Charlie Hebdo: Humor or offense?

[Unorthodox]

http://wbt.com/vatican-newspaper-criticizes-charlie-hebdo-anniversary-cover/

PARIS — French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo published a special edition on Wednesday a year after a jihadist attack wiped out most of its staff, prompting protests from the Vatican over a cover lampooning God in typical Charlie fashion.

The special edition features a bloodstained, bearded God figure in sandals with a Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder under the headline: "One year on: the killer is still at large." The Vatican criticised the cover for failing to "acknowledge, or to respect believers’ faith in God, regardless of the religion".

"Behind the deceptive flag of uncompromising secularism, the weekly is forgetting once more what religious leaders of every faith unceasingly repeat, to reject violence in the name of religion — using God to justify hatred — is a genuine blasphemy, as Pope Francis has said several times."

The provocative cover is typical of the fiercely secular publication whose drawings of the Prophet Mohammed drew the fury of Muslims around the world and inspired the bloody attack on its offices on January 7 last year.

Eight Charlie staff were gunned down by brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi as well as several others in and around the building in the assault, which began three days of terror in the French capital that would eventually leave 17 dead.

The bloodshed stunned a nation that has become a prized target of jihadists and was again plunged into grief in November, when 130 people were killed in co-ordinated attacks around Paris.

The attack on Charlie, as well as on a Jewish supermarket and police, brought millions to the streets in protest and led to much soul-searching over the country’s cherished secularism, as well as societal issues such as integration.

"It was unthinkable that in France in the 21st century, journalists would be killed by religion," cartoonist Riss, who lost the use of his right arm in the attack, wrote in the editorial of the special edition.

"We saw France as an island of secularism, where it was possible to tell jokes, draw (and) laugh without worrying about dogma, fanatics." He said that with the latest cover, which he drew, he "wanted to go above one religion or another".

"It is the idea of God itself that we, at Charlie, contest. You need to shake up people’s ideas or they stay stuck in their positions." The special edition devotes several pages to the topic of secularism, as well as reflections on the terrifying minutes when the Kouachi brothers burst into an editorial meeting spraying gunfire.

In one article on secularism, a cartoon depicts a masked gunman saying: "First kill those who do not pray, it will convince the others that God exists." In his editorial Riss wrote that the team was keenly aware of the fact that since publishing images of the Prophet Mohammed, seen as forbidden by many Muslims, "many hoped someone would one day put us in our places."

The attack, claimed by Al-Qaeda’s branch in the Arabian Peninsula, was not the first on the publication, which was firebombed in 2011.

He said the Charlie team had often thought of death — the economic kind — as the weekly constantly flirted with financial ruin, with circulation hovering at 30,000.

Ironically, the attack made it one of the best known publications in the world with the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie sweeping Twitter, and sales of 7.5-million copies the week after.

The new wealth from donations led to tension in the newsroom as some staff demanded more transparency in the management of the money. However, the row later calmed down.

And Charlie has continued to raise ire, refusing self-censorship in the wake of the attacks, working from ultrasecure offices in a top-secret location.

When Riss pictured Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler found dead on a Turkish beach this year, under a McDonald’s sign in what was intended to be criticism of the consumer society, he was accused of racism.

The cartoonist said in his editorial he was often asked how he managed to continue after what had happened.

"We want to beat the crap out of those who wanted us to die, more than ever. It is not two little idiots in balaclavas who are going to screw up our life’s work. It is not they who will kill Charlie, it is Charlie who will see them die."

Mostly an excuse for me to dig this out of my file:

[Valka]

I understand why the people of the respective religions depicted would be offended, but since I'm not one of them, it's a "meh" kind of thing.

But I also don't consider it funny. It's a political cartoon of the sort that clobbers the reader over the head, and those aren't usually funny.

[Elok]

Well, if humor is rooted in the unexpected or subversive, I have to say, nothing about the cover as described is either.  It's precisely the same kind of blunt shock-value irreligion CH churned out in the past, and can be trusted to continue dispensing for the foreseeable future.  It's not even insightful; the Islamic revanchism responsible for the attacks is rooted in a narrative of ethnic humiliation which would work equally well if Muslims were a group who based their identity on Marxism or environmentalism or what-have-you.

[Rusty Edge]

I voted don't kick the hornet's nest.

" He said that with the latest cover, which he drew, he "wanted to go above one religion or another".

"It is the idea of God itself that we, at Charlie, contest. You need to shake up people’s ideas or they stay stuck in their positions."


Well, it seems to me that their usual method of going above religion is to put it down. Would it be funny if they transcended race or gender or ethnicity by putting it down?

Challenging people's ideas, especially if you are suggesting that God is no different than Santa Claus, has a way of implying that a person has lived a lie, is stupid or foolish or childish. It has a way of saying the same of a person's entire family, who probably hold similar religious views. That kind of approach can antagonize a person and make them entrench in their beliefs.


I don't always succeed, but I try to remember to respect a person's faith and sincerity, even when I disagree with their particular religious views.

[vonbach]

Europeans are discovering why their ancestors fought to keep muslims out of Europe for so long.

Challenging people's ideas, especially if you are suggesting that God is no different than Santa Claus, has a way of implying that a person has lived a lie, is stupid or foolish or childish. It has a way of saying the same of a person's entire family, who probably hold similar religious views. That kind of approach can antagonize a person and make them entrench in their beliefs.

No the reason that people like CH do this is because they enjoy trolling and angering people. Christians will protest and maybe say mean things. Muslims will simply kill you.