Upon first seeing the picture of a downtrodden Charlie Brown looking more bewildered than usual, My initial reaction told me he was finally, completely and utterly fed up and done with society and its dramatic inconsistencies. My reaction has not changed, but it has been reinforced after reading the title associated with the picture and reading the current events it quietly represents.

The picture seems to, in its own way, promote a classic household rule among siblings. Actually, it supports the reasoning behind a reaction to an event among siblings that is only used by one who seeks to avoid further confrontation. When I was younger, We had a rule that if one sibling hit another, the one who had been given the attack had exclusive rights to return the favor. After a while, I learned that reacting in my free gift of revenge and hitting back, I would only make matters worse. So, I stopped using my exclusive right to punch back. After receiving the hit from the sibling I would sit there quietly as if nothing had happened. I was now faced with a new problem, I could not express my obviously divinely inspired perfect understanding of the issue’s solution that had caused the problem in the first place. Firing back verbally to the assault would create nearly the same issue as hitting back. Eventually I developed the ability to not react or respond, but only sit there looking completely defeated, which gave me an edge when the adults came to fix the confrontation. My opinion on all the current events and protests resembles my opinion of siblings arguing. In the case of Charlie Hebdo, as blunt and brutal as it is, from my understanding of the situation, it was something he nearly asked for. I have heard it said, that those who live by the sword will also die by the sword. In today’s apparently very artistic society, many will say that the pen is a sword in its own way. The Charlie Hebdo issue was a result of one party swinging a sword and taunting another one, expecting no retaliation to come of the “what are you going to do about it?” Type of message being flaunted. The sword was swung, and met by a mace that intended on silences the message of the sword that offended it. The picture of the solemn and downtrodden Charlie Brown, depicts the further actions of the more mature fighting sibling. Meanwhile the message,”I Am Charlie” says something completely different from the image it seems to be trying to support. The text almost screams “protest, complain, rant”. All I can think of when reading the text and recalling those who walk the streets and chant them, is how fleeting the issue is in the minds of those pushing its reformation. Protests come and go throughout history, bad things happen, tragic things, yet the world continues on in the end as if nothing has happened. The soul and motivating efforts seen in the protestors and sympathizers, just forces me to remember just how quick they will forget, and move on. The text and the image clash, by my interpretation. The image is the solemn yet conflict reducing reaction an attacked sibling should have to end an issue quickly and live life. The text says the sibling should be feeling deprived of divinely granted rights and screaming out into the crowd that it has been wronged.

The cartoonist intended to subtly push an agenda pre-plotted and emotionally driven. The designer is the current events themselves that surrounded the cartoonists mind as he drew. The instructors intent could be arousal, debate and argument. The only reason to place political issues in front of already hormonally impatient and shallow college groups is to promote the life blood of argument. An individual, given time can think much more rationally than a group of individuals. My reaction is spurred on by a frustration with people as groups who do not truly think for themselves, and only put forth effort when they want to feel included in something society sees as important and worth their precious and fleeting time on this earth. I come from a Christian home full of people who constantly push knowing information for yourself and understanding it for yourself, not just taking it and holding it because the rest of the trusted group is doing so.
My reaction is not defensive, only frustrated for some reason. Because of the meaninglessness of all the efforts of all the parties involved in the events eluded to.

(typed on Pages the app, on an iPhone. In the middle of nowhere…stranded….that’s dedication.

REWRITE:

Charlie Brown has a few facial expressions he uses on a regular basis. Whenever Brown is called a “blockhead”, he develops a sort of frown. The frown seems to be one of a self controlled anger that is purposely suppressed. Absorbing the jabbing infarctions one by one over the course of his cartoon life could lead to a change in countenance.   Just like the chronological pictures of Abraham Lincoln changing facially over time. I also thought of the quirky and cliche emotional baggage Charlie Brown must also have carried into his un-documented years of adulthood. My original interoperation of the image was bewilderment. Knowing that the image was created as a commemoration of the creator of Charlie Brown adds to the recipe, a new angle. In light of the Charlie Hebdo event, to see “I am Charlie” next to the image, clearly this is a commemoration of the artist who was by taunt and jab, almost inevitably silenced. (Much shorter and less bloated than the original)