Charlie Hebdo

joelmw posted a pic said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 10:23am ET

When I first heard about this Charlie Hebdo thing my impulse was to post--and that's what I did on Facebook and Twitter. I didn't say anything here. I wanted to, but I held back. But I can't get the damned thing out of my head. And I was thinking this morning: this is all about us. It's not about politics or religion. It's not even about guns per se. (And I beg you, my fellow assholes, let's not make it about any of that.) It is about an end to senseless violence and the right to say something--to publish words and images--that someone might find offensive without fear of being shot over it.

So what the fuck is it that we do here anyway? Sure there's some ecommerce going on and that's even part of what we talk about in the forums. But mostly we post silly shit. We make fun. We talk trash and have gif wars. We may not be professional artists or journalists, but we are all about the mockery and being offensive. If anyone is Charlie Hebdo, motherfuckers, we are Charlie Hebdo--albeit in a puerile and unprofessional way (with apologies to @JonT and @matthew, whom I'd classify as professionals.

I'll be honest, I'm often hovering on a word or picture choice and I choose offensive just because I can. And because it's fun, of course.

Anyway, I hope that we can stand in solidarity with the folks out there fighting the good fight, that we can speak out on behalf of freedom of expression and for the supremacy of creativity over violence.

And I know if anyone can find some good cartoons about all of this, y'all can (of which then I'll post the best on Facebook and look brilliant, so thanks in advance).

I'm @joelmw. I'm to blame here. And #JeSuisCharlie

27 comments, 29 replies
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joelmw said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 10:31am ET:

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joelmw said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 10:40am ET:

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sassymango said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 10:53am ET:

Je Suis Charlie

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hallmike said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 11:08am ET:

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JonT said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 11:15am ET:

"Long live satire!"

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ThatsHeadly said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 11:22am ET:

What do I want to say?

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- @Headly That is a very good, and seemingly unanswerable question…
  
  brhfl said Sat, Jan 10th 2015 at 12:03am ET
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OldCatLady said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 11:23am ET:

"We are all French today" is a popular sentiment.

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- @OldCatLady today I shall eat french fries, french toast made with french bread, have salad with french dressing, and was it all down with a bottle or peru!
  
  ThatsHeadly said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 11:45am ET
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ThatsHeadly said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 11:46am ET:

Relevant
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/religion

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rockblossom said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 11:58am ET:

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Thumperchick said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 12:04pm ET:

Looks like the suspects have been killed and the remaining hostages freed.

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- @Thumperchick Fortunate that the hostages were freed. Unfortunate that the scum was killed. A trial and punishment would have been better. Now they are martyrs. Still and all, yay I guess.
  
  ThatsHeadly said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 1:29pm ET
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- @Headly "Extremists insulted Prophet more than cartoons" If anything good can be said to come out of this, maybe one is This statement from the leader of Hezbollah
  
  rockblossom said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 2:06pm ET
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- @rockblossom
  
  joelmw said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 2:22pm ET
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- @rockblossom
  
  joelmw said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 2:42pm ET
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- @rockblossom
  
  joelmw said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 2:43pm ET
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- @rockblossom But that's a small faction. I mean, good on them, but the other factions think it's jolly good.
  
  ThatsHeadly said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 3:08pm ET
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- @Headly Yeah, I'm gonna totally step around that. The bottom line for me is that there are nut jobs with guns on almost every side. All I'm saying is once you start killing people in the name of your god, fuck you, I don't care what you have to say anymore. And that also means that you don't get to be the one who speaks for your god, especially because you've got a gun. I'm close to some peace-loving Muslims. And I know that there are too many Christians (and atheists et al.) advocating violence--and not for defensive or otherwise "noble" reasons.
  
