Je ne suis pas Charlie. Je suis Saman.

© Saman Giraud

Je ne suis pas Charlie. Je suis Saman.

I am deeply saddened by the attacks on Charlie Hebdo in Paris and I too, like all of you, condemn any terrorist attack and any form of violence towards another human being. 

The attacks in Paris are profoundly shocking and it took me a few days to process the news. My thoughts are with the families of the victims and the people of France ever since. Acts of violence are not a solution and they will never be. 

To my friends I'd like to say that hate speech is not a solution either. It is a form of violence on its own. We all, religious and non-religious people are upset, angry and hurt yet remember that we are better than the product of our anger. We are smarter. We have the luxury to access information and enjoy education and we have the means to make our voices heard and speak up. 

I condemn any extremism comments, be it on Facebook or spoken out loud, as extremism leads to extremism and I will not support any form of hate or generalization especially not when we're talking about nearly 2 billion people globally. 

Remember that there is no or very little real depth analysis in the media and that the issue is broken down into a recipe based on three ingredients: a satire, a religion and a gun. Remember that there is more to it. 

Therefore it is important to ask the right questions and I'd like to ask all of you to take the time, even when upset, to question everything you read in the media. Do your research until you find answers for yourself that you can represent and argue for. If you take a step back you might even see that history is simply repeating itself. 

We should remember that these terrorist acts are an aberration of people's faith.
We should remember more than ever to respect and protect our friends and people who are faithful and innocent as they have been and will be the target of hatespeech, insult, violence and discrimination. 
Remember to call for reason.

We should stand united against terrorist attacks and any form of extremism. We should stand united against polarization and hate. We should stand for mutual respect and love for those who are innocent. 

Je ne suis pas Charlie. Je suis Saman.

The Idiot

Once upon a time a mother gave birth to an irresponsible, innocent, depending child. Year after year the child developed physically and therefore, year after year, the parent, or in the best case scenario the parents, would guide the child and teach him to become somewhat responsible, less innocent, but above all self-sufficient. In other words they would help him to develop mentally too.

In New York, a parent has exactly 18 years to prepare his child at his best for the 'Age Of Majority', in other words, the age of becoming a legal 'Adult': responsible for himself when it comes to almost everything but death, disease and alcohol. 

To be more specific, according to the law a child needs 18 years to be mature enough to have a credit card, sex, a wedding AND the right to vote. But according to some other law, this very same adult needs an additional 3 years of life experience and turn 21 before being considered mature enough to drink alcohol in public. Vodka beats President 3:0.

Please note that Mother's 99% adult can indeed drink, drive and marry under legal age as long as under 'supervision'. But that's a different story...

Discrepancies aside, one way or the other,  most children make it to the legal term of an 'adult' which is certainly more a matter of one way rather than the other; the inexorable march of time rather than the result of maturity.

And while parents and educational systems do as much as they can to raise a self-sufficient, independent thinking individual, laws nowadays shifted from protecting the individual from the harm of others to protecting the individual from himself - with the very best intentions in mind.

Wholefoods doesn't sell Diet Coke because it is not healthy for you. Try to find full fat yogurt, a never-ending Odyssey, because it is not healthy for you. In the midst of worldwide political crisis, somewhere between correction rape in South Africa and never ending unnecessary wars, Mayor Bloomberg has the glorious idea to ban supersize sodas because it is not healthy for you either. Smoking is banned from so many places, that it would be easier to designate the few one or two places where you can enjoy smoking. Same here: it is not healthy for you. 

In a country that is known for both, its consumerism and its freedom, we suddenly find ourselves not free to consume as we please. 

And while the marketing screams that the state cares for you, reality makes the city resemble more and more to an overbearing Chaperone who fines you, fights you in court and puts you behind bars if necessary - once more: with the best intentions in mind.

The latest addition to the Chaperone's resume being an ad I noticed in the subway station: A campaign that aims to shield youths from tobacco displays. Meaning: stores should hide the cigarettes they intend to sell, because according to a non specified research "...kids who shop at stores with tobacco marketing two or more times a week are 64% more likely to start smoking than their peers who don’t." Needless to say that questions about validity and research forms arise en masse. 

I was on my quest for my own little test research. Being a legal adult for a few decades now, I decided to get in touch with the average New York 'minor' and catch up on my reading by purchasing the latest 'Star' Magazine. The 'Star' magazine being a celebrity news magazine in the same style as 'People' or 'US Weekly'. The sad truth, like it or not, is that gossip replaced Victor Hugo a long time ago. 

Fact is that out of 74 pages, 23 pages are full page ads. And out of the 23 ads, two winners were crowned easily: TV shows advertising on 8 full pages followed very closely by 'How to drop 1 jean size in 2 weeks' ads on 7 full pages.

Let's assume for a short half minute that the laws I mentioned above are truly acting in our best interest. Let's assume the laws are right: If we see something we buy something. I can probably speak only for myself but I would definitely buy Starbucks coffee only, as I can see it on each block. I would also eat tons of street food and spend half of my paycheck on H&M before joining the US army as I am sure that deep inside of me, I am a hero too. I would also end up watching those TV shows like Tia & Tamera or Chicagolicious, with their complicated titles that invite for misspelling or copy/pasting and offer zero educational background. I would also believe that these reality TV shows are reality. And all the time I would be enjoying loosing fat at the speed of light. On the couch. But at least I would be a non smoker who doesn't drink diet coke.

  

At the end of the day, the more laws we allow to pass that take over our own responsibilities and consumer preferences,  the less we will find ourselves responsible for our own lives. Incapable in the long run to be self-sufficient or act independently when not under Chaperone's protective wings. We would be more prone to manipulation before slowly but surely finding ourselves walking backwards, debase the parent and the education we enjoyed by becoming minors again trapped in the body of an adult. But isn't it marvelous that we are still granted the right to vote the next president?


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Iran

The tension between more than 70% of the Iranians who are under 30 years old and the so called "islamic" regime and its fanatic representatives raised over the past 30 years steadily but certainly. Those young people fought in loud silence for their rights. One could feel this tension and all I was waiting for was the last straw...No one expected this moment now. No one was prepared.

In several cities of Iran, the main streets are painted red with the blood of those innocents who were suffering since they were born - free spirits and their bodies the prisoners of an inhuman system.

Everyday students are beaten like dogs, shot and many died on the streets without any chance of surviving. Bodies disappear from the hospitals without even being identified by the staff. Parents are waiting at home, not knowing that they can wait forever. Cars are burning, people are crying, yelling, praying...And outside of Iran people are marching, asking for peace and for justice.

This regime is the one that caused the depression of more than 3 generations. Grandparents suffered, seeing their country being turned upside down to the worst. Parents were forced to leave a country that they loved. And thousands of children of the exile Iranians, the 3rd generation, do not know where they belong to anymore or where home is. They are foreigners in Iran and foreigners everywhere else leading to the confusion and partly loss of identity of a great culture. Those who didn´t left are bleeding today. Those who are outside are bleeding with them.

International phone calls made from Iran are not going through. Social networks on the internet were shut down several times. Even the international correspondants are repressed.

All I know is that this government won´t stop shooting. Stopping it, would mean to admit. Admitting would mean change. Change would mean a loss of power.

The people won´t stop marching and protesting, as with every single body that lost its life through the bloody hands of the government, peoples 30 year old anger turns to rage and their rage will lead to change.

Those young brave people, who are not afraid of loosing their lifes anymore, are the heroes of our generation and deserve international help and support.