Paris terrorist attack - it is a attack on human liberty.

The attack on Charlie Hebdo's office in Paris by some fanatic Islamic militants is a barbaric and cowardly act of violence. This is not only an attack on the free press and freedom of expression, but it is an attack on our liberty. It is an attack on the basic framework of our modern society where disagreement and differences of opinion are not only tolerated but encouraged and respected. Just words are not enough to condemn this cowardly act. It is not a brave thing to attack unarmed, harmless, peace-loving people, this is a display of ultimate cowardliness and bigotry.  Charlie Hebdo is a well-known satirical magazine that is known to attack religion and politicians. It can be called anti-establishment, so, it is not that it only mocked Mohammad or Islam and spared other religions. One can debate whether the cartoons published were in good taste or bad taste, this discussion is in relative terms because whatever is in good taste for me might be a bad taste for someone, so, none of us have the right to decide what is in good taste or bad taste for everyone. We all have the right to have our own opinions. People who feel angry or offended can protest peacefully. Every civilized society gives its people the right to protest, but no one has the right to use violence to settle any disagreement. As I wrote previously in my blog, I believe that freedom of expression comes with the freedom to offend. If you have the right to practice your religion, then I also have the right to criticize that religion. We may or may not agree with each other but we both have equal rights and we both need to respect that, this is a very simple and basic thing to understand in any civilized society, but it seems we are yet far from being a civilized society and these type of acts prove this point.

I don't know who said it but I read somewhere the sentence "The country which can't laugh on itself can't survive for long." Satire is a very special form of humor, not everyone can handle it as it can be crude and brutally offensive sometimes. But this brutality is its specialty and makes it a very effective way of commenting on any issue and not an easy art to learn. Islam is allowing itself to be dragged by some radicals into a highly intolerant zone where even a disagreement or satire is not tolerated. Any criticism, no matter how small or big, is considered so offensive by some radical groups or countries that they resort to violence against any dissenting voice. This is not only religious fanaticism but this is an attack on human liberty, an attack on basic principles of civilized society and it should not be encouraged. The use of religion to spread terror or hatred should be challenged by all religions at every level. Everyone including all Muslims who believe in humanity and tolerance should speak up in one loud voice so that all these terrorists get the message very loud and clear. It is of no use to say that these terrorists don't belong to any religion or they are not humans, the truth is that they do belong to some religion and they are humans. Unfortunately, in today's world, many terror activities are directly or indirectly associated with some religion. Islam is being used as a terror tool by many radicals, so, it is time for all Islamic moderates and liberals to stand up against this bigotry. Every religion has gone through phases of intolerance that have taken a huge toll on human life, this is why we cannot allow that to happen again. 

Violent attacks on innocent people are barbaric and disgusting no matter who does it and why they do it. No religion, country, group, sect, or holy book can justify any such attack. If any group finds something offensive, derogatory, or insulting, then they have the right to protest peacefully or they can put up counterarguments but they absolutely have no right to use violence to silence any dissenting voice. Any book or prophet is not above the rule of law, killing innocents can not be justified by using any verse from any book no matter who wrote that book. Any such acts or statements that justify such violence should be challenged and condemned in the strongest possible words, doesn't matter if they come from any holy book or somewhere else. If we ignore them, then we will be facing many scenarios where such bigots from some religions kill innocents in the name of defending their religion. Unfortunately, religion has been used to propagate fear among its nonbelievers. We can not live in denial mode anymore by saying that there is no relationship between religion and terror, clearly, there is a strong relationship between the two. I agree that it is unfair to target any single religion for this. However, if we see some people misusing Islam for terrorism we all especially the Muslim community need to confront this misuse and take a strong stand against it. Hindus, Christians, and Jews also need to condemn very strongly any acts where these religions are used to spread fear or propagate violence. Unless we all speak together against these things our message is not going to have any effect. As long as people base their reactions to such incidents depending on who did it, where it happened, or who killed who, such barbaric acts will continue. So let's stand together, let's pay our respects to these brave cartoonist who sacrificed their lives to protect our liberty. These people died to protect our freedom of expression, they chose to die rather than compromise with their right to express themselves freely. They command our respect and our commitment to continue their mission. If we hesitate then we will be equally responsible for their deaths as those terrorists are. I choose to stand with my friends who lost their lives to protect my right to freedom of speech. 

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Links:

1. What's use of freedom of speech without freedom to offend?

2. Salman Rushdie criticises 'a deadly mutation in the heart of Islam'

3. 23 Heartbreaking Cartoons From Artists Responding To The Charlie Hebdo Shooting
4. Terrorist do have a religion.
5. Images for charlie hebdo-Google