Je Ne Suis Pas Charlie

Let cooler heads examine what lies beneath the media-promoted response to the infamous criminal acts lately perpetrated in Paris--a city that I love.

And, by the way, it is not the mere fact that Muhammad is depicted that outrages some Muslims--Muhammad has been depicted BY MUSLIMS THEMSELVES.

No, it is the manner in which some cartoonists have chosen to depict the Prophet. I have viewed a sampling of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists' work and it appears to me to range from the gratuitously provocative to the downright inflammatory. I get no sense from the cartoons that I have reviewed that the intention behind their publication was to spark civil conversation about the place of religion in a secular society or other significant issues of the day involving religion in general or Islam in particular. From what I have seen, the intention behind the publication of the cartoons was to ridicule Muslims and their most cherished symbols.

Of course, these facts IN NO WAY JUSTIFY the murderous actions of the Paris shooters--who, I do not doubt, have put themselves on the fast-track to a very bad end. But nothing happens on planet earth outside of a context. Nothing is got for nothing. The Charlie Hebdo cartoonists appear to me to have been spoiling for a fight for at least the last five years. I learned in elementary school that, if you go looking for a fight, you are quite likely to find one. And in the present context where many Muslims feel that they are under siege throughout the world, a few (and, if the news reports can be believed, it was quite literally a few) may show up to the match with automatic weapons. At that point, all arguments about the "pen being mightier than the sword" are rendered academic.

According to the Pew Forum, the Muslim minority in France is roughly 4.8 million souls. It is difficult to believe that only the three suspects in the Charlie Hebdo shooting were offended by the cartoons that the magazine published about Muhammad. And yet, only 3 out of 4.8 million chose to engage in a violent act of retaliation. Do the math: that is a tiny percentage of the Muslim population of France. It is for this reason that I think that the question we ought to be asking about this tragedy is one that forensic psychologists might be able to answer: why these three?

Instead of asking this very sensible question, the media is filled with speculation and pontification about "religious violence" and "freedom of speech." That chatter is nothing but unhelpful noise.

Attempting to understand how and why violence occurs in the world is NOT tacit approval of violence. This blog is committed to disseminating the Tolstoyan philosophy of NON-VIOLENT NON-COOPERATION WITH EVIL. I want to see the resort to violence as a way to settle disputes stopped. NOW. But I see nothing in the current hysteria that will even begin to take a responsible step towards that goal.