“You can kill a man, but you cannot kill an idea.” This statement, originally attributed to Sophocles and latterly to Ben Shahn during the rise of Fascism and to the murdered black leader Medgar Evers, is perfectly appropriate to the murders by Islamic terrorists of the journalists and cartoonists of the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” in Paris.
Jack Cohen
“You can kill a man, but you cannot kill an idea.” This statement, originally attributed to Sophocles and latterly to Ben Shahn during the rise of Fascism and to the murdered black leader Medgar Evers, is perfectly appropriate to the murders by Islamic terrorists of the journalists and cartoonists of the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” in Paris.
They are dead, but their ideas and the need to be able to subject every idea and concept to satirical treatment is a basic tenet of secular society. I well remember hearing Tom Lehrer’s “The Vatican Rag” with a Catholic friend. He was quite shocked, but the Vatican did not collapse, hordes of Catholics did not leave the Church and the news about priests molesting children was far more damaging.
France has a very famous tradition of satire, from Moliere and Voltaire, to Honore Daumier and thence to “Charlie Hebdo.” Satirical cartoons are common in the history of western Europe, such as the Victorian magazine “Punch” and the comic operas of Gilbert & Sullivan that went as far as satirizing the military and the monarchy (in “The Mikado“) and then up to the political satirical magazine “Private Eye.” There were also famous literary satirists, such as Jonathan Swift and his “A Modest proposal,” and George Orwell with “Animal Farm.” And on TV, “That was the week that was” with David Frost and many others. In the USA there have been many famous satirists, H.L. Mencken, Charlie Chaplin (viz. “The Great Dictator“), The Marx brothers, Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl and Joseph Heller (viz. “Catch-22“), and on TV “Saturday night live” and all the late night shows (Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Jon Stewart).
We must recognize that there is a fundamental difference between western culture and Islamic culture. We want freedom of expression. Voltaire said “I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight to the death to defend your right to say it.” This is the basis of French secularism. Muslims think that this is unnecessary because Islam provides all the answers, just accept, believe and do Allah’s will and that’s all that is needed. Many are talking about the fact that Muslims are alienated in France and are not integrated. They miss the point, the Muslims mostly don’t want to be integrated, they want to take over and enforce sharia law on an Islamic Republic of France. Wake up and face the reality!
It is not hard to say that if democracy continues to live so will satire, it is an integral part of the idea of freedom of expression and freedom to criticize and even ridicule the powers that be, without using guns and violence to make the point. Every newspaper has its political cartoonist and long may they prosper. Unfortunately there are societies where satire is unknown, and the Muslims who object to the use of satire against their sacred cows will have to learn the lesson that killing satire and satirists and freedom of expression is unacceptable.
Jack Cohen
Outrageous Hypocrisy!
It was outrageous hypocrisy that Pres. Mahmud Abbas of the Palestine Authority (PA) was allowed to march at the head of the parade in Paris commemorating the 17 people murdered in France by extremist Islamic terrorists. Who started the campaign of Islamic terrorism in modern times? The PLO, the Palestine Liberation Organization, when it attacked airliners killing hundreds of people, including blowing up a Jewish restaurant in Paris in 1982. And who is the current head of the PLO? Why it’s Mahmud Abbas! And when his spokesmen and he say they do not support terrorism, this is a damned lie. They give money to “martyrs” (shahid) who have murdered Israelis and also give financial support to their families, money that comes out of the funds that are given to the PA by naieve donors, such as France and the USA.
Abbas’ predecessor Yasir Arafat directly supported terrorism, both by PLO/Fatah and Hamas, but the direct support has not been so easy to prove in the case of Abbas. He is a terrorist in a suit who is more careful how his expenditures are documented. It is ridiculous to equate him with PM Netanyahu who was also there at the head of the march with the other world leaders (but not Pres. Obama). The media dead-heads who spend their time splurting inanities were over-joyed to be able to equate the two, they were already talking peace. But, if Marine Le Pen was asked not to attend the march, why was Abbas not also refused. You cannot carry out a meaningful and effective campaign against Islamic terrorism unless you know where it is coming from. Hamas is a terrorist organization, according to the UN, EU, France and everyone else. The PA under Abbas has a Unity agreement recently signed in Cairo with Hamas. They cooperate and share funding, therefore Abbas is in league with Islamic terrorists, and yet he was allowed to be at the front of a march against terrorism? Does that make any sense to you?
You cannot effectively fight a war unless you know who the enemy is. It may not be all Muslims, although that is debatable, but it certainly includes Hamas, a self-proclaimed Islamist organization that uses terrorism to destroy a member state of the UN, Israel, and intends to establish not a Palestinian State (they are against the moves of Abbas at the UN) but to establish an Islamic Caliphate, like the ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The terrorist enemy includes, ISIS, the Taliban, various branches of Al Qaeda (in the Maghreb, Yemen and Arabia), Al Nusrah (in Syria), Hizbollah and Hamas. The current Government of Egypt knows that Hamas is an enemy, why don’t the western governments? Hamas at first criticized the terrorists who attacked the Charlie Hebdo office, but then praised the attack on the Kosher Supermarket in Paris and the murder of Jews there. Need more proof?
Pres. Tayyip Erdogan had the temerity to criticize PM Netanyahu for attending the march in Paris. While welcoming Pres. Abbas, Erdogan stated that Israel had killed 25,000 Palestinians using “state terror.” This is another outrageous lie, and once again shows where Turrkey now stands. Turkey has become the new home for Hamas since it appears that Qatar has asked their leader Khaled Mashaal to leave. These Muslim leaders are full of outrageous hypocrisy.
Jack Cohen: Born in London, UK, lived in suburban Washington DC area for 30 years, moved to Israel in 1996. He has a web site: Jack’s Blog
Jack Cohen
