I was moved to tears, when I watched over 1 million people walking down the Champs-Elysées arm in arm in last week’s global demonstration of solidarity against terrorism. Didn’t mind the media hype (even as the Russians marched side-by-side with the Ukrainians, while on the same day killing each other at the Donetsk Airport).
Freedom of speech is the foundation of a democracy, and lived my life defending that freedom. However, I get concerned when that freedom disrespects and demeans what is sacred to others; then it’s no longer just about freedom, it becomes a hostile, provocative act that distances people from each other.
The great majority of Muslim people are not radical extremists who express their anger by killing people. Muslim people of faith did not cause 9/11 or kill the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists; terrorists who hijacked the faith murdered them. The great majority are outraged by the terror, they are also outraged by images of their prophet shown as a perverted fornicator.
Muslims in France are already economically marginalized, their religious garb banned in public, now as a group portrayed as terrorists, and it is turning them into mistrustful, cynical, xenophobes. It’s happening to us all; as a civilization we are all turning inwardly, getting armed, and guarding ourselves against strangers.
When freedom of speech injures our souls as human beings, then it steals from us a greater freedom… to treat each other with loving kindness, generosity, respect, and to recognize ourselves in each other.
My granddaughter is living in Paris with her beloved, he happens to be a Muslim from Morocco. I know and love him; he is kind, considerate, a loving son and brother, educated, and fluent in three languages. We talked after the horrific massacre, he respects freedom of speech, but he also feels that when his sense of higher purpose and his community are insulted, that such freedom is abusive and it enrages him.
I understand his anger and encouraged him to go to the demonstration and share his feelings publicly; I’m hoping he will lighten up and become less offended by the excesses that are committed in the name of free speech, and that one-day we will march down the Champs Elysées together saying Je ne suis pas Charlie…We Are Love.
I agree, Carl. I am not Charlie. I am Jewish, among other designations I would rather use.
Very poignant and encouraging to hear about your daughter and partner from Morocco. Having just been in Morocco, it gave me hope that a Muslim country could be so much more tolerant.
I wrote a blog for Psychiatric Times discussing the same theme, though it received more criticisms from psychiatrists than praise. It is at http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/blogs/free-speech-not-always-therapeutic. In other words, free speech is not always therapeutic. If anyone wants a copy of the blog, let me know at rustevie@mac.com.
Steve
Thank you for so beautifully expressing: “I am NOT Charlie. I am love.”
As I have traveled the world, I have been treated with the upmost kindness, generosity, and respect by people of ALL faiths including Muslims. I call many of them my friends and know them as peaceful and loving people. They helped me to experience and know our oneness as human beings.
I also love what your words, “I get concerned when that freedom disrespects and demeans what is sacred to others…” This is what I have been feeling so deeply in the midst of all of this controversy. Thank you so much for expressing what is in my heart.
Also, this sentence so resonates with my SOUL: “When freedom of speech injures our souls as human beings, then it steals from us a greater freedom… ” YES!YES!YES! These words are so on point!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I loved the photos as well. Rain
Thankyou for sharing this most personal story, Dr. H. Touched our hearts for sure. A wonderful elder and amazing young relatives…together telling the story of Love. Thankyou!
Carl, thank you for writing this. Your message is so important in these times. I have a friend from long ago, a Muslim, who lives in Paris. You inspired me to reach out to her, and to extend my love.
This is the greatest healing gift.
Thanks for all your responses relatives, and delighted we stay in the struggle together. With love, C.
Thank you for this post! I am glad to see you mention the abuse of the cartoons, not just the killings. I, too, believe in Freedom of Speech but I also believe that visuals of hatred and condemnation to the extreme are also violent expressions and to be avoided.
I wholeheartedly agree with your view. I have often wondered how Christians would respond if Jesus would be made fun of, ridiculed or be depicted in offensive acts and situations. I have been in settings where I was considered to be Native American and was treated differently because of that and I remember getting angry when people thought that we (I come from a European country) didn’t have schools until the Americans came. Disrespect breeds hatred and a wish for revenge.
Dear Carl,
thank you for your words and for your never ending love! I am finding myself trapped “in between”: we, each and everyone of us and as a community, continue to negotiate for the limits, for limits we need when living as neighbours – joint and free. When does the prohibition of the hiding of faces in the street become “a ban of religious garb”? At which point does the freedom of speech change into “injuring of souls”? We are all learners in the renewing of limits in a world getting smaller. It is our minds and hearts that have the power to make it a more open and wider one – again and again, every day. We cannot solve it by not seeing each other, may it be as individuals or groups. Your Schlagbytes are the proof that we are compelled to use names for us and for the others, may we talk about them as victims or offenders. The only thing that is reliable in this ever-changing and unsecure World is that Love will help. Thank you for your relief! Maybe we are much closer to the solution than we are to the problem … we all can stop to be for or against anything, and – with all our love – we can decide to be “in between” and in this way part of it, of the one and only world we have in the USA, France, Marocco or Austria. I will always remember the clown´s oranges … your stories. Thank you.
Yours, released for the time being,
and strongly connected with my Phoenix relatives,
Roland
Thank you for your courage, Carl. “Righteousness” can serve as a powerful seduction. Without this perspective, there’s only a fine line and a slippery slope to the abyss of racial atrocities.
My Dear Roland: You remind me of how long it’s been since we have seen each other, sat together, listened to music and laughed. It is in our loving connections that we liberated from our despair and suffering, and you are among mine. :O)