Charlie (Hebdo) Mike

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Oh look. They were equal opportunity dicks

So once again religious fundamentalist wackaloons, in a reaction to a perceived 'insult' of their imaginary super-being, have lashed out violently, killing a dozen people in Paris over a satirical cartoon. And once again we must endure an endless circular "yes but..." discussion that refuses to ever reach the obvious conclusion. Sure, they say, violent terrorism is never OK, but what kind of people mock and  blaspheme a specific religious dogma? Are they not just tweaking the tiger's tail? Or they say, yes, this kind of religiously motivated violence is awful, but you can't use the act of a few extremists to tarnish the mythological beliefs of a billion people. Some want to make the case that these murders are just completely unrelated to Islamic doctrine at all.

Both positions are hideously undemocratic, simultaneously bowing to the violent extortion of our own values and enabling the ongoing Islamic violence that is killing, wounding and ruining the lives of millions around the globe. You cannot pretend to support religious liberty without being willing to include the right to blasphemy. If my (lack of) religious belief is politically and constitutionally equal to your religious belief, if my right to self-expression is outside of the constraints of your mythological  belief system - which is a given that cannot be logically challenged - then the only viable societal structure is to let the citizens in a democracy believe what they want, and say what they want.

The current front-end problem is Islam, just as a few hundred years ago the problem was Christianity, but the much larger problem is religion. When you indoctrinate people to believe that concepts like apostasy and blasphemy are punishable criminal offenses, you create a world where endless hatred and bloodshed are not only common, but necessary and endless. If you can use a lifetime of religious indoctrination to turn everyday citizens into bloodthirsty murderers, you MUST question that dogma. Watching that French killer fire a round into the head of a helpless, wounded French policeman tells me everything I need to know about how they have been convinced to turn their backs on their own humanity.

Let's be very clear. This was a tactical operation, but it has a very significant strategic component. Al Quaeda knows very well what it takes to mobilize everyday Muslims to violence - make them targets. In the country of Marine LePen, it won't take a great deal of brutal bloodletting to drive the French far right into action against Muslims qua Muslims. So what can we do? Essentially, nothing. It's a perfect "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation where if you crack down on the Muslim community you fuel recruitment and attacks, and if you don't you expose yourself to more small-scale and lone-wolf attacks.
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