RIP #Charliehebdo
cartoonists. In times of great social and political tension cartoonists
help us to see the lighter side of every side. On Wednesday in Paris 12
light-creators returned to the light. They are being honoured by tens
of thousands of people in the streets across France and Europe who are
holding up, and laying down, pens and pencils in tribute, symbolising
their right - all our rights - to freedom of speech and creative expression.
What a statement the people have made with their response, along with
the millions of posts on social media. Where we could have seen anger
and fear we are seeing unity and solidarity. Where we could have seen
outbreaks of violence we are seeing witty, brilliant creativity, peace,
strength and connection. It is easy to look at those who attacked and
lose hope in humanity - but the greater truth can be found by looking at
how millions are responding. The heart of humanity is awake. #jesuischarlie
Here's a different view:
ReplyDeleteI am NOT Charlie
...Check out the caricature which one of the folks who got murdered yesterday had just posted. The text reads: “Still no terrorist attacks in France – Wait, we have until the end of January to send you best wishes“. The crazy person shown in the drawing is packing a Kalashnikov and wearing an Afghan “Pakol” – the typical “crazy Muslim” in Charlie Hebdo’s world. Talk about a stupid dare…
There is an expression in Russian: spitting in somebody’s soul. It fully applies here…
…when Charlie Hebdo published their caricatures of the Prophet and when they ridiculed him the a deliberately rude and provocative manner, they knew what they were doing: they were very deliberately deeply offending 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide...Well, it turns out that of 1.6 billion Muslims exactly three decided to take justice in their own hands…
John, are you seriously justifying the murder of 12 people because someone was offended? I don't think we can speak for the entire collective of Muslim people because being offended is a very personal response not a general one.
ReplyDeleteI have been spat at. I didn't go on to murder those people.
I have been called a witch for what I do by members of the community in which I grew up. Of course at first I was offended, but later I learned to laugh because I KNOW who I am, I don't need to justify it to anybody. Nor do I need to murder those who do not like or understand me.
Likewise, the majority of beautiful Muslims need not be offended by someone's cartoons. For every belief, religion and cause there is someone saying something contrary that has potential to cause offense. Deliberately ridiculing a respected spiritual teacher is not something I would do nor perhaps would you, but jesters and comediennes have been doing this for thousands of years whether to make light of a situation or to deliberately provoke controversy. For every cartoonist ridiculing the Prophet, there is one ridiculing Jesus, the Buddha, God - are we to kill them too?
You can't control what someone says to you, or does to you. You can control how you respond. Murdering someone is an impulsive act of an ego that feels threatened and invalidated. It is not a powerful act. Deeply offending someone deliberately is not a powerful act either. Yet with a pen, you get it off your chest and someone who doesn't like it can throw away or even burn that paper.
As a writer, I do my best to write from my heart and wouldn't dream of deliberately offending anyone. Yet someone somewhere might be offended by something I write, and I shudder to think that some people think this is a justifiable cause for murder.
My only words were: Here's a different view:
DeleteThe first seven sentences of the person who wrote that different view were:
Okay, let’s be clear. I am not Muslim. I oppose terrorism. I don’t even support the death penalty. I loathe Takfirism. I oppose violence as a means to make a political or ethical point. I fully support freedom of speech, including critical speech and humor.
You might consider opening your eyes to what is really going on here, rather than jumping on the same bandwagon as the sheeple who parrot whatever western governments and media feed them.
Hi John,
DeleteI love a good discussion, and looking at things from many angles so I really appreciate your posts here.
I can see what the author meant, and I apologise that I directed my words to you. The post triggered me to write about this topic of being offended, so for me it opened the door to yet more discussion which is a good thing.
My eyes are open, I know most of what we are seeing now is one false flag after another but I just really want to focus on humanity's response to these events. There is a massive attempt to drum up fear by TPTB, and it's just not working, and I feel so heartened and hopeful by that.
"I apologise that I directed my words to you."
ReplyDeleteThanks, and therefore, regarding "…most of what we are seeing now is one false flag after another…" (from your comment above):
I apologize for assuming you likely lacked the time to be as aware of the bigger geopolitical picture as you obviously are.
"How millions are responding" (from your original post above) suggested to me that they're being led to miss the bigger picture (note bold in my excerpt near the bottom of this comment), and are being led to where the TPTB want them to be — to set the stage for what is coming next, even if that's only more repression in the name of "fighting terrorism."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope you're not too optimistic regarding "The heart of humanity is awake."
This just came through my RSS feeds:
France Attack Reactions include Citizen Calls to Kill All Muslims
…Also in keeping with reporting that highlights events useful towards expansion of US/Western state power domestically and internationally, while suppressing/downplaying events that would serve to restrict and limit the already historically unprecedented scope of US violent expansionism (~1,000 foreign attack bases), a recent terror-bombing of an NAACP building yesterday in Colorado has been largely overlooked or downplayed in US corporate media.
…[however] the CNN main page yesterday and today, while devoting most of its space to the attack in France, makes room for information about the NFL, NBA, the People’s Choice Awards, a “real life Peter Griffin” from the Family Guy cartoon, and the like.