Liberals seem to get their jollies from telling anyone who will listen (by choice or not) that countries in Europe are being run so much better than the US. Among the countries most often cited is Switzerland, and now they have shown us another reason why their country just isn’t as good as the liberals want to think.
French-Swiss writer Alain Soral (aka Alain Bonnet) received a 60-day sentence and thousands of dollars in files on October 2nd for speaking out against someone. Unleashing some pent-up rage against Catharine Macherel via Facebook in a video from about two years ago, he declared her a “fat lesbian.” He also proclaimed her “queer work” as quite simply “unhinged.” The Lausanne court charged and convicted him on charges of defamation, discrimination, and incitement to hatred.
Macherel is employed as a journalist for Swiss newspapers Tribune de Geneve and 24 Heures, so Soral is giving her a lot to write about. Especially now that Soral’s lawyer, Pascal Junod, is proclaiming to NBC News that appeals will be sent to a Swiss federal court. They are willing to take this to the European Court of Human Rights ultimately.
NBC News also spoke with Murial Waeger, co-director of the lesbian activist group LOS, about his case. “This court decision is an important moment for justice and rights of LGBTQI people in Switzerland. The conviction of Alain Soral is a strong signal that homophobic hatred cannot be tolerated in our society.”
While Soral is certainly no angel, especially with his numerous convictions for denying the Holocaust in 2019 (which is illegal there), this isn’t a crime. Even under the 2020 measure that criminalized sexual discrimination based on sexual orientation. The fact of the matter is, he didn’t discriminate against her, nor did he use slurs.
Is she a fat woman? That’s a matter of opinion. To some, she may be robust, others may say she’s just right. I don’t know if “fat” is the politically correct term here, but this is definitely not the word to use, either. She openly admits she’s a lesbian and certainly styles herself traditionally for the role with men’s cuts of clothing and very short hair.
The comments on her “queer work” again are fair. She does a lot of writing for her community, and commonly her work would be called “queer” as it is targeted to that community that uses that identification. “Unhinged” is again nothing more than a way to describe her ideals and ways of expressing herself. Given how far left of center her arguments ten to go, it’s not unfair.
None of this adds up to a statement of defamation. At no point was anything defaming to her character or way of being. Incitement to hatred is the only bit that is possibly open to interpretation. While his statements were nothing a logical person wouldn’t conclude on their own anyways, so there really was no damage done.
Yet, in a country like Switzerland, this was a major crime and something the people felt he should be ashamed of. As many come to his defense, even Elon Musk had to admit that the comments may have been rude. He even implied that they may not have been in good taste, but that didn’t make them criminal.
This is a shining example that Europe and, in particular, Switzerland doesn’t have it all right. If anything, they have a lot of it wrong. While they might know banking, pocketknives, and watches, they lack the capability to think logically. They lack the comprehension to know that free speech is a foundation of freedom. Without it, people quickly end up getting rolled up in government-supported propaganda. Along with the suppression of free speech, the Nazis took away the firearms too. Another area the Swiss have limited through their permits and wide-reaching definition of weapons.
Switzerland isn’t the nation to emulate; if anything, they are another to watch out for.
