Christine Boutin is Christine is a French politician and former housing minister. She's a public official who's on trial and the stakes are high, over $10,000 worth, to be exact. The trial takes place in Paris, France. She's on trial for her language, for using one word in in an interview with the high-brow political magazine Charles in March 2014.
During the interview, she pulled that one word out of the Bible and that's why the firestorm erupted. Her case drew comments from the rank and file, comments like "She hates people," "The Bible has no place in government," and "The Bible is a 2,000 year-old fantasy book." But she made it crystal clear that she hated sin, not sinners because she was one of them. And, it was an interview for a magazine and had nothing to do with passing a law and making something an official government policy. The interviewer had asked for her opinion, and she gave it, but she used THAT word.
It's interesting, isn't it, to think of the offensive words we hear coming into our dens from a TV set and into our hearing from movies, words we'd never let a guest use at our dinner table. It's interesting, isn't it, the words we read on the sports pages of our newspapers, words we'd never let our kids use without correction, but the force of the French government comes down on Christine Boutin for taking a word from the Bible, of all books, and using it during an interview.
So this is where Western Civilization is in Europe and where it's headed in America. Where is Europe, France in particular? A person isn't free to tell people what they don't want to hear. We're seeing this phenomenon on our college campuses--uproars over speakers whose viewpoint students and faculty don't want to hear have their invitations revoked. The students and teachers want only speakers who will preach to the choir and they will disrupt the entire campus to make sure they get such speakers at their graduation ceremonies.
George Orwell said it best: "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they don't want to hear." A lot of people didn't want to hear that their candidate lost the election so they formed mobs, went on a rampage, destroyed private property, blocked roads, and attacked the police.
But back to Christine Boutin. She's standing in court of law and on trial because of what? Because, in essence, she quoted the Bible and in the Bible verse she quoted, was THAT word.
RESULT
The result of her trial was that she was found guilty and heavy fines, as stated above were assessed. That will teach her--you don't use that word, and if you do, it better be in private or you'd better whisper it so no on will hear.
I was recently taking a ride with family and a friend we hadn't seen in a while, a young adult who was relating to us an incident which occurred in a nearby town. As she was reporting the incident, she came to a word, not a swear word, not a racially degrading word, but a word. When she said the word in our car, guess what? She lowered her voice. She actually lowered her voice even though she was among long-time friends. It was a word we hear from newscasters, a word we read in books, and in newspapers, yet she lowered her voice.
Then, two weeks later we were eating with a very new acquaintance and having a great time in a public place. During the conversation, this new found-friend was waxing eloquent about some subject (I don't remember what it was) and all of a sudden he used the same word we heard in the car. That perfectly acceptable word used by professors, governors, and senators alike, the same word our other friend had lowered her voice to say. He, too, lowered his voice to a whisper.
What is this? What's going on? It's self-censorship, and this is the lesson of the trial of Christine Boutin: you either censor yourself or we'll do it for you and make you pay.
WHAT WAS THE WORD?
What was the word that landed Boutin in court, found her guilty and imposed the heavy fines? You can look it up. She took the word from Leviticus 18:22.
Referring to someone by anything other than their name today is extremely hazardous. The concept of Offense has been used as a knife in this country in order to cut out ideas and control us. Our right to free speech has been abolished. It is in the trash can. Therefore the right to receive and impart information and ideas w/o fear of controlling punishment is a thing of the past in the United States.-- I personally have suffered $24,000.00 worth of punishment in the last 1 1/2 years because I dared to speak an unacceptable word, even though it was in an Acceptable way. -- Just the use of "The Word" in the parking lot to a friend was enough to ruin my life. - This is insanity. Our world has gone mad. The abolishment of our right to free speech has been a very successful attempt to control how people think and to abolish the dignity of every individual. Today, when I am outside my home, I live in fear; constant fear that I might slip up and reveal an unacceptable opinion or word. I walk around like a mummy, with my mouth shut, no opinions do I give on anything. I feel like I live in a prison. My dignity as a person of worth with individuality has been slaughtered. -- This is America today.
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