thing in common – you seem to have a strong dislike for certain kind of people of you choice. And you both think your view is inherently right. And that’s fine, that’s human nature for you. But get off your damn high horses, because you’re acting as petty as him, except on the opposite side. So I hereby use MY right to call you hypocrites.
I’m not defending Galliano, I never thought of him as a person I would like. I do however, commend you to not drop to his level, because by doing that, you, tolerant, accepting, understanding people born in democracy, are proving that it is in a human’s nature to HATE. There are no acceptable targets in this life. Dignity, ladies, you can handle this issue with it.
That is all.
@Lilu #19
Thank you very much. I would hate to be the one who “legally” has to determine what is hate speech and what is a “drunken insult”. I very much like the French but I’ll still pass on such laws. Be well today.
@simone #21
Wonderful comment. Exactly my point.
@24
Preach, sister. These ridiculous liberal bleeding-hearts, expressing their disgust with racist lackwits. Not in my ‘merica.
@Isa….I was thinking the same thing!
@ Rasputina, and what would you call your post just now? Aren’t you being just as self-righteous? Maybe you should get off your high horse. That is all.
____
Edit:
@ 31, Diane, THANK YOU for putting it all in perspective! 😀
Rehab doesn’t cure anti-Semitism or a bad choice of words. I don’t get this all American thing of going to rehab after a drunken fit, I just don’t get it.
I vote for rehab…in ISRAEL.
Some of you are missing the point. During hitler’s reign of terror hundreds of thousands of French jews were rounded up and gassed. This happened all over Europe. Yes, they have anti-hate laws because the last thing they want is a repeat of one of the blackest moments in French history. So I understand where they’re coming from with their laws and I can’t really say I’m opposed to them, given the historical implications.
rehab is just an easy out for these celebrities
Rita, it was not my intention to sa that this law is good and that there should be such a law in the US…
I was just explaining that Hate Speech is not just for Jews…
Anyway,
I don’t get something : if I’m drunk and I insult a police officer (like real bad insults), is it OK because of free speech?
I honestly don’t understand why it’s forbidden to say F**K on air (like for the Oscars) but it’s ok to say that “a personn look like a Jew and should be gazed”…
It’s all a mystery for me !!!
Mom always used to tell me that alcohol doesn’t turn you into someone you’re not, it brings out who you really are.
Wise woman, my Mom.
@ Rasputina wrote “There are no acceptable targets in this life. Dignity, ladies, you can handle this issue with it.”
I offer two things – First – If there are no acceptable targets, why then are you targeting others on this thread with your post? Do you not see the irony of what you wrote?
Second, since you dragged dignity into this, it is with great dignity and pride that I say: Galliano can say whatever he wants, and we can freely criticize him for what he has said. Most of the posts I’ve read did not call him any disparaging or hateful names but pointed the undeniable fact that what he said was anti-Semitic, and by the laws of where he said it, considered hate speech. Aside from that, regardless of where he said it, it is deplorable.
Some things are just wrong in a civil society – and if you think that pointing them out means that we are a posse of high-horsed ladies, then so be it.
What he said was wrong, and certainly without dignity. You cannot be dignified in thinking that criticism of his act is somehow at par with what he did.
NOTHING comes out of a drunks mouth that wasn’t there when he was sober.
Extraordinarily well put, Kaiser.
Love your posts.
He could get work in Iran, that’s about it.
Were these photos from his “pimp couture” line?
In Vino Veritas. I have to agree with everyone that said rehab is a joke, it will cure him (maybe) of alcoholism but I’ve never seen anyone say anything when they were drunk they didn’t think when they were sober. When I’m drunk I become giddy, clumsy, and in the final stages I tell people “I love them” or on the opposite end I become extremely truthful and by that I mean when some guy comes up to me in a bar I won’t tell him I’m busy or not interested in a nice polite way as I might do sober … I’ll list the things I find stupid about him -lol- All of those things I’m thinking when I’m sober I just don’t say them …
Dior has every right to fire him because he will cost them money if they don’t.
I have another question for your ladies (and gentlemen) … does any kind of genius … be it scientific or artistic … give a pass to some of these kinds of behaviours. Our greatest writers and scientists were actually terrible people but their work changed our world. Not to say a fashion line is gonna change the world but you know what I mean … thoughts?
