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January 21, 2015
In 1981, after he was shot by John Hinckley, Jr., President Reagan supposedly quipped to his surgeon “I hope you’re a Republican.” As the story goes, the head surgeon replied on behalf of his team, “today, Mr. President, we’re all Republicans.”
We have a human habit of expressing sympathy and solidarity this way, a way that crosses national boundaries. Nowadays, it comes in a hashtag. #IamTrayvon. #IamMikeBrown. #Icantbreathe. Le Monde’s headline the day after 9/11 was “Nous Sommes Tous Américains.” We are all Americans. Identification is a key element of empathy.
But #JeSuisCharlie? Non, amongst my purportedly free-thinking, progressive Facebook friends. “Je Ne Suis Pas Charlie” was the most popular view in post, blog, and comment on my feed. One friend wrote “Grieve the dozen people killed, but recognize they trolled with their work and trolled hard.” Links to numerous blogs that proclaim exactly this sentiment are liked and shared (“killing is horrible, but Charlie is an offensive and racist magazine that marginalized the already downtrodden in French society, and therefore they deserve criticism now more than praise or solidarity”), but posts that marvel at the millions marching in Paris, or defending the use of satire and free speech—these are essentially shunned and ignored. The route to popularity in my Facebook world is to agree that the worst crime is not murder, but anything that smacks of racism, even if we don’t understand its message. One Charlie cartoon, of pregnant Boko Haram captives was interpreted to be racist, poking fun at “welfare queens”. A French source wrote that actually, the image was making fun of right-wing stereotypes of Blacks, a more subtle point. Thus cultural nuance is lost, and the French satirist becomes our Facebook enemy.
Whereas to me, “Je Ne Suis Pas Charlie” almost like saying Newtown was awful — but elementary schools and their kids are not all they’re cracked up to be.
Far more people “like” posts that proclaim “we must have free speech, but I support only kind speech”, than those that raise the banner of free speech without complications. I found myself wishing for a “throwback Thursday” for these people who have declared themselves for kindness, and yet in living memory wrote comments that would be sure to offend their opponents. What cartoon would Charlie have published about this? Possibly a man wrapping himself in a flag that declared “I’m right and you’re wrong!” Meanwhile, he has a blindfold on, his fly is open, and just to make it really offensive, his penis is hanging out. Hypocrisy, in other words. Or decrying the mote in their brother’s eye without even examining the plank in their own, to use the words of a certain, usually celebrated, sometimes mocked, religious figure who had a way with humor himself, and certainly offended a few in his day.
Is my Facebook a beloved or benighted community? The truth is, it’s complicated; perhaps it’s not a community at all. My online group is, by and large, deeply affected and traumatized by racism, sexism, homophobia and all manner of marginalization. The wounds are raw, and the stance against power structures understandably reflexive and intense. The stance is also analytical, and critical of anything perceived to be the “dominant narrative”. This naturally produces a dominant narrative of its own within the community. One friend wrote that he hoped that social and political theorists would write more about how satire actually defends the powerful, the message of a New York Times Opinion piece. I wondered if he was thinking also of The Daily Show, Hari Kondabolu, or any of a number of comedians who seem to skewer the powerful regularly. I also wrote, “Oh yes, social and political theorists criticizing humor—that will be really funny.” He did not “like” my comment.
Facebook is probably more of an opinion-booster than a community-creator, especially in times of controversy and conflict. Community is created with shared sacrifice, shared activity and real-life presence. It allows for difference and even cherishes it. In real life, we can disagree and come away better friends, grateful for learning from our differences. On Facebook, we shun those we disagree with, effectively exiling them. We like people who agree with us, who back up our anger with theirs.
We are, in fact, hard-wired for this. The hot-tempered amygdala, at the center of our fight-or-flight survival response, is the fastest acting part of our brain—and anger is the most viral emotion on the internet. Thus, the amygdala is our most popular unseen friend and agent provocateur (to tip my hat to the French lexicon again) in the online social network. Face-to-face relationships can override these synapses, and lead to profound experiences of connection, even with one’s “enemies”. But I worry that our increasing focus on online communication will only split us into opinion-silos that reinforce our biases and further our polarization and division, a polarization which has doubled over the last two decades according to the Pew Research Center. Thus the social network will be the undoing of our society.
Though it’s not popular to say it on my Facebook feed, Je Suis Charlie, and so are my friends, though they won’t admit it. We have all offended somebody in our thoughts, words and deeds, sometimes quite consciously, and this unites us with the satirists that some of us decry. If we are honest with ourselves, we know we have even wished others dead when they threaten or offend us. But few of us have actually acted on that impulse. We should draw the line there, and not quibble over particulars.
Je Suis Charlie, and so are you.
(By the way, after realizing how attached we all become to opinion and argument online, counter to my Buddhist aspirations, and after experiencing a remarkable lack of support for my perspective, I decided to deactivate my Facebook account last week. So far — so free!)
© 2015 Ravi Chandra, M.D. All rights reserved.
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