Je Suis Charlie

I was born into a free country.
Last week Islamic terrorists killed cartoonists. If you (or I) are
reading this in years to come and cannot believe it, I will say it
again.
Cartoonists!
Not in my country. But in the one next door.

This week Big Brother on Channel 5 has evicted two of its contestants.
Big Brother is a television concept of worldwide success based on the
ultimate Orwellian nightmare, but marshalled by nervous right-on
junior TV executives.
Big Brother doesn't even have its own voice. It has several young voices
depending on which sub-producer happens to be on duty.
All the voices are thin and thready and lacking gravitas.
But the whole concept of the programme is of the Vote. A democratic
one made by the public.

And so to the "crimes" necessitating expulsion from this lucrative dystopia?
One American idiot flips a girls gown and might have seen a tit. She
responds with (what we used to call) an "epi".
(I am not actually sure how to spell epi as I haven't written it down
before, and we didn't do it at school, but I don't think it's spelled
like the French sword so I'm going to go with that).

It was a silly nothing-of-an-incident by a reformed alcoholic who had
been fed alcohol by the TV production company. The incident was not
even caught on camera as they were sharing a visit to the toilet room
together.

The second incident was one of an elderly well-loved TV celebrity who
allegedly used the 'n' word. I say allegedly because this we did
actually get to see/hear this.
I was under the impression that the outlawed 'n' word we always refer
to (and which could have been edited out ) is generally thought to be
'nigger', not the actual word he used which was 'negro'.
This was transmitted on television presumably because it is something
we can discuss. It highlights an always-useful discussion point,
namely the passing and progression in the public acceptability of
certain words and language, particularly as new generations appear.
But the fact is that all he was doing was telling an old showbiz
anecdote against himself. There was no racism in this. And he was
quoting a quote...neo-offensive word and all. If you change a quote,
it is not a quote. And nobody he said it to took offence. So who is
the offended? The viewer of the experiment! Do you not see how
ridiculous that is? The researcher offended by his own experiment!

We have all noticed in recent years the complexity of even attempting
to discuss issues of race even in small multicultural groups.
You are dealing with fire even at a cocktail party. Not the firearms
that radical Islam blasted into the bodies and skulls of the French
cartoonists. I'm talking here about a metaphorical fire.

And yet... if only this had been said in an environment where we could
put it to the public vote. Votes often surprise us. We learn.
Well we could in Big Brother. Or what is it there for?
But, thanks to Endemol productions, we didn't get the chance.
The one glaring advantage of the arch TV concept and conceit of Big
Brother was discarded by Big Brother's fear. Fear of the public. Fear
of reprisal. We are so deep in irony now that I don't even know where
my knees end and my guts begin. Democracy? Sorry mate. Sold out!
The advantage of Reality TV is that we can learn something about how
people react to moments.
About each other.
And learn more about our own understanding of our democratic
responses. It can be genuinely fascinating.
We just didn't get the chance.

Not only that.
The two people cast aside were not given a chance of redemption.
What is drama without redemption? I'll tell you. It's shitty. And it
is unforgivable.
Except of course we do forgive. Because that's what we do. For free.
And because we have poor memory.

Nobody had a democratic chance in Charlie Hebdo because Islamic
terrorists don't believe in free speech.
They have successfully cast doubt that the pen is indeed mightier than the épée.
But what has been most striking in the Charlie killings is not the
response of the Muslim radicals. Not the repetitious lethargic
'condemnation' by the Muslim leaders. No. It has been the word from
the street from the rest of the Muslim community.

"Well I don't agree with violence, but they did bring it on themselves"
"If they publish another cartoon, we can't be held responsible for the
consequences"
"I don't think they should have been killed, but if they going to
insult our prophet like that, they should expect it"

If I've seen one interview like that then I've seen six, both in their
country and from mine.
It's chilling.

"They wouldn't like it if we did this to Christianity" said another.
Really??
We are living in a country that made Monty Python's Life of Brian in 1979.
The USA had George Burns playing God in three movies in the 1970s.
They made him black in the guise of Morgan Freeman in two comedies in
the naughties.
I don't remember anybody killing the writers.
Nobody put a fatwa on the director.
They had a laugh. We all had a laugh.
"It is the right of every religion to be lampooned". Not my quote, but
also a vox populi from a TV interviewee more articulate than me on the
subject.

This morning Charlie Hebdo released another supposedly challenging
cartoon, albeit accompanied by the highly tolerant phrase "all is
forgiven".
They break no laws.
In fact the cartoon is simple and beautiful, and highly charitable,
borne no doubt from a pen of unbearable anguish and pain.
Or drawn on an electronic pad by a 'mouse miserable'.
Most likely, you will not have seen it because the UK press has too
much of a Saudi influence to allow publication in the UK, (as I also
learned on Radio 4 this morning).
But also because nobody wants their head chopped off.
And maybe it would incite racial discrimation because a pen, it turns
out, is a weapon punishable by imprisonment.
Orwell would have been proud of his predictions.
To start the ball rolling, a French comedian was arrested this morning
for his personal Facebook comments. If you or I are reading this in
years to come and cannot believe it, I will say it again. Comedians
behind bars!
Now I would put everyone who uses Facebook behind bars.
Or alternatively, none of them, at least not for that alone. Unless
they checked their status in my company of course.

I hope it turns out that the pen is indeed mightier than the épée. But
I don't know if it will in my lifetime.

And an "epi", I've just learned from the dictionary is "short for an
epileptic fit, used figuratively, the result of reacting to something
with extreme emotion".
So have I committed a hate crime against those who suffer from a
seizure disorder?
Am I scoring some sort of a point against people who need to take
anticonvulsants?
If I have, please forgive me and try not to have a fit about it.

Our own Deputy Prime Minister would not tell Radio 4's Today programme
this morning that he was going to buy a copy of Charlie Hebdo in
support of the dead satirists.
He wouldn't do it because he was scared.

It is the same reason I'm not going to comment further here.
Because I'm scared.
In a blog nobody reads, I'm scared they might come and kill me too.

I was born into a free country.

I am not free anymore.