@Devilgirl- I usually lie a lot when I drink. I mean a LOT. I just make up the craziest things. I’ve been a photographer from Australia, a zookeeper in NYC, a mobster’s mistress in the Witness Protection Program, ah, well, you get the picture. =)
Diane- I totally agree. My life has never been on the line as a result of free speech nor has it ever been threatened in any way (slavery, trail of tears, etc.) Free speech should have some consequences. I am not for the Tipper Gore days or anyting like that, I just don’t think that hatred should be tolerated.
Protesting a funeral is absolutely pathetic BTW and that is not free speech. I think people think free speech is a free pass to do and say whatever and I just don’t believe that’s the intention behind free speech. These people have crossed the line of disrespecting someone.
I am in love with the title of this post. Terrific post all round!
@MSat- Bwahahahaha!!!
John should’ve realized that Big Brother is watching. The scary thing is that we’ve become Big Brother, with our phone cameras, video cameras and the ability we have to download them on the World Wide Web.
If the government monitored us as much as we seem to monitor each other these days there’d be riots in the streets. John’s anti-Semitism was wrong but I don’t like the Big Brother undertones of this story.
He looks like a Hasidic hobo. While this would be a great premise for a 30-minute “Three’s Company” style series (“Hop along with Boxcar Moishe as he keeps truckin’ AND kosher!”) it’s not exactly what I think of when it comes to aspirational dressing.
He not only broke the law as it is a crime in France but he also broke the terms of his professional contract.
Most big entreprises in france as well as in other european countries like Belgium have a code of conduct which specifically states that those behaviour as this one that could taint the reputation of that entreprise, wether made within the professional place or outside, will not be accepted and will lead you to be sacked.
Here, he is in a profession where his face is intimately linked to the brand. His contract was even more severe in that regard. He broke the terms he signed and Dior could even get after him because they lost money due to his behaviour in total contradiction of his contract.
And as for the rehab thing, this is what celebrities do in America in hope they won’t be prosecuted. In France, they don’t give a damn about it. The general feeling is that he is racist and arrogant and thought that his name would give him a pass to get away with it as if the prosecutor will be easier on him. He is wrong. Again, in France they won’t be impressed by this decision to go on rehab. This is the countries where people have no problems insulting their politicians. This is the country where a french citizen refused to shake hands with president sarkozy, telling him right in his face ‘Don’t touch me with your dirty hands’. People really don’t care and won’t be impressed by his rehab trick. He will get a fine at minimum and be the bottom of every joke in the street of Paris for the next few weeks, maybe even some TV impersonation of his racist rants turned into a charicature as French like to do just to mock you even more.
@ simone…blacks, jews & regular HONKIES?
What the hell??
Gosh…that was offensive.
I’m sorry, but we need to get to the important things. 🙂 Tomas Maier would be a much better choice for Dior. He’s done amazing things at Bottega Veneta.
There’s nothing to be said about Galliano.
I’m just wondering…
It’s sure he’s been dumb all along and lacks knowledge (at least about the holocaust) but, it seems to me he clearly has been provoked (if I get it right the video starts with one of the girl asking him “Are you blonde?”). It just seems it’s been a dirty and full of prejudice sort of fight on both sides…
Now, I’m not saying it changes anything or minimizes his guilt.
But, I was just wondering – if it was a slavic person targeted this way e.g. an Ukrainian he said to “You’re ugly. Your ancestors should have been gassed!”… would anybody care? I just hope the reaction would be the same but something tells me it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.
Just to explain my worry, Jewish and Slavic as well as Romanian were to main groups designated to eliminate as the holders of inferior character traits. Not just jewish.
Yet slavic countries are now accused of having had co-operated with Nazi Germany whereas they were occupied and their own habitants, both jewish and non-jewish were murdered. I guess this build up right after the war when it was so much more convenient to claim to have murdered ‘only’ around 6 mln instead of at least 20 mlns… and ‘share’ the guilt… I know it’s not a post for that but it’s just like there’re prejudices within prejudices when I look at the matter from a broader perspective and it kind of hurts… (I live 2 hrs away from one of the biggest concentration camps in Europe, have been several times in the museum as well as listened to my grandfather’s stories…).
@ #24 Rasputina – There’s actually a huge difference btw what people on this thread are doing — making comments about JG (a specific individual who engaged in specific behavior) and his comments that lump an entire group of people together w/ a stereotype.
