I wonder how Prince is reacting to the horrible events that unfolded this week as the world watched in horror.

Prince is a noted francophile or at least you have every reason to think so, but (I know this is going to astound you!) I know zilch about his stays in Nice and Paris.

Charlie, this is worth discussing?

(Just in case, I'm not asking if Prince is Charlie Chaplin, we already know he is. )

[Edited 1/10/15 4:52am]

I would imagine Prince would have an opinion, but I actually would cringe to hear it. Which is a shame. He would probably say some babble about dissing god. Let Prince stick to music.

I think Prince is his real first name. I don't know who Charlie is, unless you are talking about Charlie Brown, Charlie Manson, or Charlie's Angels. Is that slang for something?

^ don't you read papers, or follow the news?

"Je suis Charlie", that's what people are saying and writing everywhere now.

It is Charlie Hebdo, the attack on french cartoonists, wednesday.

Awful attack.

[Edited 1/9/15 16:04pm]

to answer the question:

I don't think Prince cares about politic issues at all,


as a Jehovah witness he is not voting for example?

I don't think he cares about free speech either.

Prince responded to the 9/11 attacks with a beautiful, wordless, purely musical and spiritual mixtape in the form of the next NPG Ahdio Show in September 2001. He's usually not keen on commenting the news, whether political stuff or celebrity gossip, so don't expect him to comment except maybe one day thru a song (the way Crystal Ball commented on the 1986 terrorist attacks and a live jam did on the 1993 WTC bombing and subsequent hunt for Bin Laden). + France is a long way from Minnesota, IDK, I'm French but living in India I can see here how Indians and non-French expats, though commenting on the attacks, aren't nearly as emotionally involved as myself or all my French friends on Facebook. France is having a huge hangover right now. IDK about the rest of the world. The Mumbai Attacks in 08, though horrible, didn't elicit a strong emotional response in France where I lived at the time while all my Indian friends were totally horrified. Only 9/11 had a true global emotional impact I guess.

thedance said:

I don't think Prince cares about politic issues at all,

Listen to his lyrics one more time to be sure.

Arjuna said:

I don't know what ya'll are talkin about

Here is an explanation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Je_suis_Charlie


"Je suis Charlie" (French for "I am Charlie")


is a slogan adopted by supporters of free speech and freedom of expression after the 7 January 2015 massacre in which 12 people were killed at the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France. It identifies a speaker or supporter with those who were killed at the Charlie Hebdo shooting, and by extension, a supporter of freedom of speech and resistance to armed threats. Some journalists embraced the expression as a rallying cry for the freedom of self-expression.[1]


The slogan was first used on Twitter and spread to the Internet at large. The website of Charlie Hebdo went offline shortly after the shooting, and when it returned it bore the legend Je Suis Charlie on a black background.[2] The statement was used as the hashtag #jesuischarlie and #iamcharlie[3] on Twitter,[4] as computer printed or hand-made placards and stickers, and displayed on mobile phones at vigils, and on many websites, particularly media sites. While other symbols were used, notably holding pens in the air, the phrase "Not Afraid", and tweeting certain images, "Je Suis Charlie" is more widespread.

[Edited 1/10/15 2:40am]

The Charlie Hebdo shooting


On 7 January 2015, at about 11:30 CET (10:30 UTC), two masked gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles, a shotgun, and an RPG launcher forced their way into the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. The gunmen fired up to 50 shots with automatic weapons, while shouting "Allahu Akbar", Arabic for "God is great". [...]

from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hebdo_shooting

ok, I get it now.

I make an effort to not watch the news, and haven't for years. I made the mistake of starting to watch it again around August/Sept of last year and pretty much am disgusted but the blatant attempt to manipulate people for no reason other than to create chaos. Stopped watching just before Christmas time. I catch a little bit only because the TV's with all the news channels are positioned right in front of everyone at my gym.

I saw briefly the Paris news, but honestly, did not look at any details other than there was some kind of shooting and that 3 out of four were dead, and one girl on the run. Didn't catch any Charlie talk. sorry.

udo said:

thedance said:

I don't think Prince cares about politic issues at all,

Listen to his lyrics one more time to be sure.

hi Udo,

I think Prince was once a "left wing" (democrat), in his younger days.

"Whoever said that elephants are stronger than mules"... (line in "Paisley Park").

Prince is far more conservative now, "order is ruling in the islamic countries - and I like that" (didn't he once said something like this, a few years back?).

Prince was political, addressing political issues in the 80s, he had "a political awareness" (that is at least what I would like to think he had), but since he became a JW this about politics isn't a subject anymore.

Or am I wrong?

ThomasBjj said:

ThomasBjj said:

ok, I get it now.

I make an effort to not watch the news, and haven't for years. I made the mistake of starting to watch it again around August/Sept of last year and pretty much am disgusted but the blatant attempt to manipulate people for no reason other than to create chaos. Stopped watching just before Christmas time. I catch a little bit only because the TV's with all the news channels are positioned right in front of everyone at my gym.

I saw briefly the Paris news, but honestly, did not look at any details other than there was some kind of shooting and that 3 out of four were dead, and one girl on the run. Didn't catch any Charlie talk. sorry.

I also think the news can be very manipulative but I think it's a bit sad to not be aware of what's going on in the world. I make an effort to read/listen to a number of websites/ television channels including those who glorify what has happened in France. This, I believe, provides me with enough information to make a balanced view without being manipulated by anyone.

