Je suis pas Charlie

I am an ass. And damn proud of it too.

--Charlie

I am not Charlie. Charlie is an ass. But I am Charlie's brother; I love Charlie and believe that even though he is an ass, he deserves to live a life free from fear. It doesn't matter that Charlie makes fun of things you hold dear.

They were human. Just like you. Each of the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo was a human; with a life; and a family and friends. You killed Charlie, you bastards! I feel angry. I am furious. You behaved like a two-year-old throwing a tantrum. "You don't hit!" I tell my kids. You don't kill, I tell the adults. WTF!?! I shouldn't have to tell you that. I don't even have words for this.

Words are just that, words. They may hurt, but they don't kill. Drawings are just another form of words. Words that are blasphemous to one may not be to another. Given the vast variety of religions and gods that are held in belief by the human population on this planet, the list of blasphemies that could be uttered is very long indeed. And it is not possible to circumlocute around all of them. We, as a species need to develop a thicker skin; be slower to take offense, even when offense was inteded.

The artists of Charlie Hebdo are magnificent at what they do. They poke fun at everything. Nothing is sacred. In fact if it *is* sacred to someone, they will likely poke fun at it just because it is. This is why I say they are asses. I commonly refer to Richard Dawkins as an ass as well. Sometimes it takes an ass to get the point across because all of us pansies are carefully tiptoeing around, too afraid to offend. So I stand up for Charlie Hebdo and their right to be a collective ass.

I am a pacifist. I do not believe that killing of another human is ever justified. Let me make that clear. Killing is always the wrong answer, even if the other person is an ass.

Beyond Mere Replication

We have the power to defy the selfish genes of our birth and, if necessary, the selfish memes of our indoctrination.

--Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene

By nature, all organisms will tend to look out for their own (genes) best interest. That is what The Selfish Gene is all about. It is not about a gene that makes organisms selfish, but rather how the genes will ultimately program organisms to better replicate themselves. Not that genes have that kind of foresight, but it is more of a trial and error, feedback-reinforced cycle that we call natural selection. Basically, genes that fail to propagate to the next generation will not be seen again. Replicate or die.

In many cases this causes the organisms themselves to behave in rather selfish manners. This includes humans. But as humans, we are among the few species that might possibly rise above this selfish gene-level programming to be better individuals and better as a whole.

"I'm gonna tell Dad." "I share no kinship with that individual!"

--SMBC episode 3101 by Zach Weiner

Life as a 'higher' organism, whatever that may mean, implies to me that our concern should be more than just what our genetics would dictate. In the cited SMBC episode, the mother says that she has no kinship with her child's father. While she has no kinship with the father, she has a vested interest in keeping him around so he can contribute energy in ensuring success of THEIR offspring. But maybe it rings more true in this comic strip because the mother now has a cloned daughter that carries 100% of her DNA, so there is not as much need for the sexually produced daughter that only carries 50% of her DNA. We don't currently have a way for people to clone themselves commercially, so our most selfish of desires (to live forever, either ourselves or through our DNA legacy) cannot be fulfilled quite yet. But I digress....

Our legacy is carried on through our offspring which each carry 50% of our DNA. Because the portion carried may overlap, there is no way to guarantee that all of our DNA is copied into our children, but obviously the more kids we have the higher the probability that we have not missed any of our DNA. But what I would like to argue is that it is not just our kids that carry our DNA. Each of our parents shares half our DNA. And our aunts and uncles share a quarter, as do our grandparents and grandchildren. Our first cousins share one-eighth of our DNA. Or wait, they share 99.99% of our DNA. What am I thinking?!? We are all HUMAN, which means we all share 99.99% of our DNA. Hell, we share 99.5% of our DNA with chimpanzees, and we don't even count them as humans. What I am trying to get at here is that we have moved the US and THEM line too far up the tree. If we push it back just to the point that separates us from the rest of Mammalia, then that leaves a big US. Like almost seven billion of us. Say it again.... There are almost seven billion of *us*. You and I are one kind. You and I may not have the same mother, but we are siblings. Nearly identical in every way except those that don't count (hair color, skin color, eye color, height, weight, strength, etc.)

This is our chance to take that step, to learn ourselves what it means to be inclusive, to teach our kids to love humankind, each and every one. There is no reason for killing. There is not reason for violence. There is no reason for hurt. Realization of who we are (NOT sons and daughters of a vengeful god), brother, sister, mother, father, all of the same family, can lead to a world of peace, a world where we can grow and become much more than mere replication could have ever imagined.

A Public Plea for Sensibility

Riots in Libya (Mohamed Abd B Ghany/Reuters)

In the wake of the violent protests against the US spread over much of the Muslim world, here is my plea for humanity and sensibility. Some things that all human-kind should embrace or we doom ourselves to extinction by war.

1. Keep your inflammatory remarks and/or insults to yourself.
2. If somebody does insult you or your beliefs, ignore them, don't strike back.
3. There is no, repeat NO, justification for one human to kill another.
4. There is no need for violence.

Several things went wrong (in the recent past and in times long past). Shouldn't we, as human-kind be big enough to look past shortcomings in others and drop our grudges?

Having watched 'Innocence of Islam,' the alleged tipping point for all these protests, I have to say that I was uncomfortable with the terrible light it portrayed Islam's prophet. I think that the author of the video should be embarrassed for creating such a work. It's only purpose was to insult and provoke those who believe in Islam. Shame on you. There are better ways, more peaceful ways, more effective ways to spread your ideas. Just because your freedom of expression is guaranteed by the US constitution, doesn't mean that you should use your right to denigrate others' beliefs.

Then I move on to the violent protesters. Shame on you. The four US citizens you killed in Libya had nothing to do with the video in question. They didn't make it; they didn't promote it; they were most likely as embarrassed of it as I am. Why would you kill innocent bystanders? They were striving for peace and diplomacy and you respond with murder. Then there have are dozens of others killed around the world as the protests spread. I understand your anger. Nobody likes to have the beliefs they hold most dear to be mocked like this in public. But this does not justify violence. Grow a thicker skin and turn the other cheek. Let's face it, there are some hateful people in the world, but that does not mean we need to sink to their level. Rise above and don't give them the reaction they hope for. After so many of the 'extremist Islam' attacks in the world, much of the non-Muslim world links terrorism with Islam. While this may be an unfair association, violent reactions like this only reinforce that stigma.

South Park's Joe Smith

Several years ago, the TV comedy cartoon 'South Park' made fun of the Mormon prophet in what might be considered to be every bit as inflammatory as this video. I watched it myself and was sad that people could be so rude to others. I did not take up arms to protest. I killed no one. In fact, I think the majority of the Mormon believers just decided that they would ignore the video altogether. If not turning the other cheek, ignoring the initial blow. Today, many Mormons have probably forgotten about the South Park cartoon, especially in the wake of the Broadway musical hit 'The Book of Mormon,' which was written by the same people. My point here is that there are other ways to deal with an insult. Peaceful ways.

As a plea from one human to another: let us live in peace; stop the violence.