I am finally wading in on the debate between Je suis Charlie Hebdo and Je suis Ahmed I have to say I am in agreement with those proclaiming Je suis Ahmed, referring to the name of one of the police officers who displayed great courage and heroics in responding to the Radical Islamist attack on Charlie Hibdo, before being brutally wounded and assassinated by the terrorists. Officer Ahmed also happens to be Muslim, but he is without any doubt a French patriot. Charlie Hebdo and its cartoonists are victims of senseless and criminal violence and should be pitied and mourned as we would the loss of any human life, but they are not heroes to be celebrated. It is not simply that they engaged in their profession for money, though that may be a factor in weighing at least a small part of their motivation. As someone in another debate pointed out, police, firefighters, EMS worker and the military all get paid too. There is nothing innately greedy or utterly un-altruistic in a laborer receiving fair and just compensation for his or her direct labors. Just ask any trade unionist. So to try and argue that the dead cartoonist and the dead police officer are the same because both got paid is a deceptive and dishonest argument. You have to look at the motivations behind each and what each contributed for the good of society. The police officer or soldier killed in the line of duty has made a sacrifice no amount of monetary pay can ever compensate. The fact that he or she took the job knowing the risks and chose to engage the evil that took their life when others hid from it is not the result of a fair market negotiation for services. Those who serve do so because they have a higher calling to contribute to and protect their society. The compensation received is a means of maintaining their subsistence while they do what very few others will do voluntarily. French society is better because of the job Officer Ahmed did and even his death leaves a legacy for finding hope and a common unity amid much hostile and divisive diversity in the society. I cannot say the same for Charlie Hebdo. Yes they exercised their freedom of speech, but they did so not to improve and unite the society but to mock, belittle and dismiss it and its institutions. They have that right and no government should take it away from them, nor should any gunman. But they were not givers as was Officer Ahmed, but takers and exploiters running with a liberty they took for granted to the farthest limits they could find. Freedom of speech is a right, but it is also a responsibility in a broad and diverse society. Just because you have the right to say anything you want does not mean that you should say everything that comes into your head any time you feel like it. Self censorship is a virtue we have lost sight of in modern society due to a mix of self entitlement from the baby boomers onward and the rise of political correctness stepping in to tell us what is o.k. to think and say without us having to exercise any true judgment of our own. Charlie Hebdo chose the finger in the eye approach to social commentary and free speech exercise. They had the right. However, from my view a little maturity and character might have helped these cartoonists to make the same points, just as, if not more so, affectively, without the need to intentionally insult and offend everyone around them. I AM NOT advocating government censorship in any way shape or form, but maturity and responsibility in how we choose to exercise our rights. It is o.k. and some time impossible not to offend some people, but when we make our living intentionally seeking to shock and offend as many people as possible as often as possible, with greater financial reward for the more outrageous we can be, we are not contributing to society but simply acting as a parasite or worse on society contributing to its division and downfall. I will pity and mourn the cartoonist of Charlie Hebdo for their loss of life, but I will not celebrate them or honor them in any way. Officer Ahmend however I will mourn, celebrate and honor. Je suis Officer Ahmed of the French police Force!
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 01:37:47 +0000
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