  joelmw said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 3:18pm ET
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- @joelmw Not sure about stepping around it, it's true by the numbers. There are nut jobs with weapons with all kinds of causes. Way back in the day it was the christians on crusades, these days it seems like the ones that are the issue are the radical muslims. It's not a judgement call, it's just statistical (I'm limiting this to religious nuts - there are all kinds of other nuts out there) Do extremist christians occasionally blow up a clinic? Yes but not too recently. Do they try to deprive otheres of their rights because they don't agree? yep. But when's the last time a Jew or a Christian or a Bhuddist or a Scientologist killed a bunch of people in the name of their god? Nothing in recent history that I can remember. I'm not really aware of any christians or atheists (me) advocating violence in the name of their religion (or lack thereof). To that I would say, citation required. IMHO all religion that relies on the rewards and punishments of an unprovable supreme entity is, to be blunt, complete and utter bullshit.
  
  ThatsHeadly said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 3:56pm ET
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- @Headly. http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/10-worst-terror-attacks-extreme-christians-and-far-right-white-men
  
  Kerig3 said Sat, Jan 10th 2015 at 8:38am ET
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- @Kerig3 I all I have to say to that, is A. that is US only, B. they are counting what appear to be individual murders as "terror incidents", and C, by the numbers (dead people) indivisuals who self ideitify as commiting acts in the name os Islam have killed far more people in the last 20 years. Far more. Forget about 9/11. Syria, Boko Haram has killed 1,000s in Nigeria. ISIS has killed 10,000 people who disagree with their policies. They also revoke the rights of women outright. Don't kid your self - these self proclaimes jihadists are using religion as their excuse to try to make the world look like they want it to. And no, I am not a republican (far from it) and I do not watch Fox news (or any cable news for that matter)
  
  ThatsHeadly said Sat, Jan 10th 2015 at 9:56am ET
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- @Headly The point is exactly that this kind of senseless violence is never appropriate--especially as a response to journalism or art. Frankly, I'm far more troubled when it comes from those I--in any small measure--agree with or might be seen to agree with. The enemy isn't Islam (I'm not a Muslim) or even religion; the enemy is violent fanatics. The enemy is those who begin by dviding the world into good and evil (an impulse perhaps unavoidable) and then proceed to killing the evil ones. For the purposes of my standing against said violence, I don't give a flying fuck whether the perpetrators are atheist or Muslim or Christian or Bieberian. That's not to say that there's not a legitimate discussion to be had about the contributing factors (and, for the record, I think they are varied), but I'd be happy if we'd just stop killing each other over godsdamned cartoons and other perceived insults.
  
  joelmw said Sat, Jan 10th 2015 at 4:42pm ET
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OldCatLady said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 12:07pm ET:

How about a 16th century carving? 'Medieval and Renaissance Christian and secular artists had no religious restrictions regarding depictions of Mohammed, and were free to show his face and body in their entirety. ' from http://www.zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive/euro_medi_ren/ Oh, you want a picture? Here:

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- @OldCatLady My background is Christian and I majored in biblical studies and biblical languages--and despite changes in my faith, I maintain a great passion for that sacred text. I say that only to let you know where I come from and that I can speak with some experience and maybe a little authority--and that I don't mean to speak for other traditions. Satire and mockery are staples of the Jewish and Christian traditions. You'd have to toss out most of the Bible if you rejected that sort of expression. The beautiful thing is that much of the mockery is directed inward.
  
  joelmw said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 12:20pm ET
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nadroj said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 12:11pm ET:

I think you really have to go back to 2005 and the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons that Charlie Hebdo printed. That seems to be the incident that snowballed into the firebomb at their office in 2011, the threats to behead Charbonnier, and this recent attack.

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- @nadroj Don't blame the victim. There was no 'incident' that justified, incited or 'snowballed' into these murders.
  
  OldCatLady said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 9:20pm ET
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joelmw said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 12:14pm ET:

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Mavyn said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 12:44pm ET:

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joelmw said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 2:34pm ET:

@TheTweetOfGod

I am the Lord thy God, King of the Universe, the omnipotent and omniscient Creator of Space and Time, and I can take a fucking joke.

