RIP Freedom of Speech

This week's awful events in Paris marked a sad time for free speech everywhere as 12 people were killed in a terror gun attack on French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, because it repeatedly published cartoon images of the Prophet Muhammed.

Editor and chief cartoonist, Stéphane Charbonnier, cartoonists Jean Cabut, Georges Wolinski, Bernard Verlhac and Philippe Honoré, economist and writer Bernard Maris, Michel Renaud, Elsa Cayat, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Frederic Boisseau, copy editor Mustapha Ourrad and police officers Ahmed Merabet and Franck Brinsolaro were all killed in the massacre for daring to express and for daring to try and stop them.

Freedom of speech is described in the Oxford dictionary as "The right to express any opinions without censorship or restraint." What happened in Paris shows us this is exactly not the case. In fact, what happens in the world, in everyday life, shows us that 'the right to express any opinions without censorship or restraint' no longer exists.

In fact, there have been many occasions when I've been writing here or posting things on Facebook, when I stop and remove sentences or don't put up pictures for fear of retribution or a backlash. I ask the other half to read through my blog posts before I publish them in case they contain anything 'controversial' or anything which could offend anyone.

Whether it's at work or in the home, with friends or acquaintances, we're always so careful - careful of not causing controversy with what we say, careful not to offend anyone, to say things which could make one 'look bad' or 'be talked about'. Of course, the choice to be careful and not offend should also be there - but if one chooses not to be, there shouldn't be a fear of retribution or a backlash.

So does free speech really exist or are we just kidding ourselves? I've been told, more than once, to 'be careful' of what I post up on my Facebook page 'in case people see it and talk about it' - and I'm a nobody in some house in a city writing a tiny blog and posting on a Facebook wall with a small percentage of people looking at it! What hope did a magazine like Charlie Hebdo have? It had already had its headquarters firebombed in 2011 and Stéphane Charbonnier was living under police protection following death threats.

The attack was a the ultimate price to pay for the freedom of speech - though I see daily that free speech only exists when it's convenient for those in power - they use it to 'only express opinions' and 'teach you the right way', but when it's turned around, suddenly, it's an 'insult' or 'offensive' and makes you look terrible for saying it.

True freedom of speech will only really start to exist when we stop condemning each other for free speech. When people stop dying needlessly, like the 12 who did in Paris, for expression.

'Je Suis Charlie' - 'I am Charlie'. Yes, I am. So are we all. Because true freedom of speech doesn't really exist anymore. The victims of the massacre are testament to that.

RIP.