Oh, and Kaiser, great post, as usual.
ok, im not into fashion, at all. i just dont get why people follow this guys idea of fashion. he looks like a mix between a pirate and boris from rocky and bullwinkle. its the same with karl lunderdkfdj. so he may love his outfits, good for him, but why, oh why would someone take fashion advice from him? does he look good? i dont think so. would i listen to him about fashion? i dont think so. do i think he has anything important to say? i dont think so.
people in hollywood and fashion are not revered for their thoughts or actions. they play pretend and dress up for a living. they live a life in make believe. while i dont think people should just hate another person for no good reason, i really dont give this guy much thought. so hes a bit a drunk who dresses like a cartoon villian, not a politician making laws and war.
Aslo, a few years ago, Emmanuelle Béart who was representing a beauty brand as their spoke person had seen her contract not renewed because she had a sit down with refugees who didn’t want to be expelled and were taking care by a preacher in his church illegally.
They were ordered to clear the place and Beart came in their defense with plenty of anonymous, organizing a demonstartion.
She was arrested with all the rest and busted ahgressively. A few days later, her beauty contract that was coming to an end and supposed to be renewed didn’t. They officially said that it was a joint decision but noone in France was naive and knew that there were a correlation between the refugees incident and her contract being end. she later said that beuaty contract was less important that supporting refugees among which mostly women and children, as she, as a woman and a mother couldn’t stay still accepting that.
In this case, a woman fought for refugees and their dignity. she was arrested with one of the refugees baby un her arms saying that it was unacceptable.
Ethically she behave like a courageous good human being. But she breached the law when she put herself between the policemen and the refugees and she breached the terms of her professional contract when she was linked to a glamourous brand which won’t tolerate this type of behaviour/exposition as stated in all of their contracts.
So again, if Béart was thanked and sacked for what she did, Galiano surely can.
Same was applied in the US with Tiger Woods with several brands ending their collaboration because of his behaviour in total contradiction of the spirit of his contract.
Same also with Sharon Stone who had her contract suspended in France at least partially because she criticized the chineze political system creating an uproar in China ans a boycot of that brand while she was the only face in the ads all over China.
@ghostbuster
If you’re not into fashion, then you probably won’t get it; but one thing to know is that he is a very talented designer. He doesn’t dress people like he dresses, he makes amazing RTW and couture for women (mostly). He made Dior a ton of money, so obviously, he’s doing something right (as far as talent, not in his private life.)
@katyusha well, thats good. of course it would be a pretty funny world if we all dressed like gay pirates 🙂 maybe we should dress like him and we could all giggle a little bit more.
There was an article in the Montreal Gazetter that quoted a fashion designer who said Galliano’s assistant basically did all the work. Makes me wonder if Galliano had been having substance abuse issues for years, and others were covering his tracks. That said, how hard could it be to replace an antisemite and bigot anyway?
Hate speech is subjective. What one person may find offensive, another may not. Everyone should have a right to their opinion no matter how absurd it may seem to some.
The more society caters to special interest and prohibitionist groups, the more society will resemble Orwell’s 1984. That’s no way to live.
The writer at dlisted said he looked like a Hasidic Pimp and I laughed so hard I cried.
@spinner…oh come on. Did you READ that post?? Anyone who read that post could tell that that was a joke. Stop it.
Does anybody really care?
Hi Kaiser,
I think that your great/post anwer is partly directed to me.
First I send this again, by mistake I’ve posted it under the old article.
1. Galliano goes into rehab ! Good for him ! He needs help and we regret that his outburst was so hateful. (And he hates himself first, as someone said it so well).
2. He was presented to a Judge today in Paris. Congrats for being so fast ! He could spent 6 months in jail, it’s the maximum he could get, and will have to pay 22.500 euros. Now, I hope he will be treated with humanity and medical help because he’s a human being who can be saved ! Portman is a white goose, her speach was immature.
The child rapist defended by Portman had less ! Nothing !!! And you can’t compare Galliano drunken talking, out of control, to a premediated rape of a minor girl.
On one hand what a good news that this racist talk send poeple strait to the judge, but on another one, what a horrible attack on free speach when many negative things are in progress in Europe, where Galliano leaves, and in the world. We need very much to talk about politics, religions with what happens today, and talk quietly and openely. I guess now, everybody will be paranoid. Galliano had an access of mystic nazism, a horror to me and to you, and he should be treated and punished for it, but please take care of the freedom of speach when necessary. And help to bring back his humanity and good feelings.
I’m NOT asking the freedom of speach for hate, “haine raciale” in French law you’re quoting Kaiser, and “incitation à la haine raciale” which are crimes, both are complety and thankfully forbidden in France.
