So Much For Satire

Like most hard hitting socially relevant satirists, I have refrained from commenting about Islamic extremism because I am very attached to my head and would like to ensure that it stays on my neck.

Therefore, I choose to mock, make fun, sneer, taunt, jab, put down and generally deride any group whose response would be a sharply written letter rather than a bomb. The fact that these groups tend to be middle class, Protestant and white just happens to be a coincidence.

However, the attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo was a game changer. Even us in the humor world have to acknowledge that the people killing other people due to cartoons are not Methodists or even Southern Baptists, but rather, radical Islamic extremists. 

First, a little English lesson. When someone says "radical Islamic extremists" that are not saying "all follwers of Islam". In other words, it is really cheesing me off when someone says the Charlie Hebdo attack was the work of radical Islamic extremists but not all followers of Islam are radical. Um, duh, that's why we add "radical" and "extremists" to the word "Islamic".

No wonder they are not scared of us. We don't even understand the language we speak.

Last Sunday, The New York Times reported "More than a million people joined over 40 presidents and prime ministers on the streets of Paris on Sunday in the most striking show of solidarity in the West against the threat of Islamic extremism since the Sept. 11 attacks". You might have seen it on television.

The report lists "world leaders — including President François Hollande of France, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain — joined the march in a solemn line."

It is funny. One country's leader is not listed because he was not there.

Okay, you can make an argument that there are security concerns wherever the President of the United States goes and he just can't flit off to Paris like he can Five Guys Burgers. But he has other people he can send like, oh, say, a Vice President who would have loved the attention. Or a Secretary of State who fancies himself as French so much you almost are surprised that he's not wearing a black turtle neck sweater and a beret.

He could have sent Attorney General Holder who was already in Paris. I don't know, maybe Attorney General Holder was waiting to see what Al Sharpton had to say about the attacks.

This is how big of mistake not sending the President or a major senior official in the administration to the Paris March was:  The White House admitted they were wrong.

I was trying to think of another time when a major world leader seemed so feckless on the world stage. For some reason, Neville Chamberlain comes to mind.  It was just surreal to see the United States so disengaged from such a major event.

You Might Need To Google This, Kids

The President seemed more passionate about one of his faculty lounge buddies getting hassled by THE MAN than he did about the attack of Charlie Hebdo. He is supposed be an expert on The Constitution and should feel strongly about freedom of speech and the press. But, he just seemed sort of miffed that it took attention away from his latest and greatest BIG IDEA: Free Community College.

Then we were treated to the spectacle of people saying Charlie Hebdo had it coming because they offended people.

As a matter of politeness and courtesy, of course people should refrain from making fun of people's deeply held religious beliefs. But, if they do, and this is important. you do not have the right to shoot them. I thought everybody knew this.

Over the past five years of Humor Me, occasionally I've heard negative comments. My favorite: "It was a very biased article". (It is a blog, skippy, not a term paper. It is supposed to be biased.) I've had a couple of people imply that I was a racist because I didn't support President Obama. And don't make a joke about anybody's favorite college football team. Trust me on this one.

Yet, I've never worried about the reaction to my blog. Maybe I should start.