Who Killed Je Suis Humain?

My pendulum swings from Je suis Charlie to Je ne suis pas Charlie, and back again.

Not knowing fully or understanding what Je suis charlie really stood for, from the get-go I proudly embraced  its lapel pin on my collar, regardless. But now I am less sure, as the distinction between freedom of expression and freedom to be fully expresed is brought home to me. Whereas the freedom of expression on the one hand is every human's fundamental right, the right to offend and freedom to incite resentment or hatred on the other hand is quite another and cannot be seen being part and parcel of it. Put another way, at least, I refuse to be party to it.  Whenever and wherever I am fully expressed, in the process, I have had also to exercise my freedom of expression albeit, without recourse to offence to any group of individuals or religion. Per se, Je suis Charlie is fine in a broader context of 'Nous sommes humain' but I am beginning to have my doubts, whether Je suis Jamal, Je suis Ari and Je suis Hari as concepts would  sit equally well with proponents of  Je suis Charlie. For many of them, the Je Suis Jamals, Aris or Haris likely are  inconvenient half truths which at best, are worthy of lip service only.  But when it goes down to the wire, 'Je suis Charlie' trumps 'Je Suis all the rest of us,' and sometimes even 'Nous sommes Humain, I dread to think. What makes the conception of Je Suis Charlie so special is that it is a White construct borne out of a Western tragedy which somehow makes it more special or vastly unique than similar manner of  crazy goings on happening elsewhere be it Niger, Nigeria, Mali,  Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Israel, Palestine or Pakistan.

They say too much of a good thing can be bad for you and freedom is no exception. In its absolutist version, such a freedom has all the trappings of wide spread anarchy in society, like we never knew existed. Freedom comes with responsibility and right now, Charlie Hebdo is being irresponsible period by bringing to Life - Arabic and Turkish editions knowing full well how offensive it is to people of the Islamic faith and that these governments will not tolerate their circulation in the Mideast and Turkey. In many ways, the Je Suis Charlies and Je ne suis pas Charlies ought to stop  behaving like a child with a broken toy that cannot be mended. There are no victors here. Au contraire, meaningful engagement between the opposing camps can be the only victor.

Elasticity of thoughts, thinking and permissiveness is a good thing to have in public discourse but elasticity too comes with limits. Whatever for did physicists come up with Y: Young's modulus of elasticity?! Imagine chatting up a Charlie, thus: Did you hear the one about French law enforcement and why they took the time they did to nab the terrorists near CDG? Because they did the French thing of taking a 2 hr lunch break with appertifs and all. Now, it's all very well to bring this up under freedom of expression cover but you know it as well as I do it is just too terribly insensitive and cruel to the families of those killed and snubs them and the French republic in the face, to the extent that their wounds will start to smart. And where does this "je suis charlie" action lead up to? Insensitivity, grief and hurt. Certainly, nobody  but nobody's life is the better for it, I can assure you.

Expecting the 'Je Suis Humains' from among us to rally round  to the rescue of the Je Suis Charlies as like it or not,  we often find in life; taking the middle ground is the humaner thing to do.