Je Suis Charlie

A week ago, some jihadists got so offended at a French magazine's editorial cartoon criticizing Islam that they stormed the magazine's office and murdered 12 staffers.  Most people condemned it but way too many people are also defending it.  They say the cartoons were offensive and the jihadists had a right to be angry.  No one's come out and said the murders are justified, but you know they're thinking it.

And they're idiots.  Political correctness is bull shit.  You can't sneeze without offending someone.  But worse than that, it misses the entire point of freedom of speech.  Remember that pesky first amendment?  It doesn't just apply to you.  It applies to everyone.  Even cartoonists who make fun of you.

Freedom of speech is supposed to guarantee your right to say what you want even if someone else finds it offensive because to not be allowed to say it means you don't have the right to free speech.  Who decides what is free speech and what isn't?  No one can because what's acceptable to one isn't necessarily acceptable to others.  Who decides who gets free speech and who doesn't?  No one should.  Either everyone has it or free speech doesn't exist.

But people do every day.  Some basketball mogul says something racist and has his team legally taken away from it.  You don't have to agree with the comment but who the hell are you to take his business away for saying it?  He doesn't have the same right to free speech you do?

And it doesn't stop there. There's a whole host of people who are made to pay for saying something that isn't deemed politically correct and we're ok with it because we tell ourselves speech has consequences.  Yeah, you can say whatever you want, but you will be held accountable for it in the almighty court of public opinion.

So is that what happened to those murdered staffers of Charlie Hebdo?  They simply said something they shouldn't have and paid the price for it? If you killed everyone who offended you, there wouldn't be anyone left alive.

People are idiots.  They're going to do things and say things that you're going to disagree with, but if you value your own freedom of speech, you can't deny it to others because that sets a dangerous precedent.  One day it'll be your turn and it won't feel so good.

So ignore the idiots.  You don't have to agree with what they say, but you shouldn't try to stop them from saying it.  Feel free to criticize them for it.  Exercise your own right to free speech and say why you disagree with them.

But you can't kill them.  The men who murdered the staffers at Charlie Hebdo are dead now.  They took hostages and the French police killed them in a shootout.  Twitter is all a glow with the hashtag JeSuisCharlie as millions show their support for Charlie Hebdo, offensive cartoons and all.  Still other media outlets are now questioning their own policies towards what's offensive and what's not.  People are scared of being offensive so I guess the jihadists won in some way.  The fight for the right to free speech wages on.

Will we learn anything from this?  Somehow I doubt it.