Charlie Hebdo

As per the Wikipedia entry concerning the events of 1/7/15, “On 7 January 2015, at about 11:30 CET (10:30 UTC), two masked gunmen forced their way into the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France, and killed 12 people.  The fatalities included the editor Stéphane "Charb" Charbonnier, seven other Charlie Hebdo employees, and two National Police officers. The gunmen were armed with AK-47 assault rifles, a shotgun, and an RPG launcher and wounded eleven others before escaping by car.”

Tyranny - religious or otherwise, smacks of medieval thinking and weak mindedness. There are those who seek power and they find a group of idiots that they turn into zealots (not a big leap) and then they demand allegiance by telling you what to do, what to think, what to worship, what to read, what to watch.  It’s sickening to see what a human being can do in the name of their god(s).  Religious fervor and a frothy head full of mush is a dangerous combination.  Such mouth breathing, cruel, singularity of thought.  “There is us and there is them.  If they are not us, then they die.” 

 

So why did it happen?  Blind dogma.  Charlie Hebdo, a satirical newspaper drew a series of equally offensive cartoons on its covers that dealt with political and religious leaders and/or religious groups (see: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/07/charlie-hebdo-cartoons-paris-french-newspaper-shooting_n_6429552.html).  The prophet Mohamad graced several covers and, apparently, that’s a no-no.  Extremist zealots took umbrage and, instead of just shaking their heads and moving on they executed twelve people because, you know, murdering people in cold blood illustrates to the world that your cause is one of love and peace.  Extremist religious expression?  No, those are the actions of a death cult.

Whatever faith you profess please have the stones to practice what you preach.  You can say you’re all about peace and love but the moment you do something such as opening fire on a group of cartoonists & satirists it sort of undermines what your core message is supposed to be.  Put your big boy & girl pants on if something offends you and move on.  Live according to your faith and people may actually want to follow your example.  Hey, one never knows.  

There are places in the world where we are free to think what we will, read what we want, and watch what we want to watch.  You can worship what you want to worship and if you choose not to, well, that’s ok too.  Places were opposing views are able to be spoken and discussed.  Lest there be no doubt, places such as this are under attack.  Paris is the most recent but Paris is, most certainly, resilient.  On 1/11/15, MILLIONS of people gathered for unity and free speech – see: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30765824.  The City of Lights remains a beacon.  Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.

Vive la France!