海角大神

The new hashtag #IAmNotCharlie is gaining social currency on the original tag #JeSuisCharlie 鈥� indicative of an emerging alternative perspective to the initial solidarity tweet.聽

聽Today those who begin to type in the original tag have found the Twitter predictive聽algorithm automatically altering the words 鈥淚 Am鈥� to 鈥淚 Am Not.鈥�

After last week's attack on Charlie Hebdo, Al Jazeera鈥檚 English editor and聽executive producer聽Salah-Aldeen聽Khadr聽sent out a staff-wide e-mail in an effort to shape the coverage of the organization by urging anchors and reporters not to take the Western approach to the massacre at the French satirical magazine, according to the聽.

The London-based Khadr wrote Thursday, an internal e-mail leaked to聽National Review Online urging journalists there to question if this was 鈥渞eally an attack on 鈥榝ree speech鈥欌�� and to discuss whether 鈥淚 Am Charlie鈥� is an 鈥渁lienating slogan.鈥�

鈥淒efending freedom of expression in the face of oppression is one thing; insisting on the right to be obnoxious and offensive just because you can is infantile,鈥� Khadr wrote. 鈥淏aiting extremists isn鈥檛 bravely defiant when your manner of doing so is more significant in offending millions of moderate people as well. And within a climate where violent response 鈥� however illegitimate 鈥� is a real risk, taking a goading stand on a principle virtually no one contests is worse than pointless: it鈥檚 pointlessly all about you.鈥�

Since the leak, which included Al Jazeera journalists bandying the words 鈥淚 am not Charlie鈥� back and forth to each other in an inter-office conflict over Khadr鈥檚 initial email, the new hashtag #IAmNotCharlie has begun to rival #JeSuisCharlieHebdo and #IAmCharlie on Twitter.

Some anti-Charlie posts point out, as did聽, that prior to the attack the Charlie Hebdo brand of satire had little traction in the U.S. or among mainstream news outlets.

While many tweeting under the new counter-tag express abhorrence for the violence committed at the office of Charlie Hebdo, the majority are unified by a common theme of anger and frustration which borders on jealousy over the outpouring of unity for the French 鈥� and point to bombings in Syria, hunger threatens Africa, and Islamaphobia reaching a fever pitch.

Still other posts claim the slogan, meant to convey empathy, promotes racism and bigotry.

Former Charlie Hebdo Cartoonish聽, allegedly fired for anti-Semitism from聽the magazine聽after a comment about the son of French President Nicholas Sarkozy, has also become a central figure in the new hashtag鈥檚 campaign.

One of Al Jazeera鈥檚 Qatar-based correspondents Mohamed Vall Salem, who reported for Al聽Jazeera鈥檚 Arab-language channel before joining its English wing in 2006, wrote:聽

鈥淚 guess if you insult 1.5 billion people chances are one or two of them will kill you,鈥� said Mr. Salem, in one of the leaked emails, according to the National Review. 鈥淎nd I guess if you encourage people to go on insulting 1.5 billion people about their most sacred icons then you just want more killings because as I said in 1.5 billion there will remain some fools who don鈥檛 abide by the laws or know about free speech鈥� [sic].

鈥淲hat Charlie Hebdo did was not free speech it was an abuse of free speech in my opinion, go back to the cartoons and have a look at them!鈥� Salem later wrote. 鈥淚t鈥� snot [sic] about what the drawing said, it was about how they said it. I condemn those heinous killings, but I鈥橫 NOT CHARLIE.鈥�

Included in the leaked email exchanges is apparently a note from former BBC journalist Jacky Rowland, who is now Al Jazeera English鈥檚 senior correspondent in Paris to Salem: 鈥�#journalismsinotacrime.鈥�

National Review also reported another Al Jazeera journalist Omar Al Saleh, a 鈥渞oving reporter鈥� currently on聽聽replied to Ms. Rowland, 鈥淔irst I condemn the brutal killing. But I AM NOT CHARLIE. JOURNALISM IS NOT A CRIME [but] INSULTISM IS NOT JOURNALISM AND NOT DOING JOURNALISM PROPERLY IS A CRIME.鈥