Charlie Hebdo and its biting satire, explained in 9 of its most iconic covers
http://www.vox.com/2015/1/7/7507883/charlie-hebdo-explained-coversby Amanda Taub on January 7, 2015, 2:00 p.m. ET
Masked gunmen on Wednesday attacked the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a French magazine known for its biting humor — and, more specifically, for a string of satirical cartoons about Islam and the Prophet Muhammed.
Charlie Hebdo, whose name translates roughly to "Charlie Weekly," is a weekly publication that covers French politics through cartoons, satirical articles, and jokes. Although its editor-in-chief Stéphane Charbonnier, who was killed in the attack, has said that he considered the magazine a leftist-pluralist publication, its stance can perhaps better be described as anti-institutional. Its biting satire habitually targeted the government, high-profile politicians, and organized religion. The magazine was founded in 1969, and was resurrected in 1992 following a three-year hiatus.
Those cartoons have provoked a backlash against the magazine in the past, including a firebomb attack on its offices in 2011. But for the editors of the magazine, the offense was the point: the cartoons were directed as much at public sanctimony about Islam and multiculturalism as they were at their nominal subjects. They believed that the short-term decision to avoid offense would damage French secular culture in the longer term.
That debate is not limited to the pages of Charlie Hebdo. The question of whether Islam poses a threat to French culture is a hot-button issue in France, where "laïcité" — secularism — has such importance that it has been described as a "founding myth" of the French republic.
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= new reply since forum marked as read
But the vitriolic responses and false claims against and logical fallacies applied in reaction to my replies don't sway me from my position:
It was careless, at the very least, to carry on in the way they did, with decidedly insulting cartoons and knowing full well that violent reactions might occur.
They don't live in a bubble, there are innocent people around them would could, and did, suffer from the blowback.
More generally, meeting hatred with insult rarely produces results.
It's not that their provocative cartoons are not well deserved, my question is how productive can they hope to have ever been?
It's simply not the tool I would use to try to persuade people to think differently; I would have expected more anger and violence and that's what they got.
Thank you for being civil in your reply.
How dare they try to make a point about something being bad. They should have known that people were going to kill people over this. That was a reasonable expectation. How could they possibly have tried to make a point realizing that innocent people would get killed? They should never have done it. All the blame lies with them.
for fuck's sake.
How hard can it be to see that I'm calling them on their carelessness and arrogance, I'm not saying they deserved it and I think you know that.
You're right about this:
This part I have never said, YOU said it:
Sarcasm or not, when engaged in a battle bullets don't know which side is righteous.
Peace.
That is something I would expect to read from the PM of China or some other dictatorship that fears freedom of expression. From cults way too insecure in their own belief system, for it to stand up to criticism and ridicule.
Nobody deserves to die, just because they decided to mock another culture or group. Only insane people believe that. If you want people to fear reprisal for daring to ridicule others, than you are really not that concerned with freedom of speech or expression and basically saying the 'terrorists won.'
IMO.
EDIT - however I do not believe you are victim blaming and are sincerely trying to prove a point to people. I see it, I do. I just disagree with you. 
I do.
Some seem to think I'm blaming the victims here, going so far as to say that it reminds them of blaming rape victims for dressing a certain way.
I don't respond, that's ludicrous.
The publishers and cartoonists and editors in this case were trying, at least, to do a public service in challenging fundamentalism and bigotry with sharp satire.
They chose to do it in ways I would not have, in ways I think might have done more harm than good.
They clearly understood the risks, and apparently accepted them and that's their choice.
I disagree with that choice largely because of the risk to others, but also because I don't think it's an effective strategy and could create more enemies.
Again, thank you for the added note.
expected it" drivel.
Especially here at the ocean, even with the windows closed you hear the ocean.
It's almost too loud when the windows are open!
Today I'm working on my laptop but glancing out frequently because whales have been sighted in recent days.
I saw some sea otters a bit ago, an indication of some food. The whales are often not far behind.
Bodies of water keep me at peace, that's why I don't get upset the way others do when their foistings are rejected.
I'm a Pisces, I think it's in my blood.
And, they say that our bodies have roughly the same salinity and many of the same minerals as the ocean.
It's hard to get me down after surviving three head surgeries last year.
And that last one in November, when they removed the infected chunk of skull, brought me to an almost unnatural state of joy and gratitude.
Take care, my friend. I wish we weren't at opposite oceans!
You probably knew this but others might not.
Words cannot express the profound impression caused by the stirring speech of our magnificent Pasionaria. It was the voice of the fighters of Irun, Oviedo and Malaga that came from her lips; it was they who were appealing for help to the Spanish people, to the champions of the Great Revolution. It was the fighters of Badajoz and other battlefields who were calling to the French people not to allow their sister country to perish in an unequal struggle.
Tears streamed from the eyes of men and women as they listened to Pasionaria, and all hearts contracted with a spasm of pain and rage.
"People of democratic Spain, people who are fighting for the liberty and rights of man!"—thundered the voice of Pasionaria, "the whole Spanish people—socialists, communists and anarchists alike— have taken up arms against the fascist revolt. Fascism shall not pass! "Better die standing, than live kneeling!"
http://www.marxists.org/archive/ibarruri/1936/09/03.htm
