Je suis Charlie vs. They are Charlie

Suddenly Charlie is a huge name. And it has nothing to do with the Prince of Wales, Charles Dickens, Charlie Chaplin or other celebrities. We all know. Charlie Hebdo and the attack on Wednesday the 7th of January this year has led to uniform statements en masse: "Je suis Charlie".

Twelve persons were shot to death during the attack on the French satirical newspaper. In far away Nigeria the islamist organisation Boko Haram seems to have slaughtered a couple of thousand civilians the same week. By the way, do we know any suitable Nigerian names?

We have come a long way since the Vietnam War. Perhaps people already then shouted out loud "Je suis Charlie" - or prefered to hiss: "They are Charlie".

In those days Charlie was the nick name which american soldiers applied on communist forces, both Việt Cộng and North Vietnamese.

Then and again humour is just a fistful of peanuts and Charlie is Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Charlie Who?