But every time a bastard like Galliano goes too far, the freedom of speech is weakened because right after many stiff necks yell and protest as soon as someone criticise religions (and boy, they deserve to be criticized ! Today for ex, the savage murder of a Christian Minister killed by muslims extremists pushes us to talk and talk again about these fanatics).
I wanted to say that every time an incident like this one happens, many people are affraid they will be considered as racist if they’re talk about extremists. And they hear (I read it twice today in the comments under the articles), “don’t citicize Pakistani extremists, because you could be send to jail like Galliano”. Pfff !
The first ones should have a life sentence for murder with premedition, because they sick killers, the other (M. G) should receive an appropriate sentence and medical help, psychotherapy that would help him again to love human beings that didn’t hurt him, to make it simple (the help part, this is what was missing in Nathalie childlich speach and in France people didn’t like her “I’m proud of being a Jew” because they don’t blow air into their chest to say we’re proud caholics it’s obvious for everybody to be proud of his heritage), it’s not necessary to add more trouble to such dramatic words as the one of Mr. G, and French never liked people lecturing the others, which in fact adds more oil onto the fire, judges and doctors do they job very well, no need for publics lessons from a girl who defended a child rapist for troubled reasons, which brings back old ghosts as well, I won’t mention them because so much have been said on Mrs Portman motivations to defend Polanski and deny justice to a minor victime).
There is always a risk of amalgame between free speak and this despicable outburst of individual hate and nazism.
No society is perfect and there are society problems in the US too (violence, homocied, highest level of illetracy of a western country, higher level of drug consumption and child pregnancy. Highest level HIV positive population in the western world.
The thing is, just because there are other problems in every society doesn’t mean that this particuliar one shouldn’t be dealt before the rest.
Apparently many countries in Europe consider that it’s better to limit freedom of speech when it comes to hate speech and protect the victims of it rather than letting anyone use freedom of speech to hate freerly if they want to.
I have yer to see a Zuropean complaing about that. I am sure there are people who do it but they are tiny in comparison.
That limitation didn’t stopped them to be more open in terms of critics against their representative, president, ect. Nor didn’t it stopped them to be very vocal and supportive of reporters who were put in Charia because of that controversy surrounding the infamous Mahommet drawing. While in the US, the press and people were more reluctant to do it.
I am convinced that the fact that this continent has known so many wars with democratically elected presidents who then launched an official political movement of hatred, leading ultimately to war, has something to do with it.
And personally i prefer it that way. I consider hate speach as a a spiral leading easily to higher bids of words which will transform itself in physical violence.
It’s to each society to deal with it as it sees fit and to set the level of freedom it will tolerate in that regard.
Hi Kaiser, you’ll learn something tonight from me : “Galliano wasn’t fired from Dior because LVMH hates free speech”, of course not !
“he was fired because his hate speech was bad business” :
Nope, they didn’t even had time to consider the financial part of this tragic story. It’s forbidden and anyone on the French territory would have been fired or/and quickly presented to the judge instead of going to work or taking a plane to go back home (the day after or after 2 days, they’re in front of a judge like “our” drunken H lover). In France, I mean.
I won’t try for you to play a drunken nazi Galliano in a café for you, but I’m affraid the sentence would be the same. No more, no less. And the reaction of the employer the same if shown on a tape on youtube : with a criminal record of aggravated racism you can’t join your work, you’re a convict of a racial crime and a potential danger to your co workers.
@Rita
The Westboro Baptist Church does not discriminate if you are a dead gay or straight soldier- they’ll picket both funerals equally (and have done for many years).
True story, my friend’s father was killed a few years ago. They came to picket his funeral (with all their dumb ass signs saying stuff about dead soldiers and AIDS and gay people and what have you)…they couldn’t make it on to the military base to do it. So they picketed outside the military base.
If it’s not a base then they have always been able to picket (they must stand a certain distance away though). The Supreme court ruling is so these people will stop getting arrested (people generally call the cops when these people show up).
They are TRULY equal opportunity bigots (they also hate BUTCHERS—they’ve picketed for that too).
Hi again !
Rehab doesn’t cure racism but alcohool destroy your will and neurones. So, I absolutely don’t agree with the ones who talk about “your true nature” and “who you really are”, because booze destroys your brain and changes your world, your relationships, your pereceptions and beliefs. You can be trapped into nazi circles, violent groups, people you would never meet or consider listening to or speding time with… You have booze as common interest, you follow the rest passively…
I hate the middle-aged expressions like : “you never change your real nature”… Actually alcohool DOES change it a lot, and drugs even more. It’s destructive and someone screaming Hitler is probably more self-destructive, in the middle of a long auto-destructive process that a racist, if he’s high for ages.
