Protecting the Innocent
Without wishing to delve into the murky waters of social analysis about the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris, and other fall-out from this event; a lot of what has gone on has been (inevitably) dragging up a key philosophical point of discussion in my mind. So I’m taking this opportunity to follow that trail of thought and see where the breadcrumbs take me… Who’s with me? - Well you can’t be with me unless you know what I stand for, right? And yes, whilst there was an undoubted majority of the people declaring #jesuischarlie in the simple condemnation of the actions of the individual perpetrators; there have been undoubted use of this stance to solidify misguided ideas about ‘all Muslims’; or to say 'I don’t know what this Charlie Hebdo magazine is all about, but I defend their right to say whatever it is they said’. Both present fairly obvious dangers in their logic; obvious to me - perhaps obvious to you - but not to everyone. Not to everyone who adopted th...