It’s been hard to think of much else but the Charlie Hebdo atrocity. I was out hearing some jazz with a writer friend last night. We were both talking in a highly animated way about the way that intellectuals, artists, people of thoughtfulness had been targeted for daring to produce satire, and how besides being cold blooded murder, this was also a thought crime, targeting intelligence, discernment, a distrust of cant. The two very professional terrorists who carried out this attack made a declaration that they were avenging the Prophet. But they were also attacking a core value of western culture: the right to call into question the absurdities of faith; to satirize the extremities and hypocrises of others. Just consider the huge historical legacy of satire - from Moliere to Voltaire to Hogarth to Mark Twain to Gilbert & Sullivan, to Punch and Private Eye, to the New Yorker, to Le Canard Enchainé, right up to South Park and Charlie Hebdo. Satire and an acerbic point of view about the sanctimoniousness of politicians, of organized religion, of the powerful and the far too rich is a key construct in an open, pluralistic society. When I noted yesterday that the twelve murders at Charlie Hebdo were an act of cultural warfare I truly believe that assimilation into western culture demands that you accept that an essential component of an evolved democracy is our willingness to embrace a wide range of disparate opinions. Did you known that the American Civil Liberties Union - a left of centre legal group in the US - accepted the American Nazi Party as clients many decades ago when they felt that their rights of free expression were being violated. And yes, many member of the ACLU were Jewish. They may have hated everything that the American Nazi Party stood for - but a free society, they reasoned, must defend the free expression rights of the unreasonable. Those two terrorists in Paris went after cartoonists who were rightfully skeptical of, and troubled by, the Manichean/theocratic insanities of radical Islam. What they have done, in the wake of their barbarism, is point up the huge cultural and cognitive gap between the civilized world’s belief that we can criticize and mock without fear, and the fanatic’s belief that theirs is the only way of looking at the world. The dividing line here is between a nuanced, complex approach to the mess that is human endeavour, and a rigid doctrinal approach to life which also demands absolute adherence to faith. In my experience, faith is the antithesis of proof. And all I could also think about last night was that I was here, in Manhattan, enjoying the privilege of hearing a great set at the Jazz Standard, and those twelve victims at Charlie Hebdo had, no doubt, been celebrating the arrival of 2015 just six days before this atrocity, toasting and embracing their loved ones and friends, looking forward to the year ahead. And then to have their lives so brutally ended; to have all the amazing joy of this gift called life ended with such vindictive finality... it is beyond despicable. And so unbearably tragic. As I noted yesterday we must stand together against this barbarism. We must affirm our pluralistic, liberal values - and not allow the voices of militant nationalism or religious fanaticism to gain further traction in an increasingly fractious world. This is a turning point. Solidarity is essential now. *** And I am now heading off for a week elsewhere; a much-needed break. Just seven days off. But the good news is that, though I will be off internet and cellphones and all the white noise of ‘la vie moderne’ for the next week, a recent short story of mine, “Thirty”, will be appearing on this page from Saturday 10 January through Friday 16 January. I will post again on 17 January - hopefully refreshed after a brief, essential respite from the outside world. So, until then, I hope you enjoy the story. Happy reading indeed.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 03:26:51 +0000
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