Me, as I don’t drink (I wish I could appreciate a glass or two, I don’t, hey, Mari, what an exciting life you have when you drink 😉 !) I wouldn’t turn into Hitler admirer when occasionaly drunk. But maybe after 30-40 years of drugs + booze, I would be so bitter and furious to be so destroyed, so unable to control my body, my life, to see it/me so ugly, that I would be wishing all the worse things and asking any monster to come from the past to help me to kill as many as possible to got revenge. (Nathalie Portman is an idiot, she should drink a bit after the birth of her kid to see better the real life of destroyed-destructive people, sick people).
So there is a drunken talk after a glass of wine or 2, and there is a drunken talk of a damaged brain and broken personality after a river of booze (added to drugs ?) slowly absorbed during 40 years, desesperately witnessing your own decadence.
There is no excuse to people that spread racism and call out Hitler from his grave, but there is no excuse to silly idiots lecturing a sick, destroyed ocean of despair (we’ll see how you’re doing old and maybe drunk Nathalie P.), and ABSOLUTELY no excuses to bunch of spies à la Orwell, who provoked a drunk Galliano, unknown bogans without talent, greedy for money, attentions whores, who record and release these vile moments to milk it straight away instead of giving it to the justice (or better, suggest to Galliano’s entourage or Galliano himself, when sober, to seek professional help), putting the creative and attention worth free speach, the freedom of speach, the keeper of liberty, into geopardy ! Thanks for reading me 😉
I still think he was just trying to offend those people really hard. I’ve said terrible and untrue words when people took me on the edge, but I’ve never really believed any of that things I was saying.
I don’t remember saying any racist stuff, though. You have to be really low to do that. Maybe Galliano is just low.
Not your run-of-the-mill Hasidic, that’s Lubavitcher. They wear the fur hats. Get PETA on the phone!
@House Mouse:
So by banning the Hijab, France is promoting secularianism by denying people the right to wear clothing which they feel is representative of their religion as preventing racial hatred? Bullshit.
Have they banned the yarmulke yet?
Of course not. What, exactly, does that say?
By the way, Nazi Germany was (on the surface) secular, but Occultist in the extreme, I agree and much more nefarious than people realize.
But by your saying that Pakistanis should be jailed for life for extremism is clearly demonstrative of your profound lack of knowledge of colonialism and reflective of your bias.
I think at the end of the day, people wouldn’t know real hate speech if it bit them in the ass. That much was obvious from the McCain-Palin campaign.
Tea Partiers; Birthers; Dominionists; Hate speech from them all and nobody does shit about it and they’ll throw Galliano under a bus.
Incroyable.
it’s called freedom of speech people! he has the right to say whatever he wants!!
@ foozy, Of course he can say whatever he wants, but it doesn’t mean he shouldn’t pay for his irresponsible words. And there is a distinction between free speech and hate speech, as some here have eloquently explained. Even free speech comes with responsibility. And please, do yourself a favor and read #31’s (Diane’s) post, and you might understand the bigger picture here.
@ foozy, Also, as has been pointed out repeatedly, there are laws against hate speech in France. The American First Amendment doesn’t apply in Galliano’s case. Regardless, there is no excuse for hate speech, wherever it is spewed.
@ jaye #58…I was trying to make a point. Looks like you are the only one that got it.
“But by your saying that Pakistanis should be jailed for life for extremism is clearly demonstrative of your profound lack of knowledge of colonialism and reflective of your bias.”
What ??? I said the Pakistani murderers of the Minister, MURDERERS, and yes in many countries a wild murder with premeditation sand to to jail till the rest of your life. The colonialism HAS NOTHING TO DO with this MURDER. Colonialism starts to get old, starts to be ancient history. How many centuries massive immigration, murders, critics, lack of education will continue to be excused by colonisation ? Who brought to people vaccines and… life (despite negative aspects).
Unfortunately, there is no rehab for being an asshole. Nor is there any for dressing like that. :/
I do not think that the forefathers intended that we use our right to “Freedom of Speech” as a means of expressing our ignorance, fears and sheer bigotry, willfully and intentionally to demean another human being. especially in a position when one can influence the public.
With freedom of speech comes a certain responsibility.