A train of thought has been nagging at me for the last couple of days and with the current social media trend for the right to free speech, I thought Id say my piece. Obviously, to abhor the tragic events in Paris is the natural reaction for any sane, decent person. Also, to an extent, to show solidarity with the victims is. But in a country where 2 months ago we were witch-hunting a comedian for an off-hand comment about rape, can we really all, without reeking of hypocrisy, jump on the Voltaire quoting, free speech band-wagon? With one hand we raise to a pedestal the cartoonists who dared to mock and insult a widely misunderstood and villainised religion of millions and with the other we strike down an uneducated oaf who stumbled into the spotlight through light-hearted banter, made a poorly timed joke to an audience of goading punters and chase him out of town. Yet we stand in our thousands exclaiming Je Suis Charlie. Had someone shot Dapper Laughs on Xmas Eve, would we have bounced down to Trafalgar Square after our roasties with moist scrawled across our foreheads? Maybe Im comparing apples and oranges but something about it doesnt sit right with me. I do not agree with what you have to say, but Ill defend to the death your right to say it. A quote often misattributed to Voltaire is actually from a biography of him written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall, has been tirelessly wheeled out by faux French philosophy enthusiasts in a vain attempt to follow social media protocol. The sentiment of this statement is perfectly adequate for expressing your fledgling affinity for the freedom of speech but will no doubt be forgotten, along with the names of the il-fated cartoonists 2 months down the line when Jeremy Clarkson accidentally calls an amputee a cripple or Katie Hopkins has one of her weekly, ITV-funded, unpopular opinions . An article I read sums it up far more succinctly than I can by saying This kind of low-cost, risk-free, E-Z solidarity is only possible in a social-media age, where you can strike a pose and somebody sees it on their timeline for 15 seconds and then they move on and it’s forgotten except for the feeling of accomplishment it gave you. In an age where it seems freedom of speech is only extended to those who have the backing of popular opinion on Twitter, the sincerity offered by the masses in the wake of the Paris tragedy feels somewhat false, which in itself is tragic. I just hope that if I was to die in some tragic event, the sum of my legacy would be more than a hastily scrawled, 140 character eulogy posted between pictures of breakfast and lunch, in order to portray a caring nature to their 200 followers.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 09:54:18 +0000
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