P.S. for Charlie Hebdo
In retrospect it is- or should be- impossible to say anything else today than to deplore the terrible attack in Paris on the editorial team of Charlie Hebdo. Watching France 24 now: someone just quoted Voltaire's words, which are absolutely appropriate: Je ne suis pas d'accord avec ce que vous dites mais je défends jusqu'à la mort votre droit de le dire....
(I don't agree with what you say , but I will defend until death your right to say it)
(I don't agree with what you say , but I will defend until death your right to say it)
posted by toubab at 7:15 PM
2 Comments:
The words are very striking, though looking into it (and this seems pedantic under the circumstances) I found they were a summary of Voltaire's feelings about a controversial book which was burned by the authorities (he actually said 'so much fuss about an omelette'). More significantly, the attributed phrase was quoted by a lawyer for a group of Muslim menmen who shouted abuse at soldiers returning from Iraq. Their 'freedom of speech' was not respected, needless to say; they were imprisoned. Of course nothing there is comparable to killing, nor can the horror we all feel about this be mitigated.
Your piece below absolutely MUST be published. Let's think what to do.
Exactly.
Post a Comment
<< Home