Suis-je Charlie? Plus j’y pense, oui, peut-être je suis!
During the last few days I’ve looked at a lot of their cartoons and I found a few of them outright repulsive. A cartoon is not a text. It is not something to be analyzed. It is seen and it explodes in one’s brain. Instantly. If it doesn’t, it is not a good cartoon. “Screwing the World” is a good cartoon.
Some of Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons are not good cartoons. They may be intended to work on a second level, but that second level is against the very nature of cartoons. It’s obviously certain that these cartoons are not intended to, but some of them play into the hands of the likes of Marine Le Pen.
Still, I’ve invested a few more minutes than the witless attackers and I’ve got it. Yes, I’m Charlie. I am not Erdogan, Orbán, Rajoy or Cameron. I won’t swallow the next round of surveillance and totalitarianism. I will still insist on accountability of politicians. I won’t give up the fiction of democracy.
Oh, and, if you want a good read, here’s Cory Doctorow about Cameron’s latest idea.
The Song of the Day is again “Stone Walls” by Three Tall Pines. Hear it on YouTube.