Am I Charlie? (Part 5)

The French have managed to create one of the most glorious civilizations in the history of human societies. French literature and art are sublime, the countryside is almost impossibly lovely, the cities are endlessly charming, the food and wine are without peer. I’m part French myself, on my father’s side, and my Great Uncle, Andre Heintz, who is still living, was a prominent member of the French Resistance in World War II.(1) read more »

Am I Charlie? (Part 4)

We’ve been talking about the appalling murder of most of the staff at Charlie Hebdo, a “satirical weekly” published in France. A few days after the killings, three million French men and women took to the streets, shouting “Je suis Charlie!” and I was right there with them. read more »

Am I Charlie? (Part 3)

Most Americans, if they’ve thought about it at all, imagine Charlie Hebdo to be what the media likes to call it, a “satirical weekly.” Sort of like The Onion, maybe, or National Lampoon. Mad magazine, even. But to call Charlie Hebdo a satirical weekly is like calling Stalin’s murder of seven million Kulaks an “agricultural reform.” It’s not precisely wrong, it’s just obscenely misleading. read more »

Am I Charlie? (Part 2)

On the morning of January 7, Paris time, the Kouachi brothers stormed into the offices of Charlie Hebdo and gunned down 11 people, wounding 11 more. I promptly found solidarity with the French masses, shouting (to myself, since nobody else was interested), “I am Charlie!” read more »

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