#JeSuisCharlie? No, I'm Really Not Quite Charlie Hebdo: Here's Why Sandip Roy - First Post
go to original January 13, 2015

Nothing - no cartoon, no book, no song – justifies the kind of shooting rampage that happened in Paris. As Hassen Chalghoumi, the imam of Drancy mosque in Paris says, “These are criminals, barbarians. They have sold their souls to hell.”

And he is not talking about the cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo. He is talking about those who mowed them down and fled.

But the spontaneous outpouring of the #JeSuisCharlie hashtags also elides over the really thorny issue of free speech. While we want free speech to be absolute, in the real world, it is not. And even as we stand with Charlie Hebdo we cannot pretend not to understand that.



The first cover of Charlie Hebdo since the deadly Jan. 7 attack that left 12 dead is here, and it's a doozy. Liberation reports that the French satirical newspaper's "survivor issue" cover will feature an image of the Prophet Muhammad holding a "Je Suis Charlie" sign, along with the words "tout est pardonne," or "all is forgiven." (Luz/Charlie Hebdo)

...In reality, some of Charlie Hebdo’s most offensive cartoons would not be published in most parts of the world. Few media outlets would print a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad crouched on all fours with his genitals bared or show the Father, Son and Holy Ghost sodomizing each other. For that matter, most will balk at a cartoon like the one Onion put out showing a Lord Ganesha, Jesus, Moses, and Buddha all naked with erect phalluses having an orgy in the clouds? Now, that’s being equal opportunity offenders but that remains way outside the pale for most of the world. Anyway, in a freedom of expression absolute, it should not matter if you are an equal opportunity offender or a one-sided offender.

Let’s make no mistake - these cartoons are offensive to most people. And they are meant to be that way. They exist almost as a way to test freedom of expression to its limits rather than to make a satirical point. “This is the hardest part, the murder of the satirists in question does not prove that their satire was good,” writes Canfield. “Their satire was bad, and remains bad. Their satire was racist and remains racist.”

But that does not mean they deserved it. Not at all. The true mettle of freedom of expression is always tested against what we consider offensive or hateful or repugnant. That’s where the protection of freedom of expression actually means something.

Read the whole article at New America Media

Wednesday's edition of Charlie Hebdo will 'naturally' contain cartoons of Prophet Mohammed after Paris shootings and "Je Suis Charlies" movement, the magazine's lawyer has announced. (The Telegraph)

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