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Sorry, I Am Not 'Charlie'

By Clarence Page, Tribune Content Agency on

Je ne suis pas Charlie.

I am not Charlie, although they have my sympathies and support.

Like other Americans of good will, I am appalled by the savage and cowardly attack that killed two police officers and 10 artists and editors at the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. It is in their honor that the hashtag JesuisCharlie, which translates to "I am Charlie," became a slogan for thousands of tweets and signs at rallies.

That's inspiring, but that's not me. I defend their right to publish even their most vulgar, over-the-top and pointlessly provocative cartoons even though, if I were their editor, I would choose images that were less offensive.

I don't think that's an insult to the memories of the weekly's staffers, since they have taken pride in their ability to "offend everyone equally," as its defenders like to say.

"It's a big difference between the way things are done in the United States, where often editors are trying to rein in the cartoonists," Ted Rall, the Los Angeles Times' excellent editorial cartoonist, observed on "PBS NewsHour." "There, they were encouraged to stretch and be as aggressive as possible."

 

Understood. But even as I defend the heroism of Charlie Hebdo, I would be remiss if I failed to condemn its racism -- as well as its sexism, its anti-theism and attacks against other targets that were in much less privileged positions to defend themselves.

Those are not contradictory sentiments. France is a country where Muslims, among others, are a poor, harassed and often maligned minority. Many have ironically been isolated from mainstream French social and economic life by a European version of multiculturalism that leaders in France, Germany and England admit has not worked.

It pains me to see the Charlie Hebdo attacks now give more aid and comfort to France's growing nationalist movement, which routinely uses secularism and free speech to put lipstick on its xenophobia.

France has a rich tradition of art as commentary, going back at least to 19th-century artist Honore Daumier. The editors and cartoonists murdered in Wednesday's attack are martyrs to a cause that I certainly hold dear: free speech and free press.

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(c) 2015 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

 

 

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