Conclusions

I've been quiet so far.

Reading, listening, hearing all sides of the debate and waiting for that little voice to suddenly cry out in agreement or objection.

And it's starting to. Here are some of the things it's started to say:

1. It does not bring back the dead, nor does it help anyone to understand certainly, to divorce the incident from its context. This is not 'generic terrorist/fascist' attacks 'generic leftist/comrade'. There is context here. There is a background. There are complex dynamics and relations of power at work. Ignoring that serves no-one, it just deepens the incomprehension.

2. If you think this is just about the freedom to make fun of religion you're missing something here! If only it was! If only I could ignore the privileged position from which people like Caroline Fourest claim to be fighting the noble fight, given that many of her ideas seem to be so closely aligned with mine. Freedom of speech. Feminism. Atheism. But there are other, much bigger enemies. You're missing something, or pretending to.

3. The bitter irony of having people claiming to defend freedom of speech telling other people what they can & cannot say is overpowering. The fact that many of them happen to be middle class white men puts it over the edge of parody. The hypocrisy is overwhelming. It's so immense it threatens to swallow us all up into a parallel universe, one in which we calmly accept to stand side by side with people like Netenyahu and Davutoglu, in an unholy alliance. The moral compass has gone totally haywire.

4. Some lives clearly matter more than others. Muslims are killed everyday, in Nigeria, in Iraq, in Gaza - and no-one bats an eyelid in Europe. These are the images which fuel the anger that leads to radicalisation, drip by drip! Read your Olivier Roy.

I'm not justifying anything - I'm just trying to understand.

5. The tone of this entire debate is nauseatingly familiar. Manuel Valls talking about a war on terrorism - hmm, stop me if you've heard this one before. The September 11th of France? Such enlightening! Very nuance! Wow!

And now we're all going to pat each other on the back for sharing pictures of the prophet? World, get a grip.

I agree with so much of this.

"To the victims of military occupation; to the people in the houses that bore the brunt of “shock and awe” bombing in Iraq; to those whose bodies were disfigured by white phosphorous and depleted uranium; to the parents of children who disappeared into the torture cells of Abu Ghraib; to all of them – what but cruel mockery is the contention that Western “civilisation” fights its wars with the pen and not the sword?"

For the record - Olivier Roy's reaction.

And lastly - les guignols. Whose consistent response to the massacre of those who were no doubt their colleagues, was to keep doing their job, without being pompous or dogmatic. On the same day as the attack took place, they were already making satire about it. And that's a pretty fitting tribute.