COMMENT POSTED TO A COLUMN IN THE GUARDIAN
“Liberal left”?
Charlie Hebdo?
This is a fantasy idea.
Hebdo is a nasty
little publication which attacks a select group of targets, largely Muslims and
Catholics, with cheap, obscene cartoons.
They are self-satisfied, gleeful attacks on the solemn views
of others, much resembling a gang of arrogant teenagers giving “the finger” to some
passing old folks.
Ugly attitude is accompanied by an immense sense of
self-importance, much like some graffiti scribbler who fancies himself the
reincarnation of Voltaire.
Hebdo has a phony
kind of free-spirit image, yet it very much functions as an organ of hate and propaganda.
I am not questioning its right to do what it does. Rather I
am putting into perspective what it actually does. You would never recognize Hebdo from the high-sounding clap-trap regularly
published about it in France or Britain, much of it seeming to confuse a nasty
squib with Emile Zola’s J’ accuse.
Readers who would appreciate a longer, serious exploration
of the matter should see:
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2015/01/13/je-ne-suis-pas-charlie-the-extremely-dark-and-unexamined-underside-of-the-charlie-hebdo-affair/
