French President Emmanuel Macron went full Orwell this week. While long the darling of Western media, Macron has been one of the most anti-free-speech leaders in the world. This week, he declared that “The so-called American ‘free speech’ today, which some people have promoted, is the opposite of free speech.” Having Emmanuel Macron holding forth on free speech is akin to Joey Chestnut proselytizing on veganism.
France has been in a headlong plunge into censorship and speech criminalization. These laws criminalize speech under vague standards referring to “inciting” or “intimidating” others based on race or religion.
For example, fashion designer John Galliano has been found guilty in a French court on charges of making anti-Semitic comments in a Paris bar.
In another case, the father of French conservative presidential candidate Marine Le Pen was fined because he had called people from the Roma minority “smelly.” A French teenager was charged for criticizing Islam as a “religion of hate.”
Many of us were disgusted recently when Macron celebrated Brigitte Bardot’s life as someone who “embodied a life of freedom.” As discussed on this blog, the French government repeatedly prosecuted Bardot for speaking about her views.
Macron’s praise for Bardot’s “life of freedom” is reminiscent of the reaction of French officials to the massacre of editors at Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine. After hounding the victims for years with criminal investigations, the French government organized a march for free speech. As predicted, it then used the killing by Islamic extremists to further crack down on free speech.
In my book The Indispensable Right, I discuss how France has careened down the slippery slope of censorship for decades, and the desire to silence others has now become an insatiable appetite.
Macron has supported figures like his anti-free-speech ally Thierry Breton in globalizing the reach of the infamous Digital Services Act (DSA) to curtail speech, including Americans and American companies.
In his latest pitch for censorship, Macron pulls out an old saw that if everyone can speak freely, no one can speak freely.
Macron declared that “There is no freedom if there is no limit to my freedom, which begins with the freedom of others and respect for a common framework. I know this when I walk down the street: my freedom cannot mean hitting you, insulting you or trashing the public space we all share.”
That line is remarkably telling. It captures how even “insulting” language is treated as a crime in France.
Since then, France has been a leader in the rollback of free speech in the West, with ever-widening laws curtailing free speech. France regularly charges people for political and religious speech, including comedians and those criticizing the police.
Macron’s visceral reaction to free speech is shared by many in the European Union.
I spoke in Berlin at the World Forum, which boasted the slogan, “A New World Order with European Values.” Bill and Hillary Clinton and other Americans cheered on the European efforts.
The Digital Services Act bars speech that is viewed as “disinformation” or “incitement.” When it was passed over the condemnations of many of us in the free speech community, European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager celebrated by declaring that it is “not a slogan anymore — that what is illegal offline should also be seen and dealt with as illegal online. Now it is a real thing. Democracy’s back.”
Despite his unpopularity in France, Macron remains a favorite of the establishment and the media in the United States. I was appalled years ago when he came to Congress to spread his anti-free speech gospel. Macron called for a joint war against “fake news” and declared, “Democracy is about true choices and rational decisions. The corruption of information is an attempt to corrode the very spirit of our democracies.”
Our representatives applauded like seals with little recognition that he was referencing censorship. Macron believes that he should be able to dictate which views are “corrosive” to the spirit of democracy.
The claim that more speech means less speech is an oxymoronic talking point of the anti-free speech movement. As I discussed in my book, there has not been a single censorship system in history that has worked to kill a single idea or movement. Instead, it has given more power to politicians like Macron to silence critics and intimidate opponents.
In the end, the only true solution to bad speech is better speech. The public can sort out their own values and weigh opposing views without the strict guidance of the government. Free speech serves as its own disinfectant.
Ultimately, allowing people not just free inquiry but free expression bends the arch of humanity toward truth. Hate and prejudice are inherently flawed values that tend to collapse when exposed to full, robust debate.
That does not mean that it will eliminate racism, sexism, or other forms of hate. Neither censorship nor free speech can make everyone better people. However, what Macron is peddling is the same tired, dishonest claim that free speech is harmful and the government must control what people see and say in public discourse.
This is a nation that still echoes the cry of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity (“liberté, égalité, fraternité”). However, in today’s France, “liberté” remains a declining value. Individual rights of religion and speech are routinely sacrificed in the name of “equity” and “fraternity.”
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
Kudos, Mr. Turley! Now please start talking about the phenomenon of voluntary news suppression, particularly as exemplified by both the right media and the left’s Legacy media refusing to cover the facts and debates concerning the widespread Covidvax harms. It is not censorship in the strict sense, but its spirit is quite similar, and it is becoming more and more a feature of our society. We need your voice to come against it! For more, see my substack, Dissident Conservative.
Just go with the nice men in white coats.
French government claims to be egalitarian, but it operates from elitist principles. French politicians are often educated at elitist schools designed to prepare them for government work, where they will join a fraternity of like-minded elitists. Part of their noblesse oblige consists of telling the rest of what to think and what to say.
