When the terrorist attack happened in France, the whole world united.  Politicians, butchers and bakers alike all gathered arm in arm in the streets posting signs and exclaiming "Je suis Charlie."  It was a no-brainer right? After all, it was us against the terrorists.

This blog will be my last for Gotham.  After I don't know how many years of exploring, debating. annoying, challenging, exposing and revealing, I have decided to move on from this vehicle of expression.  There have been more than a couple folks who over the years have wanted me to be prevented from doing what I tried my best to do with a clean and kind heart.  I often felt over the years that this was not necessarily the right venue to have people's opinions, ideas and sensitivities challenged the way I took pride in doing.  Occasionally someone would suggest that my ideas were the result of a devil's advocate strategy, but I assure you that was never the case.  I just very often see things very differently from others.  I detest following the crowd simply because it is easier or more accepted.  Even more so, I despise when people take an elitist stance on an issue where not only does such a stance not solve the problem, but often such a position prevents the problems from really being solved (such as race).

Sometimes challenging such accepted stances and ways of thinking can truly create anger, tension and even pain.  While I feel such challenges are important in life for our advancement, I don't believe that Gotham is the right place for such conflict.  Even in situations where I feel adamant that I am/was right and others are/were clearly wrong. even when I was able to debate and engage in a friendly and respectful manner, I felt increasingly like the Gotham environment that is designed for business and social advancement was not the place for people to be forced to have their sensibilities challenged.  In a perfect world, everyone would engage my discussions with the same thirst for respect, fairness and development that I tried to foster.  This is not a perfect world and I am confident that this is not the right forum for my controversial thought expeditions.  I will seek to develop a better venue for my expressions and discussions.

I want to thank Fred for always having my back as well as for challenging me to continue to provide diversity into what was sometimes a hostile environment.  I want to thank those that did engage in such spirited and fair debate, both in support of me and battling against me.  While there were some harrowing times, for the most part it was an enriching experience from which I learned an incredible amount (both about myself and about the topics we discussed).  Most importantly, I want to thank those people that would occasionally drop me a personal message, aside from the public forum of the blog.  There were times where it was extremely helpful to know that either someone agreed with me, that they looked forward to my opinion on a topic, or even that they found value in the manner in which I made them think differently.  To a writer I can't imagine any greater compliment.

People celebrated the idea that Charlie Hebdo was a hero organization because of their satirical attacks against fundamentalist Islam.  I have no interest in debating that topic, particularly on my way out the door.  I will question, though, how many people in this country, in particular many of those who wanted so desperately to be like George Clooney, who so proudly proclaimed "Je Suis Charlie," truly care about defending the concept of freedom of expression.  In fact, in this country, in this day and age, more people are like the terrorists than they are "comme Charlie."  Charlie Hebdo literally risked their lives in order to express their thoughts and ideas.  The terrorists went to great lengths to destroy them for their expressions of thought that they so vehemently disagreed with.  Sadly, there are many in this country, in particular on the far left and far right, who act similarly when they hear something they don't like or find offensive to their sensibilities.  Of course they aren't going to kill people for their ideas, but who is to say that is where the line is drawn on the tyranny scale.  If you seek to stop someone (or the masses) from expressing an opinion that you don't like by hurting them, emotionally, financially, by getting them fired, by destroying their reputation...Êtes-vous vraiment Charlie? When we hear something we don't like, that offends us, we have no reservation about unleashing hate.  We feel justified in attacking and trying to find whatever way we can enact punishment until we feel better.

We all lament the radical polarization of our country, but I would beg the question, are most of us victims of society's polarization or perpetrators?

Once again, thank you to everyone who had the confidence, courage and curiosity to challenge how they think.  It was interesting :)

Au revoir!