1
" Blasphemy is just the fanatic's name for criticism. Charb writes wisely:
'A believer can blaspheme only to the extent that the idea of blasphemy holds any meaning to him. A non-believer, no matter how hard he tries, 'cannot' blaspheme. God is sacred only to those who believe in him. If you wish to insult or offend God, you have to be sure that he exists. The strategy used by minority group activists masquerading as anti-racists is to pass off blasphemy as Islamophobia and Islamophobia as racism.'
The crucial distinction we must defend is between acts of imagination and acts of violence....Faith is not the enemy. Fanaticism is the enemy. It always is. But only a fool would deny that faith has been the seedbed of fanaticism in mankind's long and sorry struggle for the light. As much as at times we need to seek "solidarity" among unlike groups, we also need to "desolidarize," to "unsolidarize"—to put the people we know before the abstract categories we imagine. Come to think of it, making people, with all their flaws, fully visible while leaving generalized types alone is exactly what the caricaturist has always done for us. It's his special form of bravery. "
― Charb , Open Letter: On Blasphemy, Islamophobia, and the True Enemies of Free Expression
2
" If we suggest that it is okay to make fun of everything except certain aspects of Islam because Muslims are much more sensitive than the rest of the population, isn’t that discrimination? Shouldn’t we treat the second largest religion in France exactly as we treat the first? It’s time to put an end to the revolting paternalism of the white, middle-class, “leftist” intellectual trying to coexist with these “poor, subliterate wretches.” “'I’m educated; obviously I get that 'Charlie Hebdo' is a humor newspaper because, first, I’m very intelligent, and second, it’s my culture. But you—well, you haven’t quite mastered nuanced thinking yet, so I’ll express my solidarity by fulminating against Islamaphobic cartoons and pretending not to understand them. I will lower myself to your level to show you that I like you. And if I need to convert to Islam to get even closer to you, I’ll do it!” These pathetic demagogues just have a ravenous need for recognition and a formidable domination fantasy to fulfill. "
― Charb , Open Letter: On Blasphemy, Islamophobia, and the True Enemies of Free Expression
4
" If “atheophobia” denotes the violent criticism of atheism, I invite my Bible-thumping friends to sign up without fear for their safety. Don’t reserve your insults to Reason for the privacy of those tombs of thought you call temples, churches, synagogues, and mosques! Publish newspapers and blogs, stage plays and puppet shows, to mock what you see as the absurdity of life without God, of life without your Supreme Blankie! "
― Charb , Open Letter: On Blasphemy, Islamophobia, and the True Enemies of Free Expression
13
" Il serait temps d'en finir avec ce paternalisme dégueulasse de l'intellectuel blanc «de gauche» qui cherche à exister auprès de «pauvres malheureux sous-éduqués». Moi, qui suis éduqué, évidemment, je comprends que Charlie Hebdo fait de l'humour, puisque, d'une part, je suis très intelligent et, d'autre part, c'est ma culture. Mais, par respect pour vous, qui n'avez pas encore découvert le second degré, je fustigerai solidairement ces dessins islamophobes que je ferai semblant de ne pas comprendre. Je me mettrai à votre niveau pour vous montrer que je vous aime… Et s'il faut que je me convertisse à l'Islam pour être encore plus proche de vous, je le ferai! Ces démagogues ridicules ont juste un énorme besoin de reconnaissance et un formidable fantasme de domination à assouvir. "
― Charb , Open Letter: On Blasphemy, Islamophobia, and the True Enemies of Free Expression
