Is Brigitte Bardot Bashing Islam? - TIME

Brigitte Bardot on trial for "inciting racial hatred"

Two points to note:

Bardot has been accused of expressing politically incorrect opinions and in some cases merely of relating facts which cast Islam in an unfavorable light. Nothing she has said would be a crime in America, where such statements would certainly be provocative, but would be protected by the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech.

Not only would her statements be legal in America, but they would not be considered racist. Bardot is accused of "racism" although none of her "offending" comments, at least those cited in the article, mention anyone's race at all. The French authorities seem to think that "Islam" is a race.

The sorts of comments made by Bardot about the foreigners in France are not significantly different from comments made every night on CNN and Fox News about "illegal immigrants" in the USA. Such comments may be surly and you may find them closed-minded, but they are certainly not illegal, thanks to the First Amendment.

Curiously, it was the influence of several brilliant Frenchmen that inspired America's First Amendment to begin with. Diderot, who lived until 1784 and interacted with some of America's founding fathers, said "All things must be examined, debated, investigated without exception and without regard for anyone's feelings."