About Charlie Hebdo, Briefly

If an American magazine made similar ‘jokes’ about Jews or Christians or black people we’d be up in arms. However, in a free society we allow people to say stupid and hurtful things. I like it that way.

charlie-hebdo-s-est-deja-attire-les-foudresWhat a godawful tragedy in Paris. Horrible.

And to justify murder by saying you’re defending God? Seriously, isn’t God capable of dealing with this on her own?

Charlie Hedbo has been called a satire magazine. Maybe so. One man’s satire is another man’s hate speech. Some of their cartoons were definitely hateful, others patently racist.

If an American magazine made similar ‘jokes’ about Jews or Christians or black people we’d be up in arms. However, in a free society we allow people to say stupid and hurtful things. I like it that way.

Free speech has limits. You can’t yell “Fire” in a crowded movie theater. Most everything else is OK.

I wish Charlie Hebdo hadn’t tweaked the Muslim community as they did. Some of their satire was mean spirited. That was their choice. It is a right afforded to all in France, as it is in the US. It doesn’t come close to justifying what happened in Paris yesterday.

To radical Islamists, non-believers are infidels. Asking them to respect the beliefs of others is a non-starter. Reasoning isn’t an effective strategy. I don’t know what is.

Free speech isn’t needed to protect popular ideas. Free speech is there for the outliers. Even if I found some of Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons offensive (and I did), I still defend their right to publish them.

This is all so senseless. What has been accomplished? When will it end?

Je suis Charlie.

One thought on “About Charlie Hebdo, Briefly”

  1. I agree – after no shouting “fire” in a theatre – there should be total free speech – but – UNFORTUNATELY – there isn’t ESPECIALLY – here in AMERICA. CASE IN POINT: When someone reports “wrong doing’ on internet or anywhere for that matter, litigation follows suit – WRONG! Defamation of character is that when someone defames oneself – he/she – has done it to himself/herself – not messenger of it. Yet, lawyers will make BIG BUCKS getting perpetrators of ill-will for themselves to take the messenger to court. AGAIN – WRONG! Where’s theres smoke – there’s FIRE! Freedom of speech is everyone’s right to say what’s on one’s mind – pure and simple – & if baseless/groundless – it will freely talk about itself in time – NOT – through courts.

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