Je suis pas Charlie

Ok, first of all, I think what happened in Charlie Hebdo's building is absolutely unjustifiable and I am not even remotely suggesting otherwise.

But.

I am not Charlie. Charlie was extremely irrespectful to muslim community, as it is probably to so many other collectives I'm unaware of (because it has not transcended and i didn't research). The images they published were really offensive. I've seen some of them. And they had the right to publish them, of course, because of this thing we call freedom of expression.

But let's not be cynical now.

Two years ago, a french television showed a program mocking spanish sportsmen, making it look like every single one of them took drugs before a game/race/competition. Spain didn't care about freedom of expression then. We were offended and we demanded an apology from France. I don't see any differences between that case and Charlie's, apart from the fact that Rafa Nadal and the Gasol brothers didn't massacre the anchors.

So I'm not saying we should not protest, I'm saying we should protest for the right reason. And the reason here is not one of freedom of expression, but one of religious tolerance. Not one of broken pencils, but one of broken brotherhood. (Btw, religions are a fallacy anyways, and they are doomed to extintion sooner or later - freedom of expression!).

I've seen a lot of people these days "taking revenge" on the terrorist acts in France by posting Charlie's images on facebook, along with comments such as "You won't silence us" and that sort of things. I think we are confusing the terms here. Just because two (or three) crazy fanatics killed these innocent people who didn't believe in their god, we should not respond by offending the majority of muslims who have nothing to do with that and most likely condemn the killing as well. Let's say that an offended crazy woman kills a comedian who told sexist jokes. We would not hate women and publish sexist jokes on facebook. And even if most women would feel insulted by the comedian, also most would not get a kalashnikov or wish him dead.

In the last years, or since I have political consciousness - which is not so long ago -, partly promoted by the US and mostly promoted by islamic fanatics there's been an increasing hate/fear from the so called occidental society to muslims and everything related to islamic religion. Whenever we think of muslims we see fanatics, killers, suicide bombers. That is also what we learn from Holliwood movies. Muslims are always the enemy. Thank god the United States of America always defeat them.

So I want to share this, even if you already know. I'm sure you know about the cop that was killed at the street right outside Charlie's building. You might know as well that his name was Ahmed Merabet and he was muslim. You might have heard or read "Je suis Ahmed". "Je suis Ahmed. Le policier mort. Charlie s’est moqué de ma culture et à ridiculisé ma religion et je suis mort parce que j’ai voulu défendre son droit de le faire." "I am Ahmed. The dead cop. Charlie mocked my culture and ridiculed my faith and I am dead because I wanted to defend his right to do so."

This is the real hero. Charlie's editor and columnists and cartoonists are just victims, no less, but no more. So in case we choose to "be" somebody, somebody who truly represents the ideals we think we are fighting for,  we should at least choose wisely.
Even if that means choosing a muslim.

I won't extend my thoughts any longer. There's already a lot of debate out there to reflect on.