Adam Wall

Offend

 

 

            This week terror has struck Paris. Two terrorists invaded and killed 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo headquarters. Read more about it here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hebdo_shooting). Although it is only speculation, the motive seems quite clear; Charlie Hebdo is a satire newspaper that pokes fun at politics and a lot of problems around the world, specifically the Islam religion. These Islamic radicals probably attacked Charlie Hebdo due to the fact that the people in charge, specifically cartoonists were making fun of Muhammad by drawing pictures of him and making fun of the Islamic religion as a whole.

 

            Support for Charlie Hebdo is extremely strong and people around the world are standing up for the cause. “Je Suis Charlie” or I am Charlie is the slogan used worldwide to promote freedom of speech and freedom of expression, whether it is through cartoons or some other media form. Cartoonists around the world are creating strips such as these (http://www.thedrum.com/uploads/news/tmp/10557/banksy.jpg) to support Charlie Hebdo.

 

            Let’s talk about satire in the media and in general. Charile Hebdo uses satire through comics and other articles; it is very popular in France. If done right it can be extremely funny. IN American, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report are examples of satire media and are also extremely popular. Satire media is a double edged sword though, most of the time it is extremely funny and a lot of people like it but if you cross the line, which is undefined, there is no going back. You can offend a lot of people, specifically in this case, Muslims. But you can offend everyone, and I am in no way defending the people who did this horrible act of terror. It was a sad day and the criminals are monsters. Also, these people, the cartoonists, the writers, have the right to write what they want and express what they want.  I just can’t get over the fact that you are hurting a lot of other people that don’t deserve it. Sure it’s all a joke and people need to grow some tougher skin, but satire is something you have to be careful with especially if you’re getting extremely offensive.

 

            Cultures are also very different around the world. Different cultures find different things humorous. For the Germans, its nothing, for Americans, its immature jokes, it is different for every culture. What we might thing is offensive, another group thinks its hilarious, comedy is like food, different every where you go. In this case, I don’t think the French find this humor at all offensive while places like Saudi Arabia or anywhere in the middle east for that matter would find something like this such a terrible sin and that they should be punished. Cultures are different and that’s probably why these Muslims radicals attacked. But these people shouldn’t be punished. “I am Charlie”.