#CharlieHebdo

Yesterday masked gunmen entered the editorial offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and assassinated 12 people, including two police officers and four prominent political cartoonists.  It is a shocking act of contempt for civilized discourse and for free speech.  And the cowardice of storming an editorial meeting with automatic weapons?

But I live in a time in which politicians and corrupt cops have conspired with narco gangs to kidnap and murder student teachers.  I live in a country where masked gunmen have repeatedly stormed children's schools with automatic weapons.  I live in a city in which police can murder a man on camera, stand around nonchalantly as he dies, and escape indictment for any crime!  So how can I pretend to be "shocked"?

I wanted to respond to yesterday's shooting as others have, with the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie.  I wanted to put the Charlie Hebdo contributors in the company of the heroic journalists who have been objects of increasing attacks in recent years by both government and non-government actors who thrive in darkness.  I wanted to write again, as I have often recently, about impunity and the criminals who demand it.

But I find myself repelled by the editorial content of the magazine.  I find it filled with racism and sexism and hateful images.  I find it impossible to identify myself with their work, even as I condemn their murder.  I wouldn't write "I am Westboro" if that gang of extortionists were to become victims of extrajudicial attack.