This is Shabbat Message rabbiandrewrosenblatt.tumblr/ We are all Charlie Hebdo, We just did not Know It. Freedom seems to ask us to defend it in undeserving places. Currently in the news, we have the cases of France’s Charlie Hebdo, and Seth Rogen’s new movie The Interview. Charlie Hebdo - the satirical French newspaper that suffered a brutal terrorist attack in which 12 of its staff were murdered - was both edgy and bordering on offensive. The publication is being appropriately lauded for its bravery in the name of free speech. The Interview – also the subject of a media free speech debate – is not a cinematic masterpiece. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a user rating of 5.8/10. When we envision the charter rights of freedom of speech or the declaration of the rights of man, as we are taught them in grade school, I can’t imagine a civics teacher or student ever mustering the face of Seth Rogen to be the poster child of such a fight. However, these two cases remind us of why free expression has to be held sacred in a civil society. The cartoons of the prophet Mohammed that earned Charlie Hebdo a reputation for bravery and made it the target of vicious attacks are hardly innovative, thoughtful, or in good taste. The gags in The Interview might go for cheap laughs. However, the quality of the expression is hardly the issue. The issue is the atmosphere of fear that a regressive culture is capable of exerting on the West. We have more to fear from the culture of fear than from what editors and entertainers might think is in good taste. While Charlie Hebdo and The Interview have gained most of the headlines, we should note that 60 journalists were killed in 2014 in the line of duty, many by ISIS. Their murders are also assaults on freedom of expression. British journalist Melanie Phillips pointed out that we, the West, have long been surrendering in the skirmishes of this war on free speech (Op-ed Article). It started with the persecution of Salman Rushdie. It gained traction with censorship of Danish cartoons that were critical of Islam. It has spread to CNN, the Financial Times, and others that blame the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo for provoking the attack. The West has given little more than lip service to the dearly held principle of free speech, and some would say even our lips did not serve the cause. One of the problems is that freedom is its own enemy. Our belief in freedom restrains us from vilifying the cultures that produce the terrorists who will murder cartoonists and correspondents. We who believe in the freedom of speech and thought, are reticent to lay criticism at the feet of Islam. Our principles prevent us from taking cause against it as a system of thought and belief. Yet, we must remain aware of an inherent hypocrisy; the same people who would murder the cartoonists of the Prophet, likely subscribe to the media that vilify Jews through racist cartoons, and who promote the historic, anti-Semitic myths of blood libels. We seem to protect their freedom even as it threatens our own. This tension between freedom and safety cannot be allowed to weaken our system of belief. We need to defend both positions. Perhaps a generation of those who were denied freedom are its most passionate defenders. The great revolutionaries of the 18th century, and the early Zionists sacrificed their lives, each for their own brand of freedom. Later generations take these sacrifices for granted. They can afford to enjoy their freedom of speech as much for pleasure as for ideas. For every Woodward and Bernstein there has been at least one Larry Flynt. Ordinary people are more likely to exercise their freedom of speech on Tripadvisor or Rotten Tomatoes, than in trying to influence political outcomes. From my perspective, as one who has lived in three Western countries, we are not passionate at all about defending our freedom of speech. If we were, there would have been mass viewings of the The Interview. There were not. There would have been mass readings of Rushdie’s Satanic Verses, there were not. Even as I wrote these words, there was further violence against the West and its freedoms. Not surprisingly, the target was a kosher market, on Erev Shabbat in its busiest hours. Was the Jew the shield, the diversion, or the co-defendant of the West in the plan of Cherif and Said Kouachi? Were they simply trying to divert attention away from their own escape? Were they letting the world know whom they themselves vilified? It seems to be both, and another example of what Melanie Philips cites of “the repeated Islamic pogroms against French Jews, which have driven thousands of them to emigrate.” Perhaps the greatest irony of all is the harm they proffered on their co-religionists. As Hamid Zid, a Moroccan columnist wrote yesterday in Haaretz, “This murder is the most precious gift that terror has given racism in France. Those murders killed not only the journalists, but the millions of Muslims who live in France, and have also justified Islam’s murderous image. They have plunged a knife into the heart of Islam and Muslims worldwide.” The terrorists who slew five in a Har Nof Synagogue did exactly the same. They made every Israeli suspicious of the East Jerusalem residents in his or her employ. We humans are defensive creatures by nature. Give us a pattern to fear, and we will take defensive action. This blueprint is not new. Moses cries for freedom. Pharaoh rejects it – nay, he fears it. He fears it so much that he must kill it. First he begins by killing all the male children of the Children of Israel. However, if you read the verses carefully he says, וַיְצַו פַּרְעֹה, לְכָל-עַמּוֹ לֵאמֹר: כָּל-הַבֵּן הַיִּלּוֹד, הַיְאֹרָה תַּשְׁלִיכֻהוּ, וְכָל-הַבַּת, תְּחַיּוּן. And Pharaoh commanded all his people saying: “Every son that is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you should keep alive.” This verse will apply equally to Israelite and Egyptian. The hatred will begin with one group, but its destructive power will not be contained, it will spread, and be indiscriminate in its wake. Every bit as Ironic is the fact that Pharaoh’s power became concentrated because he was saving the people, providing them food through the office of Joseph. As people needed more food they gave more and more power and property to Pharaoh, in order to keep them alive. It was the Right to Life that Pharaoh was meant to protect. The Right to Life too, like the Right to Freedom of Speech today, became a principle about which the people became complacent. They failed to defend or embrace it sufficiently, until Pharaoh’s henchman came to seize the children. If that is not enough, later in the narrative, the Egyptians scream to Pharaoh, “You [Pharaoh] will soon know Egypt to be a lost cause.” Growth never emerges from these campaigns of hate. Great societies do not emerge from those who drown babies, lop off the heads of journalists, or fight the pen with the sword. If we, as Jews and Westerners, believe our society to be worthy, and our freedoms to be sacred, then we must defend them as such. We must be sure to be vocal about our opinions, and come to the support of the targets of the Islamic Fatwa. It would be a shame to see intolerance make our world unsafe because we failed to be passionate enough about our freedoms.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 21:28:41 +0000