I Am Not Charlie

(re-printed with permission)

No, I am not Charlie.

 

By now we have all read about the deadly shooting in Paris at the office of a controversial publication, Charlie Hebdo.

The public’s response has been somewhat varied, but the common cry is “Je Suis Charlie” or “I am Charlie.”

Well I’m going to say it. I am not Charlie.

I am not going to invent figure heads, or let others invent figure heads for me. Especially people with poor taste and who are intentionally offensive. (though I support their right to be both)

"Charlie" is not responsible for my rights. I am, and have always been, a free man.

We don’t need to support him by pretending to be him. These cartoonists didn’t earn us our right to free speech. It is inherent. They didn’t get the law to recognise this right. They simply exercised their freedoms, as all of you should. We don’t need people to be free for us.

Whether you agree with what a person says, or chooses not to say, is irrelevant to the point. We all have the right to say or print what we like. As such, if you do not like what I say or print, you have the right not to listen or read it, but not to tell me what to say or write.

Furthermore, Freedom of Speech isn’t just the freedom to say what you want, but to say what others may not want you to say. There is no freedom if you can only say what you want, provided no one has any objections.

This attack, and others like it, are simply attempts by cowards and thugs to shut people up when they lack the moral high ground and means to do anything else.

 

I speak freely not because I am (like) Charlie. We are not Charlie. He is like all of you. Free men and women with the right to free speech. To say what you choose to.

We need to take a stand because he is one of us. This is not an attack merely on his right to free speech. It is an attack on our right to free speech.

You had this right before. You have it now. Stand on guard to make sure you can retain and use it tomorrow.

 

(Gracias, El Barto)