I started this blog quite a few years ago, i believe in 2009 ... As i mentioned it in one of my first post, it was after 2 guys told me to do so. I obviously enjoyed writing but didn't know how to share it.
I've always tried to keep this blog as "apolitical" as possible. Politics are not my thing. Never were and probably never will be. I just wanted a support where i could express myself freely about very light stuff that either makes me laugh or makes me cry but things that create a strong feeling within myself. And i'd say that so far, so good.
Something terrible happened in France 2 days ago. 2 armed guys rushed into the buildings of a French satirical newspaper called Charlie Hebdo and cold-blooded killed 12 people, harmed 11 more, 4 of which critically. Amongst them, journalists, cartoonists, humorists and a few non-press related people, a cleaning guy, 2 policemen and people who had the misfortune to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Regardless who those people are and how famous they may or may not be, the act itself is horrendous.
An entire nation has since rised in support of what these people (and this newspaper) represented: the freedom of speech.
And with that in mind, it reminded me of the main reason of why i started this blog in the first place.
I was then living in Mexico and working for one of the biggest tour company in the country. We were 700+ employees there and one day, a guy in charge of who knows what suggested that it would be nice to have/make a little internal newspaper. And i immediately thought: fuck yeah. As soon as he asked for volunteers, i signed up for 2 columns. One was interviewing the oldest employees (by oldest i mean the people who were working there the longest, basically since day one ...) and the other one was something i called: "me and ..." and it was kind of a prototype version of what this blog was going to be (so not so much in direct relation with the company but something funny and light-hearted to read)
Well, he probably thought highly of himself since he censored me pretty much from day 1. And i don't like being censored. I don't like censorship in general. There was so many little details he didn't like, i couldn't write what people were telling me in the interviews because it made either Big Boss look bad and/or the company better in its old days than what it was now. So i ended up giving up the interview column after just a few interviews. And for my second column, it was even worse on the censorship when i had the bad idea of writing about Mexico City's insane traffic (he was from there you see).
Anyway, i won't write about this old story again, mainly because i did so already in this amazing post of mine ... but also because a great deal has happened since then and i honestly don't hold grudges for that kind of insignificant things.
Or so i thought.
Ok, grudge is probably a bit over-the-top, but i remember perfectly the feeling i got when he censored me and when he completely modified my text. It was infuriating, it was frustrating and the only thing it made me want to do was to keep on writing to show him that nothing he could do or say could/would stop me. And that's exactly what i did.
As i said earlier, this blog is not very commited. Of course, i do have my opinions on things happening in the world and i sometimes ramble about things and raise my voice pen about it. But given the recent attacks on that newspaper which can be totally said as an attack on our freedom of speech, it reminded me that our greatest power against religious radicalism and extremism is culture. Words are more powerful than any weapon. And as long as there'll be words, then there is still hope for this world to become a better place.
It's been amazing how people have stood united. I believe last time it happened was in 1968. Maybe there's a new revolution in the making. It's about time we stand together against oppression and for our liberties.
France, you kinda make me proud to be one of yours today.
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