1/21/2015

Let Freedom Reign – Paris 2015


By MIKOspace

Freedom Speaks: “I am not Charlie; My name is not Charlie”.

Nearly 2 weeks after the 7 January attack on Charlie Hebdo [or Weekly Charlie], the French satirical magazine, my good friend Freedom finally spoke: “My name is NOT Charlie!” [French: “Mon nom n'est pas Charlie”]

In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo office killing 12 people and injuring another 11, a Police Officer was also killed by the same gunmen.

On 11 January, a Paris rally for national unity was attended by about two million people, and 3.7 million people also joined similar demonstrations across France. The phrase “Je suis Charlie” (French for "I am Charlie") was a common slogan of support at the rallies and in social media.

A Clash of Fanatics
Charlie Hebdo is a satirical weekly magazine that features cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. The publication is intentionally irreverent to shock and offend, and is strongly secularist, anti-religious and left-wing; and publishes articles that deliberately mock far-right politics, every religion, politician, and social group.

The Truth of the murders in Paris on 7 January and the days following has little to do with the courage of freedom fighters or the fervency of extremist religious defenders. It is about both violence and blasphemy, or more accurately, a violent response to blasphemy. A celebration of Charlie Hebdo is nothing more than a celebration of the clash of fanaticism when freedom fanatics meet extremist religious fanatics.

It is unfortunate that this clash of fanatics is elevated to the high moral ground of freedom and democracy.

The greatest exercise of freedom is the exercise of self-restraint. Self-restraint is not censorship. Self-restraint is wisdom acting out of common human decency and consideration. While free speech is a natural right, self-restraint should be regarded as a virtue.

Forgotten Hero of Paris’ Attacks
In the misdirected frenzy to celebrate free speech, few journalists and newspapers remember French National Police Officer Ahmed Merabet, 42, who was shot in the head in cold blood outside the magazine offices. Ahmed Merabet, a Muslim, was the first police officer at the scene of the Charlie Hebdo attack.

One Twitter [ID@Aboujahjah] said: “I am not Charlie, I am Ahmed the dead cop. Charlie ridiculed my faith and culture and I died defending his right to do so.”

And in celebrating Ahmed Merabet’s sacrifice in the line of duty, killed by gunmen who profess to share his same religion, and in the cause of free speech and democracy, Charlie Hebdo as well as the many Journalists, Newspapers, Politicians and others who should know better decided that the best way to honour Ahmed is to blaspheme his beloved Prophet, again!

Such is the twisted and contorted understanding of freedom, free speech and democracy even as one enters Charlie Hebdo’s warped personality full of resentment, disdain and contempt for French aristocracy, power elites and privileged class, and even its rejection of God.

The Cartoon World of Charlie Hebdo
Charlie Hebdo’s world is its own cartoon world created out of the freedom it enjoys. It has no real world reference. Charlie Hebdo does not have the freedom to insist that others living outside its world must accept its worldview interpretation of the true reality out there where the vast majority of us live, albeit in our own self-constructed worlds. At the very least, our worlds are NOT cartoon worlds. In our worlds, real people live, love, laugh, play, work, get angry with one another and eventually die.

Charlie Hebdo: “… every time that we draw a cartoon of a prophet, every time that we draw a cartoon of God, we defend the freedom of religion” is a good example of its cartoon-world’s convoluted logic.
Charlie Hebdo further added: “We only defend but one thing: Freedom, our freedom, secularism, freedom of conscience and democracy”.

How sad indeed when one defines freedom so narrowly to limit freedom’s boundless imagination by excluding the spiritual and humanistic values and beliefs which have created commonwealths of nations and races based on the rights and freedom bitterly and bloodily won in the French Revolution upon the founding values of “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité” or “Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood (or Community)”.

