Je Suis Charlie

Tags

atheism, charlie hebdo, islam, Muslim, parisattack

On this day 7th January 2015, Islam woke up the sleeping tiger that is Europe.  They  little realised that the  ultimate attack is on our Freedom of speech, and we will not let that stand.  To commit this atrocity in France, the home of Liberte, Fraternite, Egalite. I shake my head!

I woke up to an ordinary day yesterday , as usual beginning with coffee and croissant and turning on the News channel for an update.  Little did I know of the horror to come. As many i am sure I was glued to the television watching the sad news progress throughout the day. Horrified that in a civilised society, we cannot get along. I awoke this morning thinking of those 12 victims of ‘religious terrorism’, saddened by the simple fact, that yesterday unbeknown to them was the last time they would wake from a night of pleasant sleep.

At first the media reaction was tentative, as usual in these cases they never jump into an affirmation of religious hatred. They according to their ingrained political correctness gone mad, decide to inadvertently push a little of the blame on the Charlie  Hebdo satirical cartoons as the issue. Maybe we should not have such a freedom of speech? Maybe we need to pander to a single religion above all the others? …. bullshit!

It quickly became apparent, that they had then seen the over whelming response on social medias Twitter and Facebook. They started reporting on the tweets and messages, the video and photographic evidence which was rapidly appearing on social media sites all around the world.

The word terrorist started being used on the news, but please get it right we are talking ‘religious terrorists’. They started using the term ‘Islamic fundamentalists’ another pet hate of mine, as for some reason within media they always divorce ‘Islam’ from ‘Muslim’ which is an oxymoron.  They are interchangeable with each other, or would you like to enlighten me? Do you know of any ‘muslims’ that don’t happen to have the religion of Islam?  Come on guys, wake up and smell the coffee!

As usual the word ‘racism’ came into the equation, regardless of the fact that Islam isn’t a race. Education seems to be a problem with the politicians and media worldwide. Or should we consider this, should we re-assign the word… I mean we can then see clearly that these ‘religious terrorists’ are racist against the western culture. We look at ‘Boko Haram’ for example which bans western education. If these people dislike our western culture, then maybe they need to think before they decide to come and live in the West.

Anyway, regardless of their initial interpretation of fear of showing the said cartoons, the social media had taken a stand and were showing them in their hundreds. You cannot refuse free speech!  At this point, we had confirmed they were Muslims ( yes I’m using that term) they  shouted as they jumped in their car ‘ we have avenged the prophet’ . Pretty  damn definitive proof no?

If only they had thought of what their actions would bring, that cartoons in a French Satirical magazine would not infact be stopped and hushed up, but inflated and posted all around the world in their thousands. You can never stop freedom of speech. Freedom of expression. Freedom!!

There were the usual comments on some Muslim time lines , examples being ‘they got what they deserved’ and ‘what do you expect when you insult the prophet’

Alternatively, some comments from twitter followers were :-

If your religion can’t stand a little criticism – you need to question your religion not kill people!

I’d rather live standing than die on my knees

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell  people what they do not want to hear

As a Muslim, killing innocent people in the name of Islam is much, much more offensive to me than any cartoon can ever be

I watched an interesting interview on BBC News 24, forgive me I did not get his name, however, his words were encouraging:-

They have harmed European muslims, if we wish to live in Europe we have to abide by our freedom of speech. No idea, philosophy or religion can be held in quarantine or be above criticism…. the right and duty of everyone across Europe and how societies progress…. is important. Blasphemy is a taboo in muslim society… however the koran is critical of other religions and peoples…. we cannot expect less from them…. to live in a democratic and mature society… we need to challenge and reform muslims… and fight extremism

I do believe that is the way forward.  We also need the social media platforms to be aware and take notice of these religious terrorists and their use of their media platforms to incite hatred to non -muslims. We are aware they use the social to contact each other.  In recent weeks we have seen @godlesspellchecker and @jihadistjoe to name but two be suspended… for their freedom of speech. Your are targeting the wrong people Mr twitter and Mr Facebook!

Hopefully the politicians will now listen, when they see peaceful demonstrations in Germany, France, Denmark and elsewhere, when we say No More Mosques! We are not the enemy… don’t imagine we are… you are taking your eye of the ball… We are citizens and we expect to be heard!

Let us not forget the gunmen are also victims of their religion, indoctrinated and brainwashed. Religion needs to go!

So lets make a fresh start, and come together as a community, no matter what your religious affiliation, freedom of speech out weighs all of them.

Keep up with the cartoons, our free speech will not be silence, and we will grow, sheer numbers can silence the fundamentalists!

I respect your right to believe in a religion, I don’t have to respect said religion

Take care people…….

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