Limits to Free Speech
Free speech and religion follow basic rules and have boundaries. Even the First Amendment, the foundation of freedom of speech in the USA, is restricted by the Miller Test and laws against slander and defamation. Speech inciting imminent unlawful action and false commercial advertisements isn’t protected, either. Similarly, the rules of a religion are only applicable to the adherents of that religion. Imposing Islamic rules, such as the prohibition of drawing images of Prophet Muhammad, on non-Muslims is very clearly not a part of Islam. And killing someone for that reason is even more outside the bounds of Islam.
The journalists at Charlie Hebdo are now being hailed as martyrs and defenders of free speech. As an American, I wholeheartedly support free speech. But I think that people—not the law—should be against those cartoons. We shouldn’t lionize Charlie Hebdo for its offensive cartoons. A lot of people say Hebdo is satire. But in reality, Hebdo presents the complete opposite of satire. Satire is the use of humor to point out flaws or stupidity in an opinion or event. Satire is Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart or Bassem Yousef. What opinion is being criticized when the Quran is called crap, Prophet Muhammad is shown naked, or when Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit are shown doing inexplicable things to each other? Calling Hebdo satire gives Colbert, Stewart, Yousef, and every other satirist a bad name. Hebdo is not satire. It’s just being mean. Personally, I don’t see what humor can be found in any Hebdo cartoons. Those cartoons, no matter which religion they attack, are juvenile. Hebdo is one sad excuse of satire.
Stephane Charbonnier, now passed editor of Charlie Hebdo, said “it should be as normal to criticize Islam as it is to criticize Jews or Catholics. I'd rather die than live like a rat.” In the summer of 2008, however, Maurice Sinet, a long time Hebdo employee, published a column and cartoon that was considered anti-Semitic by several French Jewish groups. A firestorm arose among the French intelligentsia. One of the editors of the magazine had asked Sinet to apologize, but he refused to do so and Sinet was fired in 2009. Sinet was taken to court for “inciting racial hatred.” Many applauded the publication for putting a stop to anti-Semitism. And yet, the same Charlie Hebdo published vulgar cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, month after month, under the banner of free-speech-—even though one-fifth of the human race, and ten percent of the French population, take offense to such vulgar depictions. In 2013, as the Egyptian armed forces killed dozens of people protesting against President Morsi’s ouster, Hebdo published a cartoon of a Muslim man holding up a Quran as bullets pass through it and hit him, with the caption, “The Koran is s***—it doesn't stop bullets.” Many people lauded Hebdo as courageous and as an advocate of free speech. By all means, it should be allowed to make those depictions. It is unimaginable, however, to see our own campus publishing a Hebdo-style cartoon about Jews, African Americans, or Latinos. There is a fine line between free speech and hate speech. Hebdo crossed that line in its relentless efforts to publish vulgar cartoons that insult a variety of religions. To protest the actions of radical extremists—a miniscule fraction of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims—the Hebdo cartoons dehumanized the central icon of an entire faith.
Regardless of Hebdo’s publication and their motives, the attacks on the office this past week were clearly terrorism. As a Muslim and a human, I condemn these attacks, just as any other people would. The twelve deaths in the offices should be mourned. The murdered were parents, children, brothers and sisters. The violent acts of the terrorists had no Islamic justification. Contrary to whatever the terrorists and some in the media may say, violence and terrorism are against Islamic rules. The terrorists had every right to be offended, but no right to harm their offenders.
In the aftermath of this tragedy, it’s everyone’s duty across all nationalities and faiths to think about these issues, rather than directing blame and stereotyping once again. Of course, there is doubt, however, that it will happen any time soon. Columnist Anne Coulter even suggested that France should stop the immigration of Muslims into its border. Fox News has gone out of its way to label this attack as plain “Islamic Terrorism.” Ayaan Hirsi Ali also published an article in the Washington Post insisting that violence is embedded in the Quran. Finally, just two days after the massacre, billionaire media magnate Rupert Murdoch tweeted, “Maybe most Moslems [are] peaceful, but until they recognize and destroy their growing jihadist cancer they must be held responsible.” These quotes, the Hebdo cartoons, and the terrorist attacks emblemize everything that is going to hold us back from liberty, equality and fraternity, the very bases of French and American societies. ♥