Paul from Paris

French government spokesman Luc Chatel is “profoundly shocked.”

Justice minister Michèle Alliot-Marie wanted to prosecute, but found that the law didn’t allow this; Alliot-Marie now is “looking into how we could legally fill this void.”

Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux described what had happened as “unacceptable outrage”, and added that “no one can accept that free expression be deviated without regard for the emblem of our country.”

Flag desecration has made news in France.

Here’s what happened. In Nice, on the French Riviera, a store (that sells books and recorded music, and that probably wanted to boost foot traffic) held a photo contest. A photo (showing a person wiping his behind with a French flag) won an award for political incorrectness. A newspaper reported on the prize. Some people got upset. State prosecutor Eric de Montgolfier dismissed a criminal complaint because the law has an exception for creative work.

I remember when flag burning had been a hot issue in American politics. Usually temperate voices went so far as to call for a constitutional amendment to criminalize the practice. Of course, flag burning had been a marginal practice then, and is basically unheard-of today.

I expect the same will happen in France, even if freedom of expression is less deeply rooted in France than in the USA.

What disappoints me in the French case is less the anger voiced by politicians than the artistic poverty of the incriminated photo.

From press reports, the photographer’s identity seems to be a closely guarded secret; I couldn’t find it. Who are we dealing with: an artist who wants to make a statement, or an adolescent out to get a rise from conventional elders?

Likewise, press reports that defended the photo claim, as I read them, that the work had been taken out of context. Isn’t that saying that the photo was only one entry in a freak-show lineup of images intended to shock only for the sake of shocking? If the work is intended to make a statement, why would context matter?

Some people feel threatened by Facebook and oppose it strongly.

In France, where I live, I witnessed this demonization recently. It came from the Alsatian town of Ribeauvillé, in the midst of a winemaking region.

The action occurred at the Ménétriers middle school. Several students –all are minors, probably age 11 to 14– posted to or visited Facebook group pages about the Ménétriers middle school.

What did the posts say? I don’t know, and I haven’t seen a description by a journalist or authority, but someone felt that posts or pages insulted school teachers or staff.

The school’s principal, Alain Batio (reportedly the subject of an “anti-Batio from Ménétriers” page or post) decided to act. He:

• Launched an investigation to figure out which students were involved with the group (of which, reportedly, no student was an administrator);
• Suspended several dozen students for a period of one day to one week;
• Required students to write an essay, presumably confessional;
• Threatened disciplinary action, in addition to suspension and essay-writing;
• In his officially capacity, filed a criminal complaint for defaming civil servants; the local gendarmes are investigating, and convictions could result in fines of up to € 45,000;
• Sought to have offended pages removed from Facebook, apparently with success.

The gravity of an insult depends partly on the disposition of its recipient, but let’s assume the worst: posts to the Facebook pages falsely described specific schoolteachers as incompetent or doers of morally reprehensible misdeeds. Are those libeled so sensitive, is their authority so precarious, to justify that those connected with the wrongdoing, directly or peripherally, face a full arsenal of school disciplinary actions, and criminal prosecution?

I would wish that juvenile behavior, by juveniles (age 11 to 14), not incite overreaction, especially from schools. I’m particularly troubled in this case by the haste with which the school principal called in law enforcement, making what he treated as a school issue also a law enforcement issue.

One would think that words injure less than blows, but in this case Facebook seems to have acted as a strongly aggravating factor.

This is strange, because school violence is perceived as a real problem in France: according to a Harris Interactive poll last month, 61% of those surveyed are concerned about their child’s safety at school; and 90% of those surveyed think that school violence has increased in the past ten years.

Two aspects set this violence apart from the Ribeauvillé Facebook scandal: it is directed against children, not adults; and it involves physical violence and bodily harm, not injury to honor or reputation. While one middle school worried about Facebook, others had to deal, in the same month, with young teens falling victim, on school premises, to knife attack. In one case, the sense of violation provoked by this violence was so great that teachers –responsible, adult teachers– exercised their “right of withdrawal”, not reporting for duty at school for several days becuse of the extent of the danger. (Arguably, protest motivated their action as much as actual danger.)