COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY JULIA EBNER IN THE
INDEPENDENT
This article tries to make the proverbial silk purse out of
a sow's ear.
Charlie Hebdo has
been an extreme propaganda outlet, pretty much gutter, hate literature posing
as satire and social criticism, attacking only certain groups.
Its past attitude has pretty much been that of a gang of
rude teen-agers strolling down the avenue and giving "the finger" to
selected people, having great belly laughs at the horrified reactions.
That sophomoric set of behaviors is not the stuff of great
satirists and critics.
I don't know what it is today, whether it has changed at
all, and I don't care, but Hebdo can never be the symbol for free speech and
Western values.
And, to my mind, anyone who tries to portray it as such is
just exercising his or her free speech on trash.
