SIENA JEAKLE ’15
I was about to write this editorial about how annoying I find the Twelfth Man culture, but recent events have led me to change my focus. With the Charlie Hebdo tragedy, I’ve been thinking a lot about freedom of speech and the responsibilities of journalists, and I find myself caught between my journalist mentality and my big sister mentality.
As a journalist, I am horrified and disgusted that people were killed just because of their words. Violence is always an inexcusable reaction, especially in response to an offense as trivial as satire. This incident was a terrible injustice because of its bloody nature, and it also highlights the seemingly growing threat to freedom of speech.
This incident resembles recent events in our own country, the terrorist reaction to satirical media being reminiscent of North Korea’s attempted suppression of the film, The Interview, by way of cyberterrorism. Thankfully, our situation did not share the bloody nature of that in France, but it speaks to threats to Free speech.
Despite our constitutionally protected rights to freedom of speech, in our own country people are too often forced to hold their tongues. In our progressive community, we usually end up on the opposite side of the offensiveness spectrum, keeping quiet for fear that we’ll offend someone on accident. The problem with this is, such hardy pursuit of political correctness too often makes the ugly truth taboo. Subjects should get left untouched simply because they make people uncomfortable, even though those are almost always the issues that need to be dealt with most. The fact that so many schools no longer read books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Catcher and the Rye because of they contain harsh realities is an ongoing atrocity. What are we allowed to talk about?
As a member of Newspaper Window, I am tired of tiptoeing around touchy subjects to make sure everybody always feels comfortable. Sometimes I’ll be placing a picture on a page, and I start think about how we could be using that space to discuss controversial events, and I begin to get enraged. But then, I remember my place.
I did not write this editorial on my frustration with the ever-expanding twelfth man culture in Seattle because, especially now that we’re going to the championships, I knew it would upset a lot of people. I made this decision not out of cowardice, but out of respect. Seahawk success means a lot to the people who will be reading this, and bashing on the team right now would bring people down rather than bettering society. Sometimes, it’s just not worth the fight. This is where what I call my “big sister mentality” kicks in.
As an older sibling I am used to avoiding touchy subjects. I have learned that much of the time it’s just not worth it to go for the jugular when it’s not going to solve any problems. Often, it will just create more. I’m all for being a gadfly, but I’m staunchly against stupidity, so why would I poke the bear for no reason? I believe the Charlie Hebdo magazine was wrong in this regard.
I mean no disrespect to the victims of this tragedy, but I hold that their satirical targeting was often irresponsible and disrespectful. Most of the magazine’s humor is, frankly, childish. It’s neither fair nor noble to pick on someone who’s not your own size, and French Muslims, making up about 70% of the prison population and facing religious prejudice, are by no means partying it up at the top of the hierarchy. The most recent issue features Mohammed. As Arthur Chu said, Hebdo’s satire broke satire’s unspoken rule to “punch up, not down.” The magazine’s comics were not right.
