The attack on the newspaper Charlie Hebdo today is a horrible tragedy. It was an institution in France, one that provided an important satirical dimension to the news in a country that often takes itself too seriously. So many of us grew up reading the newspaper and laughing along with them at things we never thought could be made fun of.
Growing up in France reading Charlie Hebdo was the equivalent of getting a great, and much needed, education in free speech. Let’s not forget that they were at times banned and sued for their prose.
For those who read French, here is an interview with one of the cartoonists who died today, the wonderful Cabu.
When asked what bothered him the most in 2014, he said, “Jihad and the rise of the Front National.”
This morning the Daily Beast published a number of famous Hebdo covers. My favorite represents the despair of a prophet overwhelmed by the stupidity of extremists:
“It’s hard to be loved by morons,” he says.
I remember after the 9/11 attacks on U.S. soils, the newspaper Le Monde published a cover that said, ”We are all American.” Today, people on Twitter rapidly came up with the hashtag ”We Are All Charlie Hebdo.”
R.I.P.