"不敬"精神纔是自由的命脈
The murder of satire is no laughing matter. The horrifying carnage at Charlie Hebdo is a reminder, if ever we needed it, that irreverence is the lifeblood of freedom. I suppose it is some sort of backhanded compliment that the monsters behind the slaughter are so fearful of the lance of mirth that the only voice they have to muffle it is the sound of bullets. Magazines such as Charlie Hebdo are in the business of taking liberties, even outrageous ones, but they exist so that we never take the gift of disrespect for granted.
對諷刺藝術的扼殺是件需要嚴肅對待的事。發生在《查理週刊》(Charlie Hebdo)的這場恐怖屠殺提醒我們（如果我們需要提醒的話）：“不敬”是自由的命脈。執行這場殺戮的惡魔對歡笑的長矛是如此恐懼，以至於他們只能用槍聲代替話語，以求封殺這種歡笑，我認爲這是種間接的誇讚。《查理週刊》這樣的雜誌以無禮的（甚至是放肆的）嘲弄爲主業，但他們存在的價值，就在於使我們永遠不會想當然地對待“不敬”這份禮物。
Liberty and laughter have been twinned in the European tradition for more than three centuries and have together proclaimed as precious the right to ridicule. Graphic satire first arose as a weapon in the atrocious and prolonged religious wars that divided Catholics and Protestants. For Protestants the printing press was the answer to the imagery of the Roman church by which, as they saw it, heretics and sceptics were brought to book. So they invented an anti-iconography in which popes were turned into fantastic monsters, and kings into ministers of slaughter. The Dutch, who invented the illustrated news gazette in the middle of the 17th century, saw themselves as the victims of religious fury. Their graphic counter-attack began with popular illustrated histories of their rebellion against the Spanish monarchy — with the Duke of Alva their favourite bogeyman. It broadened into a regular weapon of partisan polemics inside the Republic as well as against foreign threats to “Holland’s Freedom”.
三個多世紀來，自由與歡笑在歐洲傳統裏一直成雙成對，一起被宣稱爲嘲諷的珍貴權利。諷刺漫畫首次作爲武器出現，是在天主教徒與新教徒之間殘酷而曠日持久的宗教戰爭時期。對新教徒來說，印刷機是對他們眼中羅馬教會利用繪畫來迫害異教徒和懷疑者的回答。於是他們發明了一種反肖像，將教皇畫成虛構的惡魔，而國王成了殺戮執行者。自視爲宗教憤怒受害者的荷蘭人在17世紀中葉發明了新聞畫報。他們的漫畫反擊戰起從流行的歷史漫畫開始，主題是荷蘭人抗擊西班牙王室，而阿爾瓦公爵(Duke of Alva)是他們最喜歡描繪的反面人物。隨後攻擊對象拓寬，新聞畫報既被用來抵禦“荷蘭的自由”所面臨的外來威脅，也成了共和國各黨派論戰的常用武器。The first great modern graphic satirist was Romeyn de Hooghe, enlisted by William III at the end of the 17th century in his relentless war to the death with Louis XIV. De Hooghe obliged with sprawling cartoons representing the wars against the French monarch and his allies as a battle between liberty and religious despotism. The satirists again saw themselves leading the cavalry charge against the bigots. And it was in the interests of the Protestant states to let them off the leash.
第一位偉大的現代諷刺漫畫藝術家是羅曼•德霍夫(Romeyn de Hooghe)。17世紀末威廉三世(William III)與他的死敵路易十四(Louis XIV)進行一場殘酷的戰爭時，招攬了德霍夫。德霍夫受命創作出大量漫畫，將威廉三世與法國國王和其盟友之間的這場戰爭描繪爲自由與宗教專制之間的戰鬥。諷刺漫畫家們再次視自己爲引領着騎兵隊衝向宗教盲從者們的先鋒隊。而放手讓他們創作符合新教國家利益。
The golden age of no-holds-barred graphic satire in the 18th century arose on the tomb of religious warfare. But it was also made possible, in Britain especially, by the space opened when no one political force or institution could command a monopoly of power. Though the Whigs — grandees — dominated government for much of the century, it was never to the total exclusion of opposition, and as with all oligarchies, factions arose, each of which turned to the caricaturists to puncture the pretensions of their enemies, expose their hypocrisies, and bring down the mighty in a gale of scornful hilarity.
18世紀，無拘無束的諷刺漫畫在宗教戰爭的墳冢上改頭換面，迎來黃金時代。但這一黃金時代之所以能夠到來，還有一個原因是（就英國而言尤其如此）：沒有哪一種政治勢力或機構能夠壟斷權力。儘管代表權貴的輝格黨(Whigs)在18世紀的大部分時間裏主導政府，但它始終沒有完全把反對黨趕出政治舞臺，而且如寡頭政治一貫的情況那樣，派系出現了，各個派系都訴諸諷刺漫畫來戳穿敵對派系的僞裝，揭露他們的虛僞，在一片歡笑的譏諷中將位高權重者拉下臺。Thus it fell to the British to reinvent politics as comedy, and they went at it, on stage and in print, with a ferocious energy that has never been surpassed. Even now in the US, the enemy of democracy — after the poison of money — is reverence; with satire penned into the safe fold of late-night television.
於是，以喜劇形式重新解讀政治的任務落在了英國人肩上，他們努力不辱使命，在舞臺上，在書刊中，他們奉獻出了從未被超越的熱情。即便是在如今的美國，民主的敵人——除了金錢的毒化以外——仍然是敬畏權勢；諷刺電視節目被侷限於安全的午夜檔圍欄中。But in the great age of graphic attack politics there was nowhere to run to and no great institution or person was safe from the barbs of comedy. The Church of England; dissenters such as the Methodists; the Bank of England; leading politicians and the royal family itself were all fair game.
但在那個以漫畫爲政治攻擊武器的偉大時代，沒有地方可以讓你躲過攻擊，沒有哪個偉大的機構或人物能夠免受喜劇作品的譏諷。英國國教會(Church of England)、衛理公會教徒等非英國國教信徒、英國央行(Bank of England)、政治要人、以及皇室家庭，都是可攻擊的對象。Satire became the oxygen of politics, ventilating healthy howls of derision in coffee houses and taverns where caricatures circulated every day and every week. James Gillray, the greatest of all the caricaturists, was in such demand that Hannah Humphrey, his publisher, would rent out entire albums of his choicest items for a night’s or a weekend’s entertainment. Good fun was to be had by all perusing images: a grossly bloated Prince of Wales recovering from a night’s dissipation; William Pitt, prime minister, as a toadstool growing out of a dunghill; or a cartoon of Queen Charlotte, pendulous breasts nakedly exposed, holding at bay the prime minister and the Lord Chancellor.
諷刺成爲了政治的氧氣，有了它，纔有了咖啡館和酒館中生氣勃勃的嘲諷，在那些地方，人們每天、每週都在傳閱各種諷刺漫畫。最偉大的諷刺漫畫家詹姆斯•吉爾雷(James Gillray)當年是如此受歡迎，以至於他的出版人漢娜•漢弗萊(Hannah Humphrey)會把他的全套精選作品集出租一個晚上或一個週末，供人們娛樂。一幅幅漫畫爲人們帶來過無數歡樂：從徹夜狂歡中回過神來的大腹便便的威爾士王子(Prince of Wales)；首相威廉•皮特(William Pitt)化身毒蘑菇，插在一坨糞中；夏洛特女王(Queen Charlotte)裸露着下垂的乳房，與首相和大法官保持安全距離。Gillray was arrested only once — for a cartoon of politicians kissing the bottom of a royal newborn — and never imprisoned. Whatever the liberties he took, no harm befell him. The great tradition of ridicule passed to heirs in Britain, then to America and Europe: to Daumier and Cruikshank; the begetters of Krokodil and Private Eye, Spitting Image and Canard Enchainé as well as Charlie Hebdo.
吉爾雷只被逮捕過一次，是因爲一幅政客們親吻皇室新生兒屁股的漫畫；他從未被投入監獄。無論他如何無禮，傷害從未降臨他頭上。諷刺的偉大傳統在英國一代代流傳，然後又傳到了美國和歐洲大陸：克魯克香克(Cruikshank)和杜米埃(Daumier)；《鱷魚》雜誌(Krokodil)、《偵探》雜誌(Private Eye)、模仿秀Spitting Image、《鴨鳴報》(Canard Enchainé)、以及《查理週刊》的主辦者，都是這種傳統的傳人。Yesterday there was a bloody attempt to wipe the smile from our faces. But though the self-righteous have killed the satirists they will never annihilate satire itself. Just the opposite. From now on, Charlie Hebdo will be the rallying point for all those who cherish life and laughter over the death cult of sanctimonious gloom. So we owe it to the fallen to remind ourselves, amid the blood, grief and rage, that just because the unhinged perpetrators are murderers does not mean they are also not clowns.
本週三，有人試圖通過血腥暴力來抹掉我們臉上的笑容。但是，儘管那些自以爲替天行道的槍手殺害了諷刺漫畫家，但他們永遠不可能消滅諷刺藝術本身。恰恰相反，從現在開始，《查理週刊》將成爲所有珍愛生命和歡笑、厭惡那種信奉死亡和僞善之邪教的人們的旗幟。因此，爲了讓逝者不白白死去，我們也應該在眼下血腥、悲痛和憤怒的氛圍中提醒自己，僅僅因爲那些瘋狂的行兇者殺了人，並不意味着他們就不是小丑。
