The Independent has published a long excerpt from a book (“Letter to the Islamophobia Frauds Who Play into the Hands of Racists”) penned by Charlie Hebdo editor Stéphane Charbonnier, better known as Charb. The book was finished just two days before the attacks on Charlie Hebdo.
A snippet:
People who accuse Charlie Hebdo cartoonists of Islamophobia each time they draw a character with a beard are not just dishonest or hypocritical. They are supporting so-called radical Islam. If you draw an old man committing a paedophile act, you are not casting aspersions on all old men. You are not saying that all old men are paedophiles; or that all paedophiles are old men. Apart from a few imbeciles, no one would accuse a Charlie Hebdo cartoonist of doing any such thing. The drawing shows an old paedophile. That’s all.
The front page of the Charlie Hebdo edition devoted to the Danish cartoons is a magnificent illustration of this point. The drawing by Cabu shows a bearded man in a turban holding his head in his hands. He is either angry or he is crying. Perhaps both. The speech bubble says: “It’s tough being loved by cretins.” The headline above says: “Mohamed overwhelmed by fundamentalists.”
Mohamed is complaining about the attitude of his fundamentalist followers. That’s clear enough. And yet Charlie Hebdo was violently accused of calling all followers of the Prophet cretins. Charlie Hebdo drawings are not just misunderstood by the ignorant. They are re-drawn by very clever people who want to mutilate their meaning.
This excerpt is OH SO TRUE. And even though written about extreme Islamists, they are not the only group who lashes out at cartoonists – they are just the only group who murders cartoonists. Editorial cartooning is a person’s (the cartoonist’s) opinion – and everyone has a right to their opinion. An editor writes their own opinion, a columnist has their opinion – and a cartoonist draws his/her opinion. But if the cartoonists opinion involves an African American – he is labeled a racist or a bigot. If the opinion involves a Native American – he is racist or heartless. And it can go on and on about any nationality, race, or religion. In today’s world of political correctness – there are hardly any safe opinions. A cartoonist can lose his livelihood for having an opinion – and now, sadly, his life. Is society advancing – or retreating?