I Am Not Charlie Hedbo, But

... I do think it is right to show the cover they published immediately after so many of their staff were callously murdered.

I do also call 'hypocrite' on all those who claim 'Je suis Charlie', but don't publish any of their cartoons, either for fear of causing offence or just through fear. Causing offence is what Charlie Hebdo did, if you don't want to do so - a perfectly reasonable stance to take - then don't claim to be them, even in solidarity.

Personally I don't want to do the "Je suis Charlie" bit, even in solidarity, because I am not and because I don't believe in being crude and offensive for the sake of it, which appears to have been the standard Charlie Hebdo approach.

Buzzfeed have a dozen of their covers here, if you wish to see something of what I mean. But don't say you weren't warned.

But I do believe in freedom of speech (along with responsibility for what is said) and I do believe in sanctity of life. To kill someone because you find something they have published offensive is simply wrong. To do so in the name of God/Allah/Jahweh is blasphemous, in my view ... but I leave it to God, Allah, and/or Jahweh to defend themselves.

The trouble with not doing something because it might cause offence is that it would be never-ending. People get offended very easily. I think the answer is exactly the same as for those 'Christians' who object to gay marriage: if you don't agree with it then don't do it. But don't try to impose your dislikes onto everyone else.

If you don't want to draw a picture of Mohammed then don't draw one. It's best, perhaps, to not buy magazines like Charlie Hebdo either. But certainly don't think your hurt feelings in any way justify mass murder. They don't, and you can expect judgement from your deity of choice for any suggestion that they do.

There is an immaturity and nastiness, I think, in those who seek to offend 'just because they can'. I agree with Will Self who, last week, reckoned that satire should be about lampooning the powerful, not about bullying the already persecuted.

There is serious hypocrisy in those states and leaders who bleat about freedom of speech whilst restricting that freedom in as many ways as they can (it is against the law in France to deny that the Holocaust happened, for example).

But none of that alters the fact that it is important to stand up against those who would impose their own views and prejudices by murder and by intimidation.

Je ne suis pas Charlie, mais j'espère que tout est vraiment pardonné.

With apologies to any French speakers offended by my linguistic incompetence ;)

Guess Who's Hosting World Press Freedom Day

From BoingBoing

China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, USA - some of the nations whose governments are most heavy handed in their political censorship of the internet. All have constitutions which, as I understand it, guarantee freedom of speech, yet all strongly attack those who embarrass the state.

China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, by and large, confine the bulk of their censorship to within their own state borders. The USA is trying, with some success so far, to censor the rest of the world as well. Death threats, threats of imprisonment, allegations of terrorist activity which would be laughable if they weren't so dangerous, government to government coercion - to which Australia has simply rolled over (at least initially), and Switzerland and Sweden appear to have been, at the very least, heavily influenced - and government to private industry coercion: Visa & Mastercard (who happily work with the Ku Klux Klan and its allies), PayPal, Amazon, and so on. It is remarkable how much effective control the US government actually has over the functioning of the internet.

So who has recently announced that they are to host Unesco's World Press Freedom day, 2011? The USA, of course. The writer of their press release appears to have a fine sense of irony:

"The theme for next year's commemoration will be 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers. The United States places technology and innovation at the forefront of its diplomatic and development efforts. New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals' right to freedom of expression. At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information. We mark events such as World Press Freedom Day in the context of our enduring commitment to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age."

As this Guardian news blog put it: "Shameless. You really could not make it up."

To end on a lighter note, the best joke of the week so far - thanks again to the Guardian Newspaper's blog - comes from Ben Yarrow's Twitter account (with a hat tip to @janinegibson):

Freedom of Speech - priceless. For everything else, there's MasterCard.