I deeply support
the right of anyone to speak freely. I supported, for example, the Nazis'
right to march in Skokie (home to numerous holocaust survivors at the time).
But I certainly didn't announce, at the time, "I am a Nazi."--Jim Leff
"Ugly American" is a term used pejoratively to describe arrogant or insensitive behavior of Americans in foreign countries. (Of course, such behavior was exclusively American. Curiously, in the book of the same name, he was a hero.) The Americans were always fretting about showing the sole of the shoe to someone who is offended by it, mentioning Hitler to Germans, disparaging local royalty. But times have changed. We are eager to show how stupid local traditions and beliefs are and are outraged when the locals react badly. The entire foreign policy of the American government last decade was to encourage undeveloped countries to recreate themselves in the American economic and governmental mode. We crave diversity and are amazed when that diversity is not shared back in return.
There is an arrogant quality about this. We know better. A lot better. And everyone can benefit from our insight. We are no longer People of the Book, we are People of the Enlightenment. We have freed ourselves from others' foolishness and are eager to share our knowledge. And we expect to be shielded by the victim's good taste, their sense of propriety, that somehow does not apply to us. We are proudly baiting the bear, tethered by his social restraint and expect him to tolerate the cruelty in our truth. That is the key to satire: It must be clever, humorous or insightful enough to earn a nod from the subject. The satirist and his object must have some agreement on terms; contempt, opprobrium must never peek through. And being non-selective is no excuse; skinhead groups are non-selective.
So now we step on to a bus, see an elderly lady proudly wearing a ridiculous hat, and tell her so.
The editors of Charlie Hebdo feel it their right to offend Islam, feel it their duty. They attack the very heart of the religious and social belief of an astonishingly unsophisticated and defensive culture and expect to be treated like Jonathan Swift.
I believe in the Right of Free Speech, the Right to Assemble. But we are losing our moorings. (Pun intended.) I also believe in an unspoken social compact, something that might best be translated as respect. I have great sympathy for these people and their families. And I would defend their rights of free speech, assembly and the rest of the social and political freedoms that the West has, at long last, begun to assume. Nonetheless, Je ne suis pas Charlie.
"Ugly American" is a term used pejoratively to describe arrogant or insensitive behavior of Americans in foreign countries. (Of course, such behavior was exclusively American. Curiously, in the book of the same name, he was a hero.) The Americans were always fretting about showing the sole of the shoe to someone who is offended by it, mentioning Hitler to Germans, disparaging local royalty. But times have changed. We are eager to show how stupid local traditions and beliefs are and are outraged when the locals react badly. The entire foreign policy of the American government last decade was to encourage undeveloped countries to recreate themselves in the American economic and governmental mode. We crave diversity and are amazed when that diversity is not shared back in return.
There is an arrogant quality about this. We know better. A lot better. And everyone can benefit from our insight. We are no longer People of the Book, we are People of the Enlightenment. We have freed ourselves from others' foolishness and are eager to share our knowledge. And we expect to be shielded by the victim's good taste, their sense of propriety, that somehow does not apply to us. We are proudly baiting the bear, tethered by his social restraint and expect him to tolerate the cruelty in our truth. That is the key to satire: It must be clever, humorous or insightful enough to earn a nod from the subject. The satirist and his object must have some agreement on terms; contempt, opprobrium must never peek through. And being non-selective is no excuse; skinhead groups are non-selective.
So now we step on to a bus, see an elderly lady proudly wearing a ridiculous hat, and tell her so.
The editors of Charlie Hebdo feel it their right to offend Islam, feel it their duty. They attack the very heart of the religious and social belief of an astonishingly unsophisticated and defensive culture and expect to be treated like Jonathan Swift.
I believe in the Right of Free Speech, the Right to Assemble. But we are losing our moorings. (Pun intended.) I also believe in an unspoken social compact, something that might best be translated as respect. I have great sympathy for these people and their families. And I would defend their rights of free speech, assembly and the rest of the social and political freedoms that the West has, at long last, begun to assume. Nonetheless, Je ne suis pas Charlie.
No comments:
Post a Comment