Scarlett O'Hara

12 people are dead, many of them cartoonists because they made multiple cartoons depicting Mohammed. The gunmen said they were from Al Qaeda. The magazine had been threatened before and now the extremists have come in to murder those responsible for those making light of their religion. The gunmen are still on the loose.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ack.html#video

What are your thoughts on this? Is it Al Qaeda/ISIS? Do we continue to joke about all religions using freedom of speech? Will these mass killings lead to war eventually? Is the West provoking the East to give them a reason to attack?

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Cuthbert

Yes, free speech >>>

Maajid Nawaz was talking sense earlier, saying that the Islamic communities need to start addressing this issue of blasphemy and reform their outlook on it cos until attitudes change you're gonna have idiots like this born out of it.

Maajid's a Muslim ftr.

Frownland

Of course free speech is still important. People need to learn that nothing is sacred to assholes like myself who will satirize or mock any old thing. It's just a fact of life and shooting up a bunch of people isn't going to change it.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Chula Vista

Such a tough and complex issue. Yes, free speech is extremely important, but it's also wise not to poke the bear over and over again with it.

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“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Chula Vista

If anyone's interested here's a link that has all of the cartoons the magazine's done over the years. Never mind poking the bear, this is more like walking right up to it and punching it in the nose.

What Is Charlie Hebdo? The Cartoons that Made the French Paper Infamous

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Cuthbert

lol'd when I clocked the tattoo.

Chula Vista

Ya, they hold nothing and no-one sacred. Personally, I'd choose not to f*ck with a religion that has whack job extremists like ISIS and Al Qaeda defending it's holy book.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Plankton

Free speech is an inherent human right, and religion is a man-made phenomenon that contains learned doctrines that people will follow blindly. Using violence to eradicate a perceived contempt for ones religion is a heresy. I can see being a bit butt-hurt when someone makes fun of a persons way of life, but killing 12 people is rather... extreme.

To answer the question though, you'd have to kill me to shut me up.

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See location...

grindy

All the more respect for this magazine.

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A smell of petroleum prevails throughout.

Chula Vista

They're actually quite racist.

I'm not defending what happened in any way, shape, or form. It's repulsive.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”