I have been watching the news daily ever since
gunmen have attacked the offices of French
magazine "Charlie Hebdo," in Paris, killing 12
people including the Editor.

Most of us know the details surrounding this action so I
shan't repeat them here. However, what I would
like to discuss is - the concept of "Freedom
of Speech." BTW - I am for "Freedom of Speech,"
and for not being silenced by the actions of
extremists. From news reports coming out of Paris,
there are however some people who feel that the editor
of the satirical magazine should not have poured
oil onto the fire by deliberately knowing that his
actions would provoke an extremist reaction. I would
like to see what others here think - did the Editor
go too far. I don't think so, but then that's only
my opinion. What's yours?

Foxy,

I posted this on an articles thread on the same subject.

http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2015/01/slavoj-i-ek-charlie-hebdo-massacre-are-worst-really-full-passionate-intensity

Slavoj Žižek on the Charlie Hebdo massacre: Are the worst really full of passionate intensity?

Bringing up the case of Salman Rushdie...

" Now, when we are all in a state of shock after the killing spree in the Charlie Hebdo offices, it is the right moment to gather the courage to think. We should, of course, unambiguously condemn the killings as an attack on the very substance our freedoms, and condemn them without any hidden caveats (in the style of "Charlie Hebdo was nonetheless provoking and humiliating the Muslims too much"). But such pathos of universal solidarity is not enough – we should think further.

Such thinking has nothing whatsoever to do with the cheap relativisation of the crime (the mantra of "who are we in the West, perpetrators of terrible massacres in the Third World, to condemn such acts"). It has even less to do with the pathological fear of many Western liberal Leftists to be guilty of Islamophobia. For these false Leftists, any critique of Islam is denounced as an expression of Western Islamophobia; Salman Rushdie was denounced for unnecessarily provoking Muslims and thus (partially, at least) responsible for the fatwa condemning him to death, etc. The result of such stance is what one can expect in such cases: the more the Western liberal Leftists probe into their guilt, the more they are accused by Muslim fundamentalists of being hypocrites who try to conceal their hatred of Islam. This constellation perfectly reproduces the paradox of the superego: the more you obey what the Other demands of you, the guiltier you are. It is as if the more you tolerate Islam, the stronger its pressure on you will be . . ."

Much more in the article.

This magazine satirised other religions, politicians and cultural icons also - we wouldn't dream any of them would be provoked into slaughtering the magazine's employees because of that.

Actor Stephen Fry says the Charlie Hebdo killings "desecrated" our ideas of "free thought and freedom of expression on which our culture is entirely founded."

He is right.

"Je suis Charlie"

Dear Poirot,

Thank You for the link.

Middle East Commentator Juan Cole pointed
out that "... this horrific murder was not a
protest against the defamation of a religious icon.
It was an attempt to
provoke European society into action against French
Muslims," in hopes of driving the recruitment efforts
of militant groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State.

We shall have to wait and see how the French will react
to all of this. Will this trauma have the desired effect
on the French. Will there be more anti-Islamic
hostility from the white French majority, will there be
more votes for the Right-Wing National Front and will
there also be more bitterness and self-isolation among
the Muslim community. Will Editors have second and third
thoughts about every cartoon and every provocative
piece?

I certainly hope not.

However, to broaden the discussion -

Here's a link taken from CNN in the US -

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/10/opinions/kohn-free-speech-responsibility/

What do you think?

I personally feel that if we're not going to defend even the
most obnoxious varieties of free speech from those who
would silence it in the most literal sense then we don't
deserve free speech at all.

Dear otb,

Thanks for that.

I also agree with Stephen Fry.

The British actor also tweeted the following
in response:

"Publish a Charlie Hebdo cartoon: show them
the pen will still flourish when their guns
have rusted."