Je suis Charlie
The post that appears everywhere in the wake of the attacks in Paris.
While the attacks are certainly tragic, I feel that the media response to them has been equally tragic and ensures this sort of thing WILL happen again. This was NOT an attack on freedom or free speech. It wasn't. It was an attack on a paper that would be banned in many western nations for its hate speech. This was everything wrong with modern France (and Europe) attacking everything wrong with modern France (and Europe). But that message will be lost in waves of anti-Islam and flag waving freedom.
To start, Charlie Hebdo was not some satirical magazine. It was an all white French staff that routinely mocked French minority communities. In fact, they have frequently crossed the line and been accused of racism for over a decade. My personal favourite is the depiction of Boko Haram kidnap victims as welfare queens. They represent the French far right of Marine le Pen, who routinely espouse anti immigrant, anti Muslim sentiments. These people were not heroes, their satire was not good, it was white men dumping on marginalized communities for a good laugh and then defending it as freedom of speech and telling people to "lighten up". It is the same nonsense Glenn Beck used to spout ten years ago and Fox News continues to do today. Bigotry made righteous as freedom of speech. Now I agree that you CAN draw offensive pictures of the Prophet Mohammed if you want to. You CAN imply that young girls dragged from their homes to become sex slaves to militants is funny. For that right IS protected by French law. Doing so makes you an asshole. Doing so makes you a misogynist prick. Doing so is not clever satire. Doing so serves no purpose other than to anger marginalized groups. Perhaps this is why ethnic minorities in Europe seem to have so much trouble fitting in?
On the other hand, there is something VERY wrong in the middle east. I won't say Islamic State is the greatest threat since Nazi Germany, but they may be the most evil thing to come about since the fall of Nazi Germany. IS is horrible, and whether it is anti-colonialism, anti-monarchy, anti-Israel or just plain religious crazy, there is something seriously wrong anytime a movement like that gains momentum. So why would any Muslim living in France choose a movement of unapologetic evil over Paris? Well because Charlie Hebdo makes it clear that they are not welcome there. So you get some 18 year olds who are poorly educated, very marginalized and susceptible to the sort of extremism that exists in the middle east. Once they are radicalized they do something horrible and wrong and what we get is: Islamic fundamentalism strikes again. Terrorists assault our freedom. Rabble Rabble.
What we miss in that is that Charlie Hebdo is a huge part of the problem. They help create an environment for the evil of IS to flourish. Yet pointing this out is akin to saying that you support IS in some circles. This leads to a final point. Condemning Charlie Hebdo AND condemning the attack on them are not mutually exclusive.
I am horrified and disgusted by what happened in Paris, but fuck me if I am Charlie.
