You look beat

Well, I guess Mike could write more about power line survey flights than me, but he’s flying right now. Not in a helicopter, but in the passenger seat of an airliner. But I guess that doesn’t exactly minimize the risk of having somebody with smelly feet around. Plus, on airliners, people even take their shoes off too!

Anyway, on to more serious stuff. I’ve been thinking about commenting about the shooting in Paris, because we’re usually not big on political stuff here. But it’s very sad that, just a couple of day after I write about empathy and understanding, and how people and groups are pitted against each other, the terror incident in Paris happened. As a cartoonist, it hits close to home.

People who commit such acts truly have very, very narrow minds and I feel pity for them. Not as much as for the victims, by far. But if you end up in a place like those murderers, your life must suck pretty bad.

Norway did such a great job after the Breivik shootings in NOT reacting with a police state reflex, and keeping an open society and upholding their values. I sure hope the French and all other Europeans can follow their example.

When I heard the news, I instantly felt really, really angry. But we need to be careful who we direct our anger against and not not fall into the „us vs. them“ trap. Of course, the murderers should be brought to justice and contemplate their actions behind bars for the rest of their lives. But we need to approach the underlying problem, which, in my humble opinion is a lack of education and love, and the bad childhoods that form monsters like that.

Violence breeds violence. But philosophy can prevent and cure fanaticism and peaceful parenting can prevent the emergence of psychopaths.

Love and peace!

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8 comments on “You look beat
  1. Fbs says:

    In french slang, newspaper = canard = duck.

    A cartoonist mentionned that ducks will always fly higher than guns…

  2. random says:

    It wasn’t really about caricatures. The pictures were just a pretext, or else the shootings would’ve happened years ago, right after the publications. Somebody wants French to start fighting moslems on its territory. The cartoonists just made themselves an obvious target.

    What should an artist do in such a situation? No idea.

  3. Saskfan says:

    Thank you for the most reasonable, and reasoned, response I have seen so far to that terrible act. I don’t know Charlie Hebdo, and I don’t know if they should have published what they did. But I do know that violence is not the answer to satire.

    From what I’ve seen in the news, the French seem to dislike Islam. I don’t know why; perhaps they don’t like people seeking a better life in a new country. But that’s what my parents did when they brought me from Scotland to Canada…

    I hope love prevails over hate soon.

  4. Jean-Mi says:

    @ Saskfan:
    I’m french, I live less than 15 minuts car from Paris center. I was at work when killing was done, just a few kilometers away, and shocked. Cabu and others are part of my young years.
    Charlie Hebdo had to publish that because we are in France, and in France we have the liberty to say what we are thinking without been killed for that.
    We have no more problems with Islam than other country. Most of my colleagues at work are musulmans and good friends and we are working for commercial aviation sub-components for airliners. Our finals customers are Quatar Airways via Airbus or Boeing, and others…
    We have problems with integrism and fight upon integrism, sometimes only with pen and drawings.
    We are the country of liberty and we have done revolution for our liberty 200 years ago, and declared that “people borns free and equals in rights” and are proud to fight for that.
    Today, everywhere in the world, some few integrist people want to dictate their laws and apply them to all. Those integrist are Islamist, Christians, Jewish, and all others. There are lost of fighting areas everywhere in the world for integrism reasons.

    Just keep fighting guys ! Weapons only kills peoples, not ideas.
    Peace guys. Thanks to Chicken wings for the kind thought and drawing. Keep drawing.
    Charlie Hebdo wil be published next Wednesday.
    Have a peacefull night and happy landings !
    Jean-Michel, Paris, France, Earth, near the sun.

  5. Saskfan says:

    @ Jean-Michel:

    I apologize for misunderstanding. The way our media reports the news from France gives us the impression that you’d all like to see the Muslims go away. I realize that individuals might not think that way, and I’m sure the government wouldn’t want to lose all the Muslims’ tax revenue. 🙂

    The French ban on the burqa was made here to sound intolerant of the Muslim freedom of religion.

    I do not know Charlie Hebdo; I hear that it is satirical, and read that it has satirized all religions. As I said, I don’t know if Charlie Hebdo should be required to respect a religious ban on images of Mohamed and Allah, but murder and violence is not the proper response to satire.

    I wish I could afford to visit France. It is one of the European countries I would most like to see. Perhaps some day; then I would learn the real mood there.

    Pease and long life, mon ami!
    With great respect,
    Neil
    Regina, Canada

  6. Saskfan says:

    Gah! Not pease; PEACE, Jean-Michel! Eat all the porridge you want, but don’t listen to my typos. 🙂

  7. arrowblue says:

    The best sympathy that can be shown would not be sympathy, but rationality paired with action.

  8. Jean-Mi says:

    Hi all !
    No problem for your typo Neil, you do not know how bad was my English 15 years ago… 😉
    Be careful with media ! You can’t afford only one media that is only one point of view. Badly you have to verify by yourself the truth and lies of the media…
    Some years ago when I was practicing lots of flight simulator online, we have had some bad events in france with lots of car burnt and problem between cops and bad guys in some town. I have received few message from my international friend that where afraid I should not be safe and in imminent risk of death everywhere in france and that everything was burning. I discovered that foreign media covers the bad events in some blocks of our 10 biggest town as total civil war everywhere in France even in the smallest towns…

    Be careful with integrism and misinformation… Charlie will stay tuned !
    May the chicken force be with you !
    Jean-Michel

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