Whenever people express misgivings about my Christmas album (still available), I usually respond, “Have you heard Bob Dylan’s?” Nevertheless, there are times when we seasonal warblers must stick together, and this is one of them. Dylan is being sued by something called “the Council of Croats in France” for the following act of hate speech:
If you got a slave master or [Klu Klux] Klan in your blood, blacks can sense that. That stuff lingers to this day. Just like Jews can sense Nazi blood and the Serbs can sense Croatian blood.
If that unexceptional observation is now a crime in France, then France is no longer a free country. Bismarck observed of the eternally feuding Balkans that it wasn’t worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier. Likewise, it’s not worth the briefs of a single Parisian juriste.
Meanwhile, I’m happy to welcome Bob to the select category of hatemongers with a Christmas album. Who’s next? Bing? Andy Williams?