As for Prince, I believe that he is a man of peace. I don't believe he would condone what has happened but I believe he would understand (as do I from reading/watching alternative news - please do not take this that I agree with it - jesuischarlie). Actually I think Prince would be wrong to make a public declaration of support as so many other terrorist atrocities are going on in the world day after day that go unreported or get minimal coverage. These are as important as France and should be viewed with equal horror. It saddens me (and I would like to hope Prince) that they are not

Dandroppedadime said:

I would imagine Prince would have an opinion, but I actually would cringe to hear it. Which is a shame. He would probably say some babble about dissing god. Let Prince stick to music.

On most topics, I would agree but on terrorism, Prince seemed to have stayed "normal" politically.

udo said:

thedance said:

I don't think Prince cares about politic issues at all,

Listen to his lyrics one more time to be sure.

I do think and believe that Prince is aware about what's going on in Paris, France; mainly concerning these issues about Press, media..

As an artist, he surely has got a point of view and an interest, as

those who've been murdered were real artists, cartoonists drawing on, and for liberty of expressing freely...

ThomasBjj said:

ok, I get it now.

I make an effort to not watch the news, and haven't for years. I made the mistake of starting to watch it again around August/Sept of last year and pretty much am disgusted but the blatant attempt to manipulate people for no reason other than to create chaos. Stopped watching just before Christmas time. I catch a little bit only because the TV's with all the news channels are positioned right in front of everyone at my gym.

I saw briefly the Paris news, but honestly, did not look at any details other than there was some kind of shooting and that 3 out of four were dead, and one girl on the run. Didn't catch any Charlie talk. sorry.

Might as well break it to you that two giant twin towers collapsed after being hit by planes flown by terrorists a couple of years ago. It was the biggest thing since the huge war against the guy with the funny moustache.

ganesh said:

udo said:

Listen to his lyrics one more time to be sure.

I do think and believe that Prince is aware about what's going on in Paris, France; mainly concerning these issues about Press, media..

As an artist, he surely has got a point of view and an interest, as

those who've been murdered were real artists, cartoonists drawing on, and for liberty of expressing freely...

Except the staff at Charlie Hebdo weren't allowed to express freely. One of their staff was sacked in 2009 for a cartoon regarding President Sarkosy's son marriage to a Jewish girl. It seems that free speech wasn't allowed to prevail in this instance yet was allowed when mocking the prophet Mohammed (or the pope, or many other religious leaders). Hypocrisy, I'm afraid, didn't help these cartoonists one little bit.

maplenpg said:

ganesh said:

I do think and believe that Prince is aware about what's going on in Paris, France; mainly concerning these issues about Press, media..

As an artist, he surely has got a point of view and an interest, as

those who've been murdered were real artists, cartoonists drawing on, and for liberty of expressing freely...

Except the staff at Charlie Hebdo weren't allowed to express freely. One of their staff was sacked in 2009 for a cartoon regarding President Sarkosy's son marriage to a Jewish girl. It seems that free speech wasn't allowed to prevail in this instance yet was allowed when mocking the prophet Mohammed (or the pope, or many other religious leaders). Hypocrisy, I'm afraid, didn't help these cartoonists one little bit.

No matter where you draw the line on free speech, no one should die for having exercised it. Sacking someone can't be compared to coldly executing people who offended someone or a group.

thedance said:

Prince was political, addressing political issues in the 80s, he had "a political awareness" (that is at least what I would like to think he had), but since he became a JW this about politics isn't a subject anymore.

Check Act of God.

There might be more.

Aerogram said:

No matter where you draw the line on free speech, no one should die for having exercised it.

Duh.

But being Charlie does not help.

It is about a big change in policies.

Foreign policy. (the US version of it is evil and there's too many stupid vassals)

Immigration policy. (too many too quickly)

Bugettary policy. (no more deficit so we can take better care of the people)

Etc.

But that we do no understand.

We do our marches, we cry, we complain.

And live our lives.

We let them tike our rights, freedoms and privacy as a response to Charlie.

Same as after 2001.

udo said:

Aerogram said:

No matter where you draw the line on free speech, no one should die for having exercised it.

Duh.

But being Charlie does not help.

It is about a big change in policies.

Foreign policy. (the US version of it is evil and there's too many stupid vassals)

Immigration policy. (too many too quickly)

Bugettary policy. (no more deficit so we can take better care of the people)

Etc.

But that we do no understand.

We do our marches, we cry, we complain.

And live our lives.

We let them tike our rights, freedoms and privacy as a response to Charlie.

Same as after 2001.

"Je suis Charlie" means "I won't be silenced by fear", so we can continue to exercise our freedom of speech as you are doing on this thread.

Long ago, some bright people decided it would be more civilized to solve things by dialogue rather than through violent means, and debate was born. There can be no debate wihtout the right to expression and that is what "Je suis Charlie" is about.

Out of respect for my cousins across the pond and their grief, I wish you "une excellente journée ou soirée, c'est selon".

Xenophobia

Dandroppedadime said:

I would imagine Prince would have an opinion, but I actually would cringe to hear it. Which is a shame. He would probably say some babble about dissing god. Let Prince stick to music.

Unfortunately, I suspect the same.

thedance said:

Prince is far more conservative now, "order is ruling in the islamic countries - and I like that" (didn't he once said something like this, a few years back?).

Prince was political, addressing political issues in the 80s, he had "a political awareness" (that is at least what I would like to think he had), but since he became a JW this about politics isn't a subject anymore.

Or am I wrong?

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2011/06/25/prince-you-wear-a-burqa-theres-no-choice-people-are-happy-with-that/

Arjuna said:

I don't know what ya'll are talkin about BUT, seriously?

Been under a rock for the past week?