Quote:
Originally Posted by masquerade
Once again, I am shocked by the comments in a John Galliano thread, and the constant apologizing for his behavior.
First and foremost, we need to stop with the "he's been punished enough" line. Getting fired from his job and arrested/fined were done by two different groups, the French government and the private company he worked for. Getting fired from his company is not a sufficient punishment for breaking the law and should not be considered when discussing this. Being stripped of his medal is related to the crime he committed, plain and simple.
Secondly, there seems to be a lot of talk about his "real intentions" or that having a possibly Jewish background lets this be ok. There are plenty of bigots who hate their own cultures. Until this post, I have never heard of his supposed Jewish ancestry and if he wasn't raised with it, it doesn't really matter. Nor is his alcoholism an excuse. I believe in in vino veritas. People do not become hateful by drinking, but it loosens inhibitions and allows them to be freer with their beliefs. It just seems to fit into the narrative some people want for him to be the tragic victim instead of being an adult who committed a crime and offended his employers.
Lastly, I am seeing people say that his comments don't hold weight because they aren't inciting violence or they are just words. In France, hate speech is against the law, so he committed a crime. Secondly, hate speech rarely leads to immediate riots in the street agains the intended target. Instead, it reinforced already held beliefs and gives a platform to those holding those beliefs. It allows hate to grow and normalize.
Either way, I think this is a suiting punishment for the crime, as the Legion of Honor is meant to celebrate French achievement and this incident was an embarrassment. He may redeem himself yet, but at this time, he hasn't so I am not sure why everyone is so quick to soil themselves over defending him.
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1. No one's apologizing for his behavior. Let's not go overboard here. People acknowledge he messed up. The discussion isn't us saying poor Galliano didn't deserve to be fired/arrested/fined. It's us saying OK what
now - after a whole year, why is he still getting flack when he's done everything possible, aside from turning back time, to move on with his life.
2. Just because the punishment come from different sources - how does that
not relate to the punishment? I don't see your point here. If 5 different people kicked you, don't you still hurt?
3. People who have a bit of alcohol slip because they are still, in fact, conscious. People who are
wasted have no idea what they're doing. If you watch the video, Galliano was hammered. And if you still hold on to the belief that he was showing his true colors, why haven't we seen this earlier? Camera phones have been around for at least half a decade already, and I'm sure Galliano has drunk alcohol in public before. Where was this crouching-tiger-hidden-bigot that people seem to believe exists?
4. Nurturing hate? Right, because all the neo-Nazis and various underground hate groups plotting new world order are looking at a gay flamboyant fashion designer to ignite that revolution.
5. Soiling ourselves? Heaven forbid someone avoid the knee-jerk reaction and actually looking at this on a deeper analytical level than just the black/white crime/punishment surface level.