Fortunately for most of us, but unfortunately for those who died in the attack, we do not live in the narrow Charlie Hebdo’s world of limited Freedom. Outside Charlie Hebdo, ours is a free world that embraces a more holistic freedom to respect and appreciate diversity and differences, exercising restraint to recognize their individual sensitivities and to leverage our cherished freedom rights to build up goodwill and harmonious relationship within and among our communities regardless of race, language and religion.

Ask not what Freedom is.
Freedom is not just a sweet and desirable concept, it is also pure energy. Like the sun, it can give life. It can also be even more destructive than a tidal tsunami or an erupting volcano.

Freedom is what Freedom does. It is not about what Freedom can do. Freedom can do anything and everything! Rather, it is what you can achieve with Freedom. Using Freedom to tear down whatever delightful, endearing, inspiring affection, meaningful, cherishable, or even beguiling, appealing and enchanting without any constructive regard for the sensibility of the beholder is a blatant misuse and abuse of Freedom. One should simply speak or propagate whatever the greater Truths with great Love and Compassion. The impact of Freedom in enlarging the awareness of Truth assures its own longevity. Remember Freedom says: “My name is NOT Charlie!”


Read Full Article:
Paris 2015 – Let Freedom Reign

13 comments:

Mikospace said...


Paris 2015 - Let Freedom Reign
Full Article here:
http://miko-wisdom.blogspot.sg/2015/01/paris-2015-let-freedom-reign.html

Veritas said...

I really disagree with many things here. I have read the works of philosopher in enlightenment period, especially Voltaire. In short, they attack the Church violently and that set free human's mind.

Freedom of blasphemy is what move human forward.

Chinese in SE Asian are the biggest victim of Islamofascist blasphemy law. In Indonesia few years back, a Muslim fought Chinese accuse his oppenant anti Allah after he lost the fight.

The result is mobster gather outside the house wanting to lynch.

Every years, hundreds of houses and many are murdered in Pakistan because someone jump out and accuse others of blasphemy.

RB you want that to happen?

Veritas said...

Muslims' weapon against everyone else is to define anything under the sun as anti Islam.

Muslim then try making themselves very sensitive people.

We must desenstize the Muslims and I see Charlie Hebdo is doing the job. Charlie is cartooning all dieties especially the Christian God and Church and no one give a damn.

But Muslims will resort to murder. I believe Mickey do not read french and have NOT READ classics.

Mickey you are a university HRM lecturer. Can you read more widely. Go read the grandmasters.

I am dissapointed.


Veritas said...

Everyone in this free world today is enjoying the fruits of Martyr who blasphemy and fought for free speech.

The Europeans were once more sensitive than Islamo people. Their inquisition murdered countless people. In former days, one can accuse people of anti christ and that chap will get burn on stake.

It is through the brave people who mock the church, trivializing deity that human get emancipated.

And mocking the church one bring democracy. Because the next effect of mocking the church will be ridiculing the kings.

The kings know that church support tyranny and that is the reason all sultan and despot in islamo land promote islamofascism.

Today if we respect Islam like what Malaysia is doing, then next morning we will see all kinds of fatwa including monopolizing allah and many nonsense like shia need to be shit on.

Mickey is too shallow.

Mickey cannot see that Charlie Hebdo is in French tradition of secularism and cannot see that Charlie is following centuries of French philosopher.

He only think what PAP preach -- respect religion.

Please read more and read in ORIGINAL and you realize why French are always ridiculing religion.

And if Islam people hate French, they should leave and rot in their islamic country shit hole like Syria, Egypt.

Basically Muslims in France are hating the system that treat them well and hating the system that create prosperity or advancement.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Haha...This is an interseting take on th Charlie Hebo saga---people falling over themselves to define what freedom is, what it isn't, self-restraint blahdy blah blah blah.

Charlie Hebo is about SATIRE. Making JOKES. They don't claim "reality", they put a "reality" through the lens of COMEDY to satirize and ridicule...to turn the comic spotlight on things which are RIDICULOUS and make big fucking JOKES about it.

