The Aylan Kurdi Cartoon.

As I think has been mentioned once or twice on New Year's Eve (NYE) the German city of Cologne was subjected to a co-ordinated wave of sex attacks at the hands of those either seeking political asylum (refugee status) or those who had been granted political asylum.

This prompted a little bit of a backlash across the European Union (EU).

In it's latest issue the notorious French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo responded to this with a cartoon that I have attempted to upload. However it's probably best you meet me on Twitter;

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If you don't read French or as is perhaps more likely my upload has failed the cartoon asks what World famous refugee Aylan Kurdi would have become if he'd lived while showing an adult version of him as a sex attacker.

Although challenging this is quite clearly a pro-refugee message. In effect it grabs all those who are claiming that all asylum seekers are rapists by the throat and screams; "What you think he's a rapist too, you c*nt!"

The UK's BBC actually did something similar prior to the Cologne attacks in a satirical show called "Charlie Brooker's 2015 Wipe."

Taking a comedic look at how the British news media had covered the refugee crisis throughout 2015 it pointed out how in the early part of the summer the refugees were largely portrayed as a sinister swarm that was out to destroy Britain. Then the pictures of Aylan Kurdi appeared and like a light-switch being flicked Britain suddenly realised that these refugees were people.

The segment ended with a phrase similar too; "But then the Paris Massacres happened and the refugees went back to being scum."

Unfortunately this Charlie Hebdo cartoon has highlighted another cultural difference between European and Arab societies.

Simply the Arab audience just didn't get it and decided the cartoon was an insult to Aylan Kurdi. This prompted Jordan's Queen Rania to post a similar cartoon. Again I have attempted to show this below;

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This shows Aylan Kurdi growing up to be a doctor and a loving father.

In short it represents Charlie Hebdo's entire f*cking point just with none of the subtly.

The reason why the Arab audience missed the point of this latest Charlie Hebdo cartoon is simply that they're just not that accustomed to satire. That's because the Monarchs and Dictators who've been robbing the region blind for generations really don't like people pointing out their failures and their hypocrisy.

Some have even gone so far as to convince people that this goes against Islam through the ban on images of the Prophet Mohammad.

However with that ban only coming in around 200 years ago as part of the Wahabbist interpretation I happen to think that it's an Arab problem rather than an Islam problem.

For example during last January's march in Paris in response to the Charlie Hebdo attacks as UK journalist - possibly Kay Burley - showed a microphone in the faces of a group of Sufi Muslims and demanded to know what they thought of the magazine's cartoon of the Prophet.

They responded with the sort of blank expression that seemed to say;

"Do your own research. As Muslims we think the attack was just as nuts as everybody else. That's why the Al-Sauds keep trying to kill us."

With intellectualism being a particular bete noir of Recep Tayyip Erdogan it almost goes without saying that the backlash against this latest Charlie Hebdo cartoon has been led by Turkey's Justice & Development Party (AKP). However they've refused to show the cartoon in question so people just have to trust that it is as offensive as Erdogan claims.

The fact that normally rather moderate Jordan has decided to join in with this campaign demonstrates to me how many Arab government's find it easier to attack the west in the name of Islam rather than admit how they've been holding their nations back.

If I was France I would be expecting an immediate apology from Queen Rania.

19:30 on 17/1/16 (UK date).