It is no one’s right, particularly not government’s to decide what is “safe” for me to hear and what is not. It is impossible to form an informed opinion without having all of the facts, all of the opinions, offensive, rude, hateful, or insulting or not to evaluate.
It’s not whether you act on it, it’s what happens when someone else hears something about you and acts on it.
#. PT, speak to legal theory regarding speech and the founders. Is it natural law? What legal theory is the judiciary currently using domestically?
OT: As rent-boy Macron fails spectacularly, let’s not forget France is a nuclear power as is the UK both of whom have lost control to foreign entities.
will the TDS crowd step it up here? are you running out of bots or something since we obliterated USAID?
I need to hear daily lefty irrational screeching in order to sustain my addiction.
Trump has been acting more dictatorial than Macron ever has.
This low-haning fruit should be obvious to Turley.
Macron has a speck of saw dust in his eye, while
Trump has the entire lumber department in his.
says the desperately seeking low hangers. Get laid already. Use AI if you can not get a real homo
yet, you provide not one example to bolster your TDS argument.
In almost every article that he writes, Turley is the one who expresses a preference for people not expressing certain things, especially if they are liberals and Democrats.
I thought that the indispensable right was for everyone, under equal protection.
Now, that’s your first problem.
You seem to actually believe that you had a “thought.”
You fux were the ones arresting people for questioning the safety and efficacy of the Foochee poison.
Rioting in France over poor school conditions!
This is leftist thugs trying to generate fear in western countries. France is a Muslim nation. They are a few months ahead of where our leftists hope we will be in weeks.
Their goal? To groove on the rubble.
With any luck they will find you to rid us of your maniacal anti-Abraham Lincoln, selective quoting of US Constitution. Ban for evuh this nut job
Allah aktarbwhatever 🤡
Macron, in fact the EU and the UK get this rating
🥾🥾🥾🥾🥾 5:5 Orwells
One wonders when possession of a copy of Rage and the Republic will be grounds for incarceration or a trip to a mental institution for thought crime.
only one. you.
idiot.
Meanwhile, in Nebraska, Trump went full….? Who knows what–insanity? Maybe full-blown dementia? Stream of consciousness narcissism, coupled with sociopathy? Certainly what Trump said is clearly nothing any other president has ever come close to saying or even thinking. Trump actually invited Iran to bomb Los Angeles and San Diego. Doesn’t he know that there are 130,000 US troops stationed in San Diego? His comments drew raucous applause from the deplorables-which is what he was going for–but–why? Is it to stir up hatred by his fans for California and 2 of its major cities? Here’s what he actually said:
“Speaking at a rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, ahead of the midterm elections, Trump once again called the consequences of the war with Iran a “small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe,” adding that Iran could potentially take out an American city.
“Let, let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego,” Trump said in comments that drew swift backlash from California’s leaders.
“This is a very small price to pay and it’s gonna be over with very soon,” he said of the war.”
I know that MAGA is trying to spin this as just an example of wht Iran would be capable of–but that won’t fly, either, because Los Angeles and San Diego are too far away for a ballistic missile from Iran to reach these cities–although there are other countries with nuclear weapons that could reach Los Angeles and San Diego. And, he is once again lying about the war being “over with very soon”–he has said that from the very beginning, along with the claim, even before he started the war, that Iran’s nuclear capacity and their military were “totally obliterated”–so if that is true, then why start the war and why claim that it is preventing Iran from nuking us? If he isn’t lying about the Strait of Hormuz being fully under US control,l why haven’t gas prices gone down?
What should be clear to any person with any sense is that Trump is just a showman with a massive ego–he needs attention, praise, cheering crowds. He constantly lies about everything, trying to make himself sound successful–like claiming that the war is over, that the economy is “booming”, that tariffs are paid by exporting countries, that everyone benefitted from the tax breaks (69% went to the wealthiest). His presence during the leadup to the midterms is so toxic that some Republican candidates have struck his image and endorsement from their websites and don’t want him to appear at campaign rallies He doesn’t have even a shred of patriotism and attacks anyone or anything that doesn’t bend to his will. including Republicans, blue states, blue cities, foreign leaders, media, Democrats. To even suggest that we could “let them take out” two major cities, including one that is home to a major Naval base, is unthinkable.
“Trump actually invited Iran to bomb Los Angeles and San Diego.”
He was being generous. How dumb are you? He tried to strike a deal, you dodo bird. “You get L.A. and San Diego and we’re even. War over!”
BTW, return your tax break.
(69% went to the wealthiest)
Well, when over 1/2 the country pays ZERO taxes . . .
“Two MC-130J Commando II transports that had flown the commandos into Iran suffered a mechanical failure and could not take off, Reuters reported.”
According to Ms. Leftist, we’ve lost 81 aircraft since the war began.
You’re either a blithering idiot or a liar.
My bet? BOTH.
The freedom of speech is absolute and America must cope as best its milquetoast liberals can.
The Supreme Court MUST have decided that in the first wholly unconstitutional defamation case.
Speech is not qualified in the 1st Amendment and is, therefore, absolute.
That some do not agree does not bear; the Supreme Court enjoys no power to amend the Constitution and has sworn an oath to support that fundamental law.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
First Amendment
Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech….
Why does Turley write about Macron, but ignore Trump deliberately defying court orders to reinstate the credentials of CNN and Politico, and calling out Kaitlan Collins at one of his pathetic vainglory rallies? Trump called out Collins by name and drew boos from the crowd of deplorables (which his craven sociopathic soul requires), knowing full well that the more he attacks Collins, the greater the risk that one of the cretins who follow him would threaten her or possibly do her harm.
“Trump deliberately defying court orders to reinstate the credentials of CNN and Politico”
Tis called treason
Never lost their “credentials.”
Lost their front row seats and had to sit outside.
NO EFFECT on their freedom to lie.
Well, Collins is a lying ©️, so there’s that.
There is ‘free speech’, and then there is ‘free speech’.
I am all-for ‘free speech’ – as long as what you say is the actual ‘truth’.
But to say something that is a complete LIE, or you leave parts of a subject out – which skews what you say – I am totally against.
And I am quite tired of people that can say anything they want – and it’s ‘fine’ – AS LONG AS YOU ADD ON the words ‘IMO’ or ‘Allegedly’.
NO, it’s NOT ‘fine’ – you are being a troll and are just saying something stir up trouble, to skew opinions, and to ME, THAT is NOT ‘free speech’.
Know what?
Let them spew. But get rid of NY Times v. Sullivan protection by Amendment and let’s let the juries decide whether the leftist lies can pass muster.
How tiring it must be to police the free world.
The only reason I can think of to be so strident is to stir unrest here in America.
Unless Turley has dual citizenship and can vote in the French elections. Maybe that’s it.
He’ll do ANYTHING to distract his readers from how anti-speech the current Trump administration is….
Anti-speech?
Not letting lying communists into HIS HOME is perfectly reasonable.
Your kind build a FAKE set across the street and pretended that Mr. Shits-his-pants-and-droolz was sentient.
The US has withdrawn all its bombers from a base in England due to credible reports of attacks using drones from just outside the perimeter fence.
The Congressional Research Service reports 81 US aircraft have been destroyed or disabled.
U.S. personnel have been evacuated from bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
After Iranian strikes made many bases uninhabitable, troops moved into hotels and office spaces, some of them unprotected, and Iran began targeting those as well.
Tell me again how Trump has already won this war.
If you don’t traffic in fictions (‘uninhabitable’), it’s easier to understand the situation.
ALLAH ACKBARK!
I think you got your reply mixed up with another article….
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reflects on ancient Greece and its lasting influence on Western civilization and the United States during a speech in Athens. Rubio highlights Greek ideas of democracy, philosophy, citizenship, exploration, and the pursuit of knowledge, linking them to the values that shaped the American founding and the broader Western tradition.
The Greeks were brilliant in their conception of democracy. They understood that democracy could become the tyranny of the majority—the dictatorship of the majority—if the franchise were left unrestricted. Accordingly, Athenian democracy sharply limited political participation, generally restricting citizenship and voting to adult male citizens while excluding women, children, enslaved people, and resident foreigners.
The lesson is worth remembering: democracy was never conceived as unlimited majority rule.
One-man, one-vote democracy, unchecked by constitutional restraints, is on a path to its own destruction.
Whenever you’re unsure about what course to take in life, ask yourself, “What would France do?”
You see, France is a treasure to mankind. French ideas, French beliefs, and French actions form a sort of loadstone for humanity. Because a moral compass needle needs a butt end. Whatever direction France is pointing in—toward Nazi collaboration, Communism, existentialism, Jerry Lewis movies, or President Sarkozy’s personal life—you can go the other way with a clear conscience.
~ P.J. O’Rourke
Spooky to think that if WWII unfolded today, Western Europe would be the Axis powers. Screw ’em. We didn’t need them then, and we don’t need them now. Let them rot, as that appears to be what they and their globalist pals seem to be intent upon. Vote accordingly, or this will be us, too. The modern left is an anachronism that should definitely be relegated to the dustbin of history.
And a further suggestion: let’s not save them from their own insanity this time.
James,
I see what is happening in France, the UK, other European nations as a warning to us.
The sad part is their leaders who brought on this mess, they will flee to somewhere else while the citizens will have to suffer under the mess those leaders made.
There’s a good chance NR will control the lower house and the executive in France come next spring. One piece of statutory legislation they can certainly pass is one limiting penalties for speech and publication to a dozen or so conventional circumstances – disorderly conduct, criminal solicitation, stalking , enforcement of defamation judgments, fraud, enticement of minors, trafficking in pornography, contempt of court, incitement to riot, distracting working public officials (e.g. police officers and firefighters, &c. These aren’t altogether content-neutral, but they don’t put a thumb on the scale in favor of preferred social ideologies.