CH bitch-slapped authority, and authoritarian ideas with 2-dimensional funny pictures and a few incisive words in the captions. i.e. they're making JOKES lah.

CH didn't just make jokes about Islam. It hammered all religions and politics with the same sardonic humour. Everyone else just took the jokes in good spirits---even other Muslims, except for a few "band of brothers" who--becasue they lacked a sense of humour---decided for themselves that MURDER was an appropriate response to JOKES.

Charlie Hebo makes it clear on it's cover: "Journal Irresponsable" translated: "Irresponsible Newspaper/ magazine".

So laugh lah!

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Not in our name – Muslims respond in revulsion to Charlie Hebdo massacre

Most people can take a joke, and even laugh at themselves when they're the brunt of the joke. This is what MATURITY and ADULT BEHAVIOUR is about. It's not about being a "moderate" Muslim---it's about being an ADULT.

Self-restarint? How about the SELF RESTRAINT one musters as an MATURE-MINDED ADULT not to go killing people who are making JOKES?

Anonymous said...

Go ahead and satirise people's father and mother. It is freedom of expression. Just joking only. And if the bugger comes after you and put a knife into your back, it is also his freedom of expression.

You must respect that also.

Anonymous said...

Murdering and rape..etc is freedom of expression.

The point is for human to advance and to work together as a society, we need to define what kind of freedom of expression is desirable.

For example Islam give fatwa imman, sex addict sultan, ISIS sex sharia freedom of expression. That do not work well.

But giving blasphemy freedom of expression will serve the well being of mankind. That is the reason Islamist risk their life to smuggle themselves into white man land.

Because Islamo land sucks and white man land is good. But once inside white man land, Islamo go back to their old ways and hate good.

Anonymous said...

paris reaction - classic example of western hypocrisy

there are no similar reaction to kunming railway massacre - around 49 people been killed and over 100 people been seriously injured.

kunming railway massare is far worse than two gunmen

in kunming terror attack, attacker is slaying, chopping, hacking, stabiing.

but how do western mouhtpiece cover such news?

they portray those attacker as victim of govt repressive policy.

they always say same thing " why such attack happen"
they blame the govt policy
they ignore the voice of victim.
they would instead ask opiinon of uyghur

because it is their usual narrative ( uyghur vs han) ethnic tension

they never give interview to victim, han family who lost their children, loved one in such massare.

Anonymous said...

nigeria bombing, killing of christian been ignored.

no rally for such massacre

news manipulation by media

the media control your mind via selectively picking content for your consumption.

b said...

Freedom in the hands of irresponsible and immature persons will turn into a tyranny. We cannot give freedom to our toddlers in diapers because they still cannot handle it. Freedom is like honey.

-If you find honey, eat just enough-- too much of it, and you will vomit. (Proverbs)

b said...

Many countries have problems with this religion (from china, russia to the west), why not combine efforts to change this religion?

Veritas said...

The reason of Islam trouble is simple. They are entirely world capitalist elite creation to divert us away from class struggle.

What is the world without radical Islam? Next moment people will suddenly remember the 1% own more wealth than 99%. Unfortunately, our tudung girl, burqa girl, ISIS sex slave girl wannabe are not able to see that they are working for USA.

Islamofascism have a love hate relationship with USA and are essentially USA + Saudi creation. In Indonesia, former president Sukarno was a socialist fighting for a sectarianless nation with fair income distribution.

That hit Islamofascist hard and Islamofascist + USA + Suharto conspire to take down Sukarno. The country since then rapidly Islamize, but fortunately Sukarno ghost still around, and Indon elites never went to the shit extreme of Malaysia.

Other example includes using Islam to take down Nasser Egypt.

Using Islam against USSR in Afghan.

The Bhutto are more socialist. Suddenly USA support Zia U Hak the Islamo general to kill Bhutto and make Pakistan very Islamic. Islam is a dangerous weapon of USA against her enemy that could also bite the master