Shots fired at Charlie Hebdo offices - France - Page 130

On January 18 2015 07:32 kwizach wrote:

"Specialists of the discipline" were not "against" Fourest's book for which she was awarded the "Prix du livre politique de l'Assemblée nationale" - first because it's not a social science book, meaning it is part of no discipline as such, but also because it was well-received. She is both a journalist (and certainly DOES "unveil information" on several topics, in particular the French far right, but it doesn't look like you've actually ever read her) and a militant - the two are not antithetical. She's not a social scientist and doesn't claim to be.
I addressed the condemnations you mentioned - she was mostly condemned not for making inaccurate claims but for revealing information that was private or damaging, meaning that the condemnations were not at all a statement on the quality of her research.
I saw the "Ce soir ou jamais" show, I read the book and I read Ramadan's responses. Contrary to what you're saying, he's the one whose rebuttals focus on small details to discredit the entire book, which analyzes clearly and accurately the positions and discourses of Ramadan. It is indeed also a militant book, since Fourest is clearly opposed to his ideology, but there is nevertheless a real effort to look into Ramadan's views and shifting discourses based on his audience.
Finally, saying that Boniface is someone who "proved itself" (sic) is very ignorant of his motivations behind the book and the actual contents of the book (yes, I read several chapters). Again, it is a book made to attack people against whom (for the most part at least) he had personal grudges and scores to settle (see his precedent in court against Mohamed Sifaoui which Boniface happened to lose - yes, you could tell he was going to be totally objective in his treatment of the guy he lost to in court). There is no intellectual honesty whatsoever, quotes are taken out-of-context, etc. If you take his book seriously, that tells a lot more about you than it does Fourest. Also, I invite you to take a look at Libération's recent inquiry into the funding of several French think tanks and institutes - perhaps you'll find Boniface's reaction to the inquiry interesting.

Again, I'm not particularly a fan of Fourest and there are plenty of topics on which I'm critical of her positions or her work, but to use her to talk about a double standard is utterly ridiculous.


I'm not interested in discussing your completely irrelevant comparison. Dieudonné had already been making controversial comments about Jews prior to the sketch, and he made much worse comments (for which he was condemned for racial/religious hatred, like I said) just weeks after it. He was progressively less and less invited in the media as his blatant antisemitism became more and more salient.

On January 19 2015 06:43 lastpuritan wrote:
so is france racist or not, i still wonder.

On January 19 2015 14:17 Incognoto wrote:
Ah, the joys of waking up at 6 AM to browse the internet and learning you're apparently racist. I never knew! Thank you TL, thank for enlightening me.

Tomorrow you'll have to tell me whether or not I'm homophobic please.