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- joelmw said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 2:42pm ET
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ThatsHeadly said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 3:07pm ET:

Say what you want about the French, but I'm pretty confident that they won't overreact and create a French version of the Patriot Act...

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- @Headly Because their justice system is based on Napoleonic code, it wouldn't be necessary. For the first time, I am seriously considering the benefits of such a system. Kneejerk assumption of 'innocent until proven guilty' vs 'Guilty until proven innocent.'.
  
  OldCatLady said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 3:51pm ET
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Mavyn said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 3:23pm ET:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/religion

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- @Mavyn is there an echo in here?
  
  ThatsHeadly said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 3:57pm ET
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- @Headly wups, sorry. I looked for images, didnt see the link.
  
  Mavyn said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 4:33pm ET
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- @Mavyn Maybe it bothers me more than it should? Maybe I need more coffee?
  
  ThatsHeadly said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 4:42pm ET
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- @Headly I'd suggest alcohol. It seems that coffee might be counterproductive in this case, but that's me.
  
  joelmw said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 5:00pm ET
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- @joelmw what if I put alcohol in my coffee?
  
  ThatsHeadly said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 5:13pm ET
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- @Headly Coffee flavored alcohol.
  
  Mavyn said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 5:15pm ET
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- nadroj said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 5:35pm ET
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- @nadroj I was so excited to make this that I spent 20 minutes looking for the bottle of Irish whiskey I knew I had, only to come up empty.
  
  dashcloud said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 7:22pm ET
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- @Mavyn coffee flavored alcohol... that's just Kahlua... which is why i've never understood kahlua Flavored Coffee creamer. so...Coffee flavored Coffee...
  
  earlyre said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 8:20pm ET
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- @earlyre
  
  ThatsHeadly said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 8:55pm ET
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- @earlyre there are also coffee flavoured vodkas and rums. ;)
  
  Mavyn said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 9:48pm ET
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rand3y said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 5:33pm ET:

Irish coffee FTW!!

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Barney said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 5:38pm ET:

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AnnaB said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 10:41pm ET:

It makes me sad that anyone can end up dead for simply expressing an opinion. It's difficult to find the words to really express that. Je suis Charlie.

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earlyre said Fri, Jan 9th 2015 at 11:06pm ET:

Not to downplay anything about this issue/episode in particular, but the first time I saw the Ju suis Charlie signs, my brain, ( which normally wants to make words/names French ex: it wants me to say Detroit, "de- twah") read them as " Jesus Charlie "
Which, now that I think about it, might be a good band name...

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jrwofuga said Sat, Jan 10th 2015 at 12:58am ET:

Sad and unbelievable. It doesn't warrant effort to try to figure out how some people's minds operate.

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2many2no said Sat, Jan 10th 2015 at 2:49am ET:

Thank you all for this. Y'all always amaze and amuse.
"Je suis Charlie."
Nous sommes Charlie.

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TaRDy said Sat, Jan 10th 2015 at 3:39pm ET:
In honor of these events, I suggest we modify the ? Profit meme:
1. Express ourselves freely.
2. Make jokes.
3. ???
4. Prophet
5. Muhammad
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editorkid said Fri, Jan 16th 2015 at 12:29am ET:

Folks can buy the current issue on their smartphones and tablets and support the cause better than buying one on eBay or craigslist: http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/15/7553971/charlie-hebdo-releases-latest-issue-on-ios-android-windows-phone

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Outofmehmind said Fri, Jan 16th 2015 at 3:20am ET:

Meanwhile....

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Mavyn said Tue, Jan 20th 2015 at 9:51am ET:

Ideas. They can't be burned.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/jan/19/response-to-paris-terror-attack-chris-riddell-neil-gaiman-in-pictures

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- @Mavyn This is an awesome thing. And I just shared it on FB. Thanks!
  
  joelmw said Tue, Jan 20th 2015 at